Anne Weale

I woke this morning to some sad news for the world of romance.

Anne Weale, who for fifty years wrote ground breaking romances for Mills & Boon, died on 24 October.

After selling short stories to a woman's magazine while still at school, Anne Weale became a newspaper reporter, the traditional training for a novelist. An enthusiastic traveller, she used authentic foreign backgrounds for her romances -- most famously, Antigua Kiss. She was, however, proudest of her "Longwarden" novels, Flora, All My Worldly Goods and Time & Chance which readers are still discovering in libraries and used book shops.From 1998-2004, Anne wrote a website review column, Bookworm on the Net, for The Bookseller, the UK's leading book trade press magazine.

Her first book, Winter is Past, was published in 1955, before I went to school. Her last,The Man from Madrid came out in 2002 and in between were almost 80 other titles, some short romances, some longer 'single title'fiction.

In May 2005, she started a book-blog at http://bookwormonthenet.blogspot.com/. Her work-in-progress is an autobiography called "88 Heroes…1 Mr Right" which now sadly will not be finished.

Anne Weale was a major force in English and international romantic fiction. She has a huge amount of knowledge and the publishing industry and was one of the novelists who was hugely successful in the days when Mills & Boon was run by Mr Charles Boon. I first met her at one of the earliest AMBA lunches that I ever went to where she was warm and welcoming and interested in a newcomer to the authors' ranks.

It's fairly well known that Anne and I didn't agree over everything. We had disagreements over the way that romance writing was going, and she would never agree with my interest in and encouragement of 'new writers'. But those disagreements led to interesting debates and assessments of the world of writing and publishing that are ineveitable as times change and I am glad that I encountered her lively - and occasionally acerbic mind in both written and verbal debate. A tiny, birdlike, elegant figure at AMBA lunches and HMB receptions, she had a grasp of life and an enthusiasm for living and learning that I admired hugely. She was the only elderly writer who could get away with calling the BM 'young man' and describing me as 'this girl'.

I always said that in many ways, Anne Weale was the person I wanted to be when I grew up.

Sometimes she irritated me, often she exasperated me, but she also taught me a lot, made me look at my own opinions and stand up for them. And she was writing in the genre I love when I was a very small child, making her way in the world of journalism and publishing at a time when women had a far harder fight to do so than anything I have ever encountered.

She was a woman and a writer to admire. A major name in romance publishing.I am truly glad to have known her.

And I shall miss her very much.

Her family have asked for no letters but I hope they find some of the tributes that appear on the web like this one and the one on Liz Fielding's blog.

Dublin Wednesday - or how much can you fit into a day?

Well, the Black Angel is tweaked mercilessly and sent back to my editor. And now I can back to giving the details of the Dublin trip. There has of course been a sort of secondary blog on Dublin over on Anne McAllister's blog where the story of Abby Green and Eamon has been attracting lots of attention. For those of you who have been following this serial, the third and final part will be posted just as soon as Anne can manage it.

In the meantime, back before Abby met Eamon and was transfixed with love, she and I had arranged to meet around lunchtime on the Tuesday so that we could go off exploring together. The BM was spending the morning tramping the streets of Dublin and taking the photographs he needed for his book so I spent the morning in Grafton Street wandering around the shops. That at noon the BM joined me and Abby to go exploring further.

The rest of the day was just wonderful. Abby had remembered that I had talked of wanting to go to Sandymount, just outside Dublin. This was where I spent so many of my childhood holidays, staying with my grandfather and my aunt, my mother 's father and sister, and it was where I grew to love Ireland so much. So Abby drove us to this village that has such happy memories for me.

It had changed so very little - a few more shops, restaurants that were never there beofre, but the little village green was there, with the house where I spent many happy hours with my cousin overlooking it. I could also remember exactly where to go to find my grandfather's house which was still there. And I could find my way to the beach - 'The Strand' just as I had done all those years before. Perfect nostalgia. Such great memories

Then we needed to find a place for lunch. Abby suggested we drive to Powerscourt in Enniskerry - a beautiful great estate where there is a fantastic old house and gorgeous gardens. They had a lovely restaurant there too - in Avoc, a great shop. And She was right. Powerscourt is just beautiful. So beautiful that it has been used many times as the setting for period films. And that was what was happening when we arrived. (Yes India - this is the bit you wanted to know about!)

