Caerleon 25

Everyone wants to know about how I spent last week in Caerleon.

What can I say except that it was was wonderful - and WET. Last Wednesday (how has it got to be a week since then??) was definitely time to start thinking about building an ark. The rain came down in torrents and even the college buildings were starting to flood! But the warmth of the atmosphere made up for everything as it always does.

Caerleon is always wonderful but this time it was extra special. Because this time lovely Anne and Gerry Hobbs, the fabulous couple who started Writers' Holiday and who run it with no extra funding, providing the warmest of welcome to everyone who joins them, were celebrating their 25th year of these holidays. So there was an extra special buzz about the event this year.

There was also a little extra work for me and my dear friend Kathy who I have known ever since we met at my very first ever Writers' Holiday years ago. (To be honest I've forgotten quite how many) We were organising a special presentation for Anne and Gerry to mark this special occasion - a memory book with messages and cards and photos from everyone at the event this year and from past speakers, attendees and other friends. This took some doing as I had to sneak into all the classes and announce what we were doing and then make sure the book was available for everyone who wanted to sign. Then Wednesday was spent sticking cards, photo9s and written messages in as well.

So it was probably just as well that it was raining then as we never saw very much of the day other than all the time spent on the book.

I loved meeting up with old friends and of course making new ones . Back this year to run courses were Marina Oliver, Jane Jackson and Lesley Horton and I had a great time catching up with them. As well as the fourteen courses running through the week there were some great Main Lectures from wonderful authors like Katie Fforde (current chair of the Romantic Novelists' Association) , Simon Whaley, Jane Wenham-Jones and Zoe Sharp, Lucy Mangan and agent Teresa Chris. Non-writing partners of attendees could also do a course on painting and drawing with Andrew Earney who you might remember is also at Fishguard.

Unfortunately my camera died on me while I was at Caerleon this year so I haven't been able to download any new photos so I'm having to post a couple from previous years including Zoe Sharp (above) , the bookroom at Caerleon with Jane W-J in the green dress. And of course the lovely Anne Hobbs who together with husband Gerry makes everything run smoothly and that everyone has the best time possible.

And now that the secret is out I can reveal that my next book - Kept For Her Baby - which will be in the shops in the first week of September has this special dedication:

For Anne and Gerry, to celebrate this very special Caerleon Writers' Holiday.

And now you all know why.

if you want to see the presentation of the special book and get a sense of the warm and friendly atmosphere of Caerleon, there is a short video on the Writers' Holiday website. (Special thanks to Simon Whaley who videoed it on his phone and to Anita Loughrey who put it up on the site.

While you're there why not take a look at the courses available for next year (25th July - 3oth 2010) - and yes, by popular demand, I'll be back teaching Writing Romantic Fiction. And the Babe Magnet will be running a course on Writing True Crime so once again you'll get two for the price of one - Crime and Passion at Caerleon.

I know it's a long time away, but lots of people were already booking for next year before they left this year and if that's not a recommendation I don't know what is. If you can't make Caerleon in the summer, then there's always the Fishguard Writing Weekend 19th - 21st February. Maybe I'll see you at one of them.

I'll end this post with a wave to anyone reading it who was at Caerleon this year - specially everyone who was on my course. You were a fantastic group and I had a lot of fun working with you. I hope you learned lots and if you get abny good news about your own writing please let me know.

And I'm already looking forward to next year!

Better late than never . . .

I could have sworn that when I last looked it was - well, my blog tells me that I last posted on Wednesday, but really I thought I'd only just come back from Guildford. And I'm not quite sure what I did since then . . . Accountants, bank manager, cats to the vet, washing, cleaning, shoppping. . . you know - the glamorous life of a writer!

I never really talked much about Guildford - though if you checked out my post on workshops on the Pink Heart Society blog you'll have an idea of what the workshop on Friday afternoon was like. I know I enjoyed the event and I hope everyone else in the group did. I've had lots of emails from people who were there so I think they did. Thank you to everyone who joined in and helped to make the afternoon the fun, productive event it was. I even had one member of the group who came to me at the half time break and said that she had to go home because her mind was so buzzing with ideas she couldn't wait to write them all down!

As you'll see from this photo, the age of the group ranged from mid twenties to 79! Which just goes to show that you never stop learning - and a wide range like that makes for a fantastic mix and lots of differnt points of view in the discussions.

Oh yes, and for anyone from the workshop