Looking Forward - 2009

So it's a different year. It's 2009.

Yesterday was spent with calendars . Making sure that all the important upcoming dates are listed so that I don't forget anything. I love brand new stationery - pristine notebooks, fresh calendars, new diaries, so that was a real pleasure for me.

And there are already plenty of dates and events to note down for this new year even though it Ihas only just dawned. So today I'm looking forward at what's coming up with a whole new sense of anticipation.

I'm sure there will be more to add to the calendar later in the year but for now - here's what 2009 has planned for me . . .

So we'll start in January -

Coming up very soon is the now traditional (well, we've been running it for 3 years!) joint contest - Here Come The Grooms - that Anne McAllister, Liz Fielding and I run every year around this time. It's been in February before but Anne's book is out in January so we're starting early this year. More details very soon.



In February I am teaching a residential weekend course on the Writers' and Artists' Workshop Weekend at Fishguard in Wales. I am teaching The Novel - not specifically Romance writing but writing a novel in general. Obviously plenty of what I have to say will apply to Romance but this course, (like the 12 Point Guide actually) will be suitable for anyone who wants to write any sort of fiction.

And if anyone out there wants to write poetry - or knows someone who does, then the Babe Magnet will be running the Poetry course on the same weekend.

The dates for this event are 20th February - 22nd February 2009 and the cost is an all-inclusive (accomodation, food, classes) £199. That's for six one hour sessions of talks, one to one assessments and assignments.

(If you want to join me there, then if you add my name after yours on the application form, that will save you an extra £10 on the cost of the weekend)

Talking of courses I'm teaching, I will be back in Wales in July when I am teaching the Writing Romance course at Writers' Holiday at Caerleon. This is a very special event as it is the 25th Summer Writers' Holiday. I had to miss last year's event as I was in San Francisco so I'm really looking forward to being back at Caerleon this year.

The dates for this are 26th July - 31st July 2009 And the cost (again all-inclusive) is £399. There are 14 courses in total to choose from and some wonderful main speakers lined up for this event.

Details for both the Fishguard Weekend and Caerleon can be found on the official website here where you can also book online and save money.

Summer of course will be the Conference season and I shall be rushing from one end of the country to another - and overseas, I hope - in July when there will be the RNA Conference in Penrith (10-12th July) and the 29th Annual National Conference in Washington, D.C.July 15 - 18, 2009. And then heading for Caerleon! I might just find time to breathe!

Of course I will also have some new books coming out and the first of these is Cordero's Forced Bride which officially published on February 1st as a Presents edition. And then it's out in March as a Mills & Boon Modern Romance. But I was thrilled to see that even before 2009 had dawned, the ebook version of this book was already on pre-order on eHarlequin and since then it has been riding high in their ebook charts - arriving at #2 today. (And as that's #2 to Lynne Graham's #1 I'm not complaining!) It's also now listed on eHarlequin's Top Ten Bestsellers right now. So it's off to a very good start.

My next romance out in 2009 will be Kept For Her Baby which has a M&B Modern publication date of September 2009. This is out in the same month as my friend Michelle Reid's next book too so I expect that we will be repeating our Super September Contest like the one we ran last year.

Oh, and before that book in September I have a reprint out in May. That's when At The Sheikh's Command appears in Sold to the Sheikh with books by Miranda Lee and Emma Darcy. I haven't yet found out if this is a UK release or an Australian release but I'll let you know just as soon as I can.




Finally, if you're in America and you missed out on getting an ebook copy of my June '08 release Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife - then that is on sale in a special BEST OF 2008 - Best of the Billionaires - sale over on eHarlequin here.

What else? Well, I'll be continuing my blogging as a Pink Heart Society Columnist - my first blog of 2009 is to pick next Monday's Male on Monday so watch out for that. (I've been doing some serious research forthis one!) I'll also be guestblogging on Tote Bags and Blogs on the first Sunday of every month and with We Write Romance whenever they need me! And of course I'll be blogging here too.

And finally, 2009 is a very important year for Harlequin and for me. For two different reasons.

This year Harlequin is celebrating it's Diamond Anniversary - that's 60 years of publishing the brilliant romances we all know and love. So there will be special celebrations all thgouth the year and a special Spotlight on each line in turn, staring with Desire. Presents will have its turn in July, just in time for the RWA Nationals.

My own anniversary will arrive in December 2009 when I will be celebrating 25 years as a published author! 25 years! I can't quite believe it myself. I'm not sure quite what I'll be doing to mark this occasion - but I will be doing something so watch out for that.