At the moment, Powerscourt is part of the setting for the filming of the second part of The Tudors. Part one is currently showing on BBC 2 in the UK. As you'll remember from our earlier trip to Ireland this year, Abby's 'day job was as a second assistant director on many film and TV projects. So when we arrived at Powersourt to find they were filming parts of The Tudors she was able to introduce us to many people working on the set. The stars weren't filming there that day but we were able to watch a 'royal' procession and see the filming of that before we went into the house for lunch.

It was such a gorgeous day, sunny and mild , ridiculously so for late October, so we were able to sit outside on the terrace to eat lunch and look out over the huge gradens and the wonderful waterfall in the distance, with the Sugarloaf mountain over on the horizon. And once we'd eaten then Abby and I raided the Avoca shop where it would have been popssible to spend a small fortune. Believe me, I was tempted by lots. But I contented myself by buying a black embroidered wool coat - and persuading Abby to treat herself too, to a pink jacket that looked just great on her. The BM took this photo of two happy shoppers on our way back to the car.

The next stop was at the film studios at Ardmore - where the filming of the Tudors was also going on . Again we met lots of the crew and people who Abby had worked with (which is where I fell for a very handsome Irishman - but then I always has a soft spot for Irishmen, after all my father and my uncle were both handsome 'Paddies). They had been filming Anne Boleyn's execution but we missed that! Perhaps just as well as the stories of fake blood being squirted all over the place was enough to make me feel a little queasy as it was.

But we were lucky enough to meet Irish costume designer Joan Bergin and congratulate her on her recent win of a Creative Emmy Award for the costumes on The Tudors. And we wandered round the great sets for the production, watching them set up for a banquet scene the next day - and Abby and the BM were able to sit on one of the great four-poster beds. I'm not sure if it actually was King Henry's bed or not - but it looked fine enough to be so!

I loved being able to get close to the fantasy pretence of the sets and see the makebelieve that goes to make up the wonderful images that will appear on the TV scenes. It reminded me of the bits of amateur dramatics I did at school and university and it was fascinating to see the way that the 'food' for the banquet was fake and sprayed with varnish etc to make it look as if it was freshly cooked. It was great to see the way that old and new - even a tree - was all bundled together behind the flats ready for use when needed.

Eventually we made our way back to Dublin, had a quick chance to refresh ourselves and then set out again (with Abby and I both wearing our new coats!) to head for the Shelborne Hotel on St Stephen's Green where, in real lady novelist style we drank champagne and toasted our new books - and a couple of wonderful reviews ) and one really nasty one too! But after a glass of champagne we just didn't care.)

Finally, needing something to soak up the champagne, we headed for a restaurant for dinner and sat talking late into the night again.

It was a fantastic day filled with so many wonderful moments, reliving special memories and creating new ones. And it wouldn't have been possible without lovely Abby's generosity with her time, her car, and her knowledge of Ireland.

Thank you Abby, love. It was a day I will always remember.

Cat Calendar November

Tweaking Greeks

I'm busy tweaking Angelos the Black Angel. And although they are only tiny tweaks, it's the usual story of finding just the right place to tweak . . .

I'll be back as soon as I'm done with day two of the Dublin trip. And it was quite a day, believe me !

But if you want to know about the little friend I took on my trip with me and how Abby Green met her 'hero' Eamon, then that story is over on Anne McAllister's blog.

Back to tweaking.

Details, details . . .

Everyone is demanding details of the Dublin trip so here goes . . .

DAY ONE - Tuesday

Dublin airport is only a hop and a skip from here, flying that is. It's getting to Airport A (Robin Hood Doncaster/Sheffield) and getting away from Airpot (Dublin) that adds time to the journey. All the same, we left here at 9am on Tuesday morning and by about 2pm were settled in Bewleys Coffee House.

The later part of this journey was made so much simpler by the fact that we were met at Dublin Airport by the delightful Abby Green who acted as tour guide and chauffeur from the start and took us into the city swiftly and easily.

Once unpacked and settled into a room with a huge kingsize bed, we introduced the Offspring and his girlfriend to the delights of Bewleys where a late lunch of salads was followed some of the best chocolate brownies I have ever tasted. And then we started a wander around the city to reacquaint ourselves with it and show the Offspring places that he had last seen 18 years ago! With the BM acting as navigator, this of course meant that we ended up in various bookshops en route to Merrion Square.

