40 for 40 - Jane Porter

Today's special guest is Jane Porter. It's amazing to think that I met Jane when she has just had her very first  Harlequin Presents title - The Italian Groom- published. That was  back in 2001. But she's come so far since then.   I've lost count of the total number of her Presents titles that she's written in the intervening years - and then there are her women's fiction books, starting with The Frog Prince (2005) and coming right up to date with The Good Daughter (Feb 2013).

I first met Jane when she came over to the UK for an AMBA meeting and  sharing afternoon tea with her has always been one of the highlights of the times I've been able to get across 'the pond' and  attend RWA.  A couple of years ago I was able to return the favour and invite Jane to a dinner before the AMBA lunch. That was when I met her very new husband  Ty and see the great chemistry between them.

So, seeing as I asked my guest bloggers to write about weddings, anniversaries of meeting their partners, it's not surprising that Jane talked about Ty and her time of  'Flirting with Forty' - which has stopped being flirting and turned into  a ten year anniversary.

Welcome  Jane - 


I'm not a snow bird or a beach girl. I am, to be quite honest, incredibly unathaletic when it comes to skates, skateboards, surfboards, skis and snowboards. Anything requiring balance, edge, coordination, confidence, and speed is pretty much, not in my skill set.
 

Fortunately, my guy, a surfer in Hawaii, likes nerdy book girls that wear glasses.
 

We met when I interviewed him for a future book.  The book became Flirting with Forty, a bestseller, that then was turned into a movie in the US for Lifetime starring Heather Locklear.
 

Ty and I dated long distance for eight years—he in Hawaii and me in Seattle with my children—and we constantly were asked, ‘How does this end?’

It always puzzled me.  How does anything end?
 

One of the things learning to surf has taught me is that your surfboard will go the direction you face. If you look down, as you’re learning to get to your feet, you’ll fall. If you look straight ahead, point towards the beach, your board will straighten out and head in that direction.
 

But that’s not just surfing, that’s life. And so when people ask, ‘where will this go? What’s going to happen?’, I truthfully answer, I’m going with it as far as it will go.

Then later, when Ty and I were expecting a surfer baby of our own, people would ask if Surfer Ty is going to move to Seattle permanently, and I would say no.  We were just going to keep doing what we were doing, which is being together and then apart, and then together again.  We always find a way to get back to the other and sometimes we wait a month but it’s what it is, and it works.
 

How?  I don’t know.  I do know that like my book Flirting with Forty he changed my life.  He made it magical again. It was just like Mama Mia, the ABBA song,

Just one look and I can hear a bell ring

One more look and I forget everything

Mama Mia, here I go again.

My, my how can I resist you?

I couldn’t resist him that first year.  I was crazy about him, absolutely head over heels, and I’m still crazy about him and we’re heading towards ten years.
 

Oh.  And our second wedding anniversary.  You see we got married along the way, did a Vegas wedding with Elvis and it was incredible.  The best wedding ever with 83 guests cheering us on.

Ty’s and my relationship was never the one in my book.  It’s always been more complicated.  And harder at times.  But it’s better, too, because it’s real.  I’ll be fifty soon, and it’s awesome to look back and realize, that life wasn’t over at forty.  Life was just beginning.

Just one look…


Jane has generously offered to give away, to two lucky winners, a copy of Flirting With Forty and one of her backlist Harlequin Presents novels, along with fun JP goodies.  J

To be in with a  chance of winning this great giveaway, just answer this question – Jane says she’s not a snow bird or a beach girl – but perhaps a nerdy book girl – so her question is:

Would you consider yourself a snowbird, a beach girl or a nerdy book girl?

Leave your answer in the  comments section as usual.

RITAs

Yesterday the Romance Writers of America announced the line-up of finalists in all the categories for the RITA and Golden Heart awards for 2010.

I was thrilled to see that M&B Modern/Harlequin Presents authors were well representedin the Contemporary Series Romance Category, with nominations for:

The Christmas Love-Child by Jennie Lucas (November 2009)
One-Night Mistress…Convenient Wife by Anne McAllister (November 2009)

Duty, Desire, and the Desert King by Jane Porter (December 2009)

Kelly Hunter, whose books are published as Modern Heat was also nominated for her title Revealed: a Prince and a Pregnancy

There are several other M&B published authors on the list - for example

Michelle Willingham with Taming Her Irish Warrior in the Historical category

and

Elizabeth Rolls for Lord Braybrook's Penniless Bride in the Regency Historical category.