And with Bedded By The Greek Billionaire now officially shortlisted for that Best Presents from Romantic Times, it's shaping up to be an exciting year ahead. Now all I have to do is to write the next book and get my publications for the next new year ready and lining up.

Finally, I'm signed up to take part in the eHarlequin Book Challenge 2009 where for every book I read and review Harlequin will be donating a book to the National Center for Family Literacy to benefit their literacy programs - why don't you come and join in too. All you have to do is read and you were going to do that anyway - right?

I hope you'll enjoy the books I have coming up in the next year, come and visit my blog often in 2009 and maybe I'll meet up with some of you at one or other of the events or workshops there are planned for this year.

At last! The Q&A

Ok so - mauscript 'tweaked' and with editor. - Check

Birthday celebrated. - Check

Washing machine repaired. Check - and check ( 1 repair meant that it was noticed that the pipes were blocked- pipes unblocked - Check - washing started - another problem starts up. . . )

Sheets washed and changed ready for visit of Trish Wylie this week. Check

Reviews of books read added to eHarlequin's 100,000 book challenge - check!

Discussions with Lincoln Book Festival organisers about Saturday's Celebration of 100 years of Mills and Boon - check!

Discussions with bookshop at Book Festival to ensure titles by all authors are on sale - and copies of the 12PGTWR2 - check!

Box of 85 signed romances delivered to the Lincoln Book Festival shop ready for prize draw on 17th - check!

(Any enquiries about the M&B event, tickets for this or my workshop - or to buy raffle tickets please phone the Lincoln Drill Hall box office on (01522) 87389 or call in. Email details etc can be found here )

Website updates - in hand - check

Workshop for Saturday 17th prepared - er - nearly

Office cleaned, tidied and sorted - er . . .

Accounts completed . . . er . . . . . . .

Oh well, I'm getting there. And that means that I now have time to hunt out the next questions for the Writers' Q&A and get back to answering them

My apologies to everyone who has been waiting patiently while life got in the way . I'm going to start answering questions now!

Brain cell dusted and polished, ready for thinking purposes - check

Now all I need is to find the questions . . .

Weekend roundup

First of all - and most important - I've still got time to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of my favourite people - and favourite authors.

Today is Michelle Reid's birthday so Happy, Happy Birthday Michelle.

Michelle has a brand-new book, The Markonos Bride out this month and she is planning a revamp and relaunch of her web site - so watch that space.

Next - I've been swamped with Spaniards this week. The latest, Santos, has been tweaked within an inch of his life and sent back to my editor. So I hope she loves him even more now.

And the other Spaniard, Raul, is starting to appear in the Presents edition in America. The book isn't actually on sale in the shops until the end of this month, but Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife is on sale on eHarlequin here as a print book or here as an ebook.

And Harlequin now has this widget which means that you can 'Browse the book' and have a look inside and a sneak preview before you buy. I just hope it works here.

Browse this book

Add to your site

Buy this book

And while I'm talking about reading - and eHarlequin - I'd like to draw your attention to the great 100,000 Book Challenge that is running on the eHarlequin site all year. This is an easy and fun way to make a contribution to charity - in this case, the National Center for Family Literacy - just by reading (and if you're visiting here, you're more than likely to be reading anyway) and then writing a short review of the books you read so that they can be added to the total read all together.

The goal this year is to read a total of 100,000 books thanks to the combined Community team and individual efforts. When the reading challenge ends on December 31, 2008, Harlequin will make an unprecedented donation of an equivalent number of books to the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) to assist them in their challenge to fight illiteracy.

And all you have to do is read and record the books you've read! You need to be registered for the eHarlequin community to post your reviews but that doesn't cost or involve you in anything else and it's easy to do. I've been so busy that I've only managed to post 7 reviews so far - writing books/ launching books etc doesn't leave enough time to actually read them - but this is a Bank Holiday weekend and I've done my revisions, so I'm hoping to add to that total. (Right now I'm reading Annie West's The Greek Tycoon's Unexpected Wife and loving it)

If you want to know more, then there's an introduction and all the rules here

Jayne from eHarlequin has written some clear and helpful instructions about how to post up a review so that it can be counted

Finally I've discovered another stockist for 12PGTWR2 - in the UK at least.

WHSMith online has the book for sale with a 34% saving (£7.25) - and if you're one of the thousands of people who have a WHSmith points card you can get points on this purchase too. This should mean that the book will be asy to order from a WHSmith shop if you prefer.