The main reason for visiting Merrion Square was research for the Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Dublin book which involved phorographing a particular house. I don't know the story behind this event but no doubt I will find it out when the book is done. But at the same time I was able to wander round and spot the plaques that mark the famous inhabitants of these Georgian houses in the past - names that reads like a roll call of literature.

In the past, Oscar Wilde's parents lived in Number 1, now the American college, and William Butler Yeats lived in Nos. 52 and 82. Other famous residents include Sheridan Le Fanu (No. 70) and Daniel O'Connell (No. 58). Today the square houses The Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI), the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), The National University (NUI) and the Royal Society of Antiquarians of Ireland, as well as the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, where Erwin Schrodinger worked from 1939 to 1956.

In the square itself are many sculptures. There is the Oscar Wilde garden opposite the home of his parents William and Speranza in the north-west corner and the jester's chair dedicated to Dermot Morgan (the star of the ITV series "Father Ted")

Walking back to the hotel meant checking out other bookshops including Murder Ink - where I lost both the BM and the Offspring for a long time.

In the evening we met up with Abby again and spent eating pasta, drinking wine and talking. The waiter was highly amused to discover that Abby and I were both romance novelists - specially when we asked for a large Greek to share! We meant a salad - not sure what was going through his mind!

The evening ended in another literary landmark in Dyblin's history - McDaid's pub which has retained its character by not changing its essential design, its still looks pretty much the same as it was fifty years ago.

McDaid's played a part in Dublin's literary history as the local of playwright and novelist, Brendan Behan. McDaid's became the centre of a new generation of writers in the 1940s and 1950s who met in pubs in reaction to the quaint lives of older Irish writers.McDaid's was also the one time haunt of Patrick Kavanagh, Flann O'Brien, J.P. Donleavy and Liam O'Flaherty. It is said that Behan based some of his characters in The Hostage and Borstal Boy on publicans he met in McDaid's and Donleavy's main character in The Ginger Man was supposed to be based on McDaid's regular, Ganor Christ.

So as well as sipping some wine, we were also absorbing the literary atmosphere.

And that was day one - more tomorrow when I have 'tweaked' my Greek (large or otherwise) in order to get him back to my editor tomorrow.

Oh - and Jan, you can assure Merlin and Archer that the VICs (Very Important Cats) were well looked after while we were away. Danny from three doors down the road has been cat sitting the furry guys for the last four years or more. We're just grateful that he has a couple more years before he goes to university as they are bery attached to him and have been known to go down and bang on his window if he's late with their tea!

Back Home

I'm back! And I'm tired.

But that is because I had a wonderful, wonderful time. It's impossible not to have a wonderful wonderful time with Ms Abby Green in charge - she is a brilliant tour guide, social secretary and events organiser, and she knows how to make sure her friends have a good time.

Reports will follow on my blog just as soon as I recover enough and catch up with everything else in time to write them. But I hade a wonderful mix of sightseeing, shopping, eating, drinking, a fabulous trip down nostalgia lane to places I loved in my childhood. I visited a film set (which is where this photo of Abby was taken), watched filming, and I fell in love with a gorgeous Irishman - someone Abby works with sometimes in her day job. Though how she manages to concentrate with him around it beyond me! I wanted to bring him home as my souvenir of Ireland but apparently he's already taken. Ah well, I shall have a great memory of black hair, lovely blue eyes and a sexy Irish accent to keep as research for the next time I'm considering an Irish hero.

And Abby and I also shared a shopping expedition as the result of which we now both have new coats and a lighter bank balance.

The BM wandered the streets of Dublin taking all the photographs he needed for the next Foul Deeds and Suspcious Deaths book - which is, obviously, FDSD in Dublin - and we met up in the evenings with The Offspring and his girlfriend to eat and talk over our days and drink a little wine . . . Just a little.

So I'll be back tomorrow with a report and photos

I just had to share . . .

Well, it's stupid o'clock and as always when I'm about to set out on a journey I'm wide awake w-a-a-a-y too early. I'm making a pot of tea and then I'm heading for the airport - but I just checked my emails and I found this, my first review of the November book - The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife and I had to share.