Many congratulations to all the nominees - but I'm sure no one will be surprised if I save some very special cheers and congratulations for my dear friend and wonderful write Anne McAllister whose nominated book was the prize in our joint Here Come the Grooms Contest just a few weeks ago. Congratulations, Anne (and Christo!) !

You can read the full list of the finalists here.

The winners will be announced at the RWA National Conference in Nashville in July.

What I did at the Conference - a San Francisco photo diary

So if a picture speaks a thousand words - here's a whole book full of what I got up to at the RWA Conference in San Francisco -


On our first morning there - very early on a grey morning! - we went to Alcatraz island so that the BM could do his research of the trip.

We shared the trip with the fabulous Sue Stephens and her beautiful daughters. Sue orgainsed the tickets for us so all we had to do was to turn up. Thanks so much Sue! Even if it did mean getting out of bed for a 7.30 start!

The next day official registration started and I started to meet up with more of my fellow authors. Here's Susan Stephens again and Irish Presents author, Abby Green

I also got to meet lovely Lee Hyat for the very first time - though we had known each other and have been in contact through emails for over 8 year! Lee runs the brilliant Author Sound Relations and has been so helpful to me with publicity and running my contests in America.

Later that day lovely Jane Porter hosted a special afternoon tea for her fellow Presents authors. Here's Sandra Marton with one of our newest published authors - Jennie Lucas

And here's a group photo of all the authors at the tea. This pic was taken by the waiter. Left to right - Sandra Marton, Susan Stephens, Carole Mortimer, Jacqueline Baird, Abby Green. Me

in front - Jane Porter, Jennie Lucas, Sharon Kendrick and Trish Morey.

That afternoon was the Literacy Signing in the ballroom - the pic on the left is just a tiny bit of the queue of readers ready to buy signed books and on the right I'm at the signing with fellow northern Brit, erotic romance author Saskia Walker who was sitting next to me. The whole event raised thousands of dollars for literacy charities.

After the signing Sandra Marton hosted her traditional authors' pizza party in her room where we all ate pizza, drank wine and talked and talked and talked.

Thursday started with a Focus Group to discuss Harlequin's marketing and new ideas after which we all grabbed taxis and headed out to Tal y Tara for tea with the Mills and Boon Editors.

Here are - left to right Jennie Lucas, Abby Green (behind) Trish Wylie Senior Editor Linda Fildew (standing) and seated editor Lucy Gilmour.

I spent the afternoon with two of my favourite Presents authors, brilliant Sandra Marton and fabulous Aussie Trish Morey. (One of the very best reasons for going to RWA is because I get a chance to meet up with friends from the other side of the world.) Here's a pic of Trish at the Lit Signing.

And one of Sandra enjoying the sunshie in Union Square - while we - you guessed it - talked and talked about writing and books and heroes . . . .
Sandra was given an award for her 75th book at this conference - congratulations again Sandra!

Thursday night is the traditional eHarlequin Pajama Party and here's the gang at the event.

At the party prizes are given for best PJs and I actually won Most Resplendent Pajamas (My thanks have to go to t

he Babe Magnet who bought the beautiful silk gown I'm wearing)

And here I am with two of my very favourite people - Danica aka Dream one of the hosts on eHarlequin and Anna Louise Lucia who was of course sporting her first sale ribbon at this conference.

Friday I managed to spend some time with my lovely friend Holly Jacobs while we discussed the differences of the English language as used in the UK and America and so Holly started the great 'knackered debate' that you can see here.

In the evening it was the big Harlequin Party and here I am at the event with two special friends from the Struggling Writers on eHarlequin - Christyne and Trish (Congratulations on that sale Christyne!)

And here's the wonderful Jayne who manages so much of what goes on on the eHarlequin Community message boards.

Finally, to round of a fantastic visit to San Francisco we spent a day in the lovely company of special friends Anne McAllister and her husband The Prof. Both the Prof and the Babe Magnet seem to save up all their talking until they get together so they talked and Anne and I talked - on cable cars, over lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, or - as pictured here - at the Top of the Mark where we could see all of the city spread out below us.

And if you want to know what else the Babe Magnet got up to in San Francisco . . . well - all I can say is watch out for the Pink Heart Society Blog next monday August 18th!