This is from Alyson on the We Write Romance site and it has me glowing even more than yesterday's good news about my latest Greek. And that's because this is from a reader and the readers are the ones I want to enjoy my books:

Sizzling hot romance, exotic heroes, and relatable heroines...if these are what you look for when you're searching for your next read then you don't want to miss The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife.

Greek Tycoon Andreas Petrakos marries Rebecca Ainsworth despite lingering accusations that she's betrayed him. But once they arrive at his private island villa, he finds that he's received incriminating evidence from the private investigator he hired to clear her name. Her betrayal is clear and for him permanent.

Now, nearly one year later after a car crash causes Andreas to loose his memory, the last mistress he remembers is the one person he wants by his side while he recovers...which turns out to be perfect for Becca who needs to find a way to ask Andreas for the money she needs to help her baby niece receive life-saving heart surgery.

That is, until Andreas' memory returns and he recalls throwing out his wife on their wedding night!

The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife is everything you expect from a Kate Walker story and more. If you've read any of my other reviews of Kate's books you'll know I'm a huge fan, but I'm still amazed every time I read another of her uniquely crafted romances. Each one is better than the last, and The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife is definitely no exception. If you're looking for that new twist on an old plot line, she's most definitely your gal!

Thank you Alyson - you've made my day.

Be seeing you!

Quick dash in to wave goodbye - I'm on my way to Ireland again. The BM has to do research on Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Dublin so I'm going with him - it's a good excuse to meet up with lovely Abby Green again

And I'm going with a smile on my face and you can all say 'I told you so' - because you did. Well, those who commented did . You said that my editor would love the Black Angel - and she does. Apparently he's – dark and believable. . . wonderfully brooding and sexy. '

There is just a tweak - and it really is just a tweak which I will do when I get back from Dublin.

So with one Greek on the bookshop shelves and another one about to be scheduled, I'm feeling pretty happy and ready to relax in Dublin.

Back at the end of the week so be good while I'm gone

Making mistakes - and important matches

Yesterday I made a big mistake.

I sent an email to my editor.

Now normally this isn't actually a mistake. I just wanted to let he rknow that I will be away for a few days next week. On Monday, with the BM, The Offspring and his partner, I'm heading for Dublin for a few days. The BM has to do research for the latest in the Grim and Gruesome series - the upcoming Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Dublin, so we're all going along with him. I shall meet up with delightful Abby Green and maybe also - fingers crossed - lovely Trish Wylie if she can drag herself away from the book she has to write. I'll be away from Tuesday to Frida

So I thought I'd let my editor know. After all, she had the Black Angel on her desk and she might want to let me know what she thinks. She might want to send me revisions - the dreaded 'tweaking' that is never really just a tweak. And we usually have to turn those around pretty fast. So I emailed to tell her.

And she emailed back to say she was reading the book already and was about halfway through. Which is a comment guaranteed to send any author into instant panic. We know that editors read our books - that's what we send then in for. But ee - or certainly I - don't want to know that she's reading it right this minute. I don't want to imagine her sitting at her desk with the manuscript in front of her - reading . . .

About halfway through . . .Where is about halfway through a 194 page manuscript? Page 97? 94? 99? Paranoid authors need to know these things. I was fighting the urge to open my copy of the ms and find page 90 something to try and imagine what she was reading - how she was thinking.

She also said she was very much enjoying herself. Now that of course means the Paranoid Author here is waiting for the But. 'I'm very much enjoying myself . . .but . . .'

It's that question that every other author at an earlier stage in their career always asks - and every other not yet published author always asks too. 'Does the waiting get any easier?'

Answer - no - and particularly not when you know that your editor is reading the damn thing right this minute!

On another topic - I made another mistake - I took Sid to the vet. Sid has a chronic mouth problem. apparently some cats react badly to their own teeth - they develop gingivitis - swollen and sore gums. Sid has had all his teeth out but he still gets chroinc sore gums. So every couple of months he needs to go to the vet and have a steroid injection to reduce the inflammation. I can tell when he needs the injection because he goes off his food - and Sid never goes off his food unless his mouth is sore!

So when he'd been off his food for a couple of days I took him to the vet. He had the injection, no problem. But now his mouth is so much better, he's back 'on' his food again - back with a vengeance. He wants to eat all day every day. And all night. After all, he missed a few meals while he wasn't feeling too great and that means he hasn't had his fair share of nice fishy cuts in jelly. And when he's hungry in the middle of the night he sits outside my bedroom window and YELLS. And I have to go down and let him in or he wakes up the neighbourhood. He's stuffed himself on fishy cuts now and is sleeping on the desk. Peace at last.

Now I'm off out for the day. I'm going to be the literary wife today. The BM is appearing at Wold Words Literature Festival in his guise as poet and author of An Angle from Above. So I'm going along as support team, 'bring your own audience' , bookstall manager and general helper.

Keep your fingers crossed that any one turns up - you the event is not on at the very best time this afternoon.

There's some ruby match on at the same time.

Postal deliveries

I have had a bumper postal delivery today, with lots of lovely surprises - and some expected things too.

So here are 5 Reasons to be happy that the postal strikes have stopped

1. I have an update on the preparations for the Fishguard Novel Writing Weekend. Another couple of weeks and I shall be heading for Wales and beautiful Fishguard Bay where I'll be teaching the Contemporary Romance course. I'll be able to meet up with my great fellow tutors Jane Jackson and Lesley Horton who are teaching the Historical and the Crime Novel courses.. We always have great fun as well as getting a lot out of the course. There are still places left so if you're interested, the details are on my Events page or the Writers' Holiday site here.

2. Someone must have realised that I'd actually made a small indent into my TBR mountain - because my lovely writer friends decided that I needed the pile topping up! And no sooner had I mentioned Donna Alward's Marriage at Circle M than - as lovely Donna herself let on yesterday - there it was in my post pile ready to - errr - ready to add to my slightly diminished and now getting bigger again TBR

3. My great friend from 'downunder' Trish Morey has sent me her next book too - we're 'shelf-mates' in November in the UK and USA with my Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife and Trish's The Boss's Christmas Baby.

Thank you both so much Donna and Trish - now all I need is a little more (a lot more) time to read. If only I didn't have to write . . . And I'm still waiting for Anne McAllister's The Boss's Wife For a Week (and stop telling me how much I;mn going to enjoy it! I know that - I just want to read it!)

(Oh and Donna - watch your own mail box! And no, I'm not going to explain!)

4. Author's copies of the joint book on writing that the BM and I have collaborated on that is out this month - Being a Professional Writer - it looks good!

5. Unexpected foreign editions - always a thrill. This time I have copies of the Polish edition of The Married Mistress where my book is in a duo with Sara Craven - and as readers of this blog will know, I'm a huge admirer of Sara's books, so I'm honoured to be linked with her.

And the Spanish edition of that 50th title - The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge under the fabulous title of Venganza Siciliana (Sicilian Vengeance). And that cover always looks great no matter what size it is or the colour it's set against.

And the BM got a couple advances for books he's delivered and a contract for a book on local ghosts . . .

So we were both more than happy that the postal deliveries are getting through properly. The postie wasn't too pleased at having to carry all those extra books though.

In other news, thanks to the fantastic Heather Reed who maintains my web site, I'm all up to date over there as well. So if you want to read all about The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife, see photos of the presentation of the lovely gold pin for my 50th title and all my other news then why not visit now? There will also be a new contest for the publication of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife coming very soon over on My Tote Bag just as soon as Lee gets it up there - I'll let you know when it's ready.

Reading good stuff

Well that would explain it then . . .

I should have realised that there was a reason for my lack of words - or perhaps I should say, the lack of brain power to provide any extra words once I'd done the critiques for the New Writers' Scheme and the web site updates etc.

So when yesterday I woke with a pounding head, sore throat and tight chest I wasn't totally surprised. Just fed up .

But then I realised the good side of things - because there was one. Last time I felt like this I was on a dreadline and couldn't afford to cosset myself because I had to find the words, no matter what. This time, while waiting for the Editor's verdict on the Black Angel, I am not on a dreadline and so can cosset myself a bit - and in my book, cosseting means reading.

Unfortunately I still haven't found my copy of The Boss's Wife for a Week (and will you all please stop telling me how much you enjoyed it - you're only making matters worse!) Lovely Anne McAllister is shipping out an emergency replacement to me as I write this so I'm hoping to enjoy it very soon!). But I do have plenty to keep me occupied while I'm waiting for it to arrive.

At the beginning of the month, in my role as a Pink Heart Society columnist, I wrote a post on why I love working with and helping new writers. Two things I mentioned there are things I want to repeat here -

A. I said - And every author I’ve helped to publication sends me a signed copy of their brand-new book and very often the one after that and the one after that . . . I have a TBR pile the size of Mount Everest – all written by very special friends – what’s not to like?

and

B. I talked about Elderly Author and Author's Husband who both wanted to know why I was 'training the opposition' in helping and advising those they call 'wannabes' in the writing world. People who didn;t deserve to have books published. An opinion I totally disagreed with.

Well, over the last 24 hours I've had proof - if I needed it - that both A & B were just what I should have said. Because while feeling thoroughly miserable and unable to concentrate on any of my own writing, I turned to my teetering TBR pile, selected a couple of books - and settled down to enjoy myself.

And I did - I had a wonderful time. I read two fabulous books by two special friends that made me forget about my aching head, my sore throat. Books that absorbed me and took me into worlds I totally believed in, peopled by characters I could care about and wanted to be together in a Happy Ever After Ending.

The first one I read a bit late - a book that I got my hands on when it first came out, but haven't had time to read till now. Hired by The Cowboy is Donna Alward's first published book for Harlequin Romance and it's a winner. She starts with that tricky premise the Marriage of Convenience story - but there is so much more to it than that. Both Alexis and Connor, her heroine and hero, have strong, believeable reasons for going into a marriage that isn't, initially based on love. But through the story the reader can watch that love grow as slowly and surely as the characters themselves feel it. I believed in that growing love and I was rooting for Connor and Alexis, wanting them to be together and at the same time believing in their reasons for holding back, their hesitation in commiting themselves. As a first book, it's a great start to Donna's writing career. Donna had her next book - Marriage at Circle M out in September and I'm so looking forward to reading that one too.

The second book that absorbed me was Natasha Oakley's The Tycoon's Princess Bride - one of the books in the Presents Royal House of Niroli series. When I talked to Natasha about this book in June, I know she was apprehensive because it was appearing in a Presents mini-series and she is a Romance writer. But she needn't have worried. This is a book that will stand up for itself wherever it appears. It has a wonderfully sympathetic heroine and a very special wounded hero. It's a book that it would be so easy to turn into sentiment - but Natasha avoids that trap brilliantly and instead creates a powerfully emotional story that grabs the reader and holds tight from the beginning to the end. And it's a book that makes me so proud of the fact that back in 2001 when Natasha first submitted her work to the RNA's New Writers' Scheme, I picked her out as someone who was likely to succeed.

I know that Natasha has had some really tough times in her personal life recently but she's a strong lady, who's continuing to write through all that life throws at her. And when she writes lovely books like The Tycoon's Princess Bride, I know that I'm goping to be right there, first in the queue for the next one she brings out.

And talking about writing through the tough times - if you get a minute, then go over to the Pink Heart Society's blog today and read the inspiring, uplifting post by Day Leclaire - then make sure you click on the Breast Cancer site icon in the sidebar (or you can use the one in my sidebar instead.) Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm already a great fan of Day's books - and this post will show just why I admire her as a woman too. And I will have Day's The Billionaire's Baby Negotiation on my TBR pile just as soon as the postie gets it to me.

There are some really great books out right now - I just wish I had more time to read them!

Lost for words . . .

I've been finding it hard to write a blog for the last week or so. All sorts of things just keep getting in the way - most of them as a result of concentrating hard on getting the Black Angel finished and the book off my desk and on to my editor's.

Practical stuff like doing the umpteen batches of washing that have piled up while I was concentrating. (I swear they've bred. There's no way the BM and I have worn all those clothes in such a short time!) or restocking the depleted fridge and larder - the cats were going to leave home if they didn't have something tasty very soon. And they didn't mean the frog that Spiffy brought in and dumped in his food bowl as a hint.

Then there was getting to know all over again the man who lives in this house and who I've spotted around the place when I grabbed some food or fell asleep. He's been finishing a book (or two, I think - I've lost count!). This guy says he's my husband and a Babe Magnet too - so I thought I'd better spend some time with him.

And then there were the critiques I had to write - for the RNA's New Writers'Scheme and the Romance Junkies Writing Contest. And the updates for the web site . . . It's interesting but I can write a book and a blog but somehow writing a critique leaves me with no ideas for what to say on here. So I wrote lots of objective, assessing words and had nothing of interest to say when I'd done. So that's why I've been a bit slow about blogging in the last few days - nothing to say.

Now all those bits and pieces are off my desk and I'm coming back to thinking about the blog again. I hope that I'll have more to say now that the admin things are done.

Catching up with books

I've spent this last week catching up with so much - updates for my web site, reading scripts to critique for the RNA's New Writers' Scheme, tidying and sorting out my office which is in it's usualy post-book chaos. I added to that chaos by buying new shelves for my bookcases. The new shelves are very useful - but buying new shelves means that I had to move the old shelves up or down several spaces in the bookcases . Which meant that I had to take all the books off the shelves in order to do so. So now I have the new shelves in and all the books to go back on them. But for once in my life, I actually have some spare shelves without books on them! I wonder how long that will last?

In amongst the new books I have to put on the shelves (see - I know those spaces won't stay for long) I have the latest of my own. I have the copies of both the UK and USA editions of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife with their wonderful sunset covers. It's good to be looking forward to seeing them out in the shops while over on Amazon .com, and .co.uk that 50th title The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge is still on the best selling romance charts after 3 months. And today when I was out shopping, I spotted the 3 in 1 By Request collection Mistress Material which has my book The Married Mistress reprinted in it. (This also has books by Lucy Monroe and Daphne Clair in the volume.)

And when I have sorted out the shelves I hope that I will find my next TBR book! While I was still concentrating on writing Angelos's story, Anne McAllister sent me a copy of her The Boss's Wife for A Week which is out now in Presents - and has been on the Waldenbooks Bestseller list for three weeks! Congratulations Anne! This only makes me want to read this book even more. I did snatch a glance at it while I was still wrestling with Angelos, and before I knew it I was at the end of the first chapter - and I so wanted to go on! But I had to be strong. I had my own book to write.

So I put The Boss's Wife For a Week away safely to avoid temptation. But the trouble is that I put it somewhere so very safe that now that I have time to read it, I cant find it - it's somewhere in the piles of books that need to go back on the shelves! Oh well, at least that means that I have an extra incentive to sort the books out in order to find it. But it also means that when I do find it I shall probably down tools and read until I've finished it. I hope I find it soon.

In the meantime, I've been reading lovely India Grey's first book - The Italian's Defiant Mistress which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's one of those books where I could hear India's own voice as I read which for me is a real plus in a book. It shows an author who has an individual writing voice that will be hers no matter what story she tells. I'm a little bit late reading this in the UK edition which came out in July - which just shows how busy I've been. But like Anne's book this one is out in America this month so if you're looking for a good read why not grab both of them before they're off the shelves?

No - it's no good - now I've mentioned The Boss's Wife for A Week, I'm going to have to find and read it. I've heard such great things about that I just can't wait.

I'll be back when I've got all the books back on the shelves and hopefully found it - and read it!

Happy Birthday Hugh!

I've been a bit slack on the blogging front recently - I've had one of those 'when did I ever have the time to write' weeks since I sent the latest book to my editor.

But I have to blog today to mark the birthday of the inspiration that is Hugh Jackman.

12th October 1968 is the date that Hugh Michael Jackman was born and as the recent annual Hugh Jackman Fest on the Pink Heart Society, and the following report on the Legend that is Hugh-in-a-towel that followed, shows this is an auspicious and important date in the catalogue of inspirations to many many romance novelists the world over.

So Happy Birthday Hugh - and thank you for all those wonderful ideas! And as Anne McAllister says, if a picture paints a thousand words then I can go about my even more busy day today secure in the knowledge that I have 4000 brilliant words on my blog at least!

And it will have brightened the day for many visitors today too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUGH!

Bye Bye Black Angel . . .

Angelos Rousakis has left the building. The Black Angel has gone from my desk to my editor's (thank heaven for email in the time of a postal strike!) and I hope she'll be very happy with him. He'll stop her from cracking her whip for a day or so anyway!

Now I have the updates on my web site to complete (I've done some but more are needed) , the course in Fishguard to organise, lots of letters to catch up with and a TBR mountain to scale. The problem there is going to be which book to open first . . . Anne McAllister's The Boss's Wife For A Week - Jodi Picoult (I have 3 on my TBR pile)- Abby Green The Kouros Marriage Revenge - The House at Riverton - The Story of You . . . I need to read my fellow tutor at Fishguard's (Jane Jackson) novel Dangerous Waters before I see her again - Kate Hardy says this is a wonderful read so I'm looking forward to that . . . and oh I'd love to reread some Mary Stewarts (Reread! Kate - are you crazy? I don't have time to read the books I've been given!)

But first I need some sleep . . .

Then it's the TBR pile and the TDL (To Do List!)

Garden idyll

I love my garden.

It's just an ordinary suburban garden - quite large and a bit overgrown but at times it seems like a mini wildlife park with all sorts of interesting critters to watch and occasionally a small flash of magic - yesterday was an example.

You all know about the Hecks - the hedgehog family who live at the bottom of the garden - and extended Heck family now, with at the very least two Great Hecks, Middle Heck and the rcently spotted Mini Heck. Then there are the squirrels who come for the almond tree, the frogs from next door's pond, the mice, and of course the cats patrolling their territory like mini-lions. And because Dylan is a hunter we know there are also mice and shrews somewhere - he finds plenty of them to bring us as gifts.

Then there are the birds - the blackbirds and starlings who chase each other around the lawn, the sparrows, the finches - goldfinches, chaffinches - the bluetits, the wren, the robin who comes right up to the spade if the BM is digging and expects work to stop while he hunts for the worms that have been exposed, Posh and Becks the ring-collared doves who sit and coo to each other in a branch of one apple tree while the magpies chatter at each other in the next one along and then fly down to finish off the final leavings of the cat food that the cats didn;t want and that the hedgehogs have also left..

And yesterday for the first time ever in my life I saw a jay. He had obviously found something to interest him on the bird table and he had a good long drink from the bird bath. And luckily I had decided to take a coffee break from dealing with the Black Angel at just the right time. So I got a chance to spot this beautiful creature from my kitchen window and watch him as he visited. He was handsome and proud and so very sure of himself - a real Presents hero of the bird world.

It was a fabulous moment - I don't know what sort of food it was that attracted him but I'm going to try and find out and then I'll put some more out in the hope of attracting him again. I hope he'll come back, but if he doesn't at least I saw him once.

Pure Passion, Polls and Pink Hearts

I'm a bit late with this - but the voting is still open so I'm mentioning while there is still time to register your choice.

Pure Passion is a promotion of Romantic Fiction co-ordinated by the North West Libraries’ Reader Development partnership Time To Read in partnership with the Romantic Novelists Association and sponsored by Bertrams Books. Now they want you to vote for your favourite title from our list. There's a whole range of romances to choose from including books from authors you'll have 'met' on this blog. Just click HERE to see the list and vote

If you live in the UK, on voting, if you leave your name and contact details you will be entered into a prize draw and may receive an invitation to a grand finale event in February 2008, at which we hope you will have a chance to meet the winning writer.

And if you're in voting mood, then All About Romance has a poll throughout the month of October to find your top 100 romances. This is what they say:

This is the fourth time since the inception of AAR that we have conducted this poll. We invite all romance readers to participate in this poll - to do so, simply provide us with a list of your top 100 romances, in ranked order. It is not necessary for your list to include 100 titles, but you may include up to that amount. In order for the results of this poll to be as valid and representative as possible, we need as many romance readers to vote as possible - so send your friends this url and ask them to vote! - and for the spirit of true competition to be the basis for this poll. In other words, your list must include titles by more than one author (and all her aka's).
To participate in this poll, you must submit your ballot of up to 100 romances, in ranked order, no later than midnight, October 31st. You must include your name and email address for your ballot to be accepted, although we will never use either.

Choosing 100 romances wouldn't be a problem - it's ranking them in order 1 - 100 that would be impossible! But if you want to have a go then you'll find this poll HERE

Oh, and I'm blogging over at the Pink Heart Society today - they asked me to write about mentoring new writers so that's what I've done!

And now I'm going back to the Black Angel . . .

That Darn Black Angel

I'm busy - blame it on this guy, or, rather his fictional persona Angelos Rousakis.

My editor will be pleased abut that. (The busyness if not the guy - haven't checked on her opinion re Rufus Sewell)

And if you're bored and want another big, dark, handsome hunk to distract you while I'm busy (Ruby the Airhead Cat this means you) then here you are:

Back soon

Cat Calendar - October

October is Breast Cance Awareness Month

Please click on the Breast Cancer Site in the sidebar every day this month

And help save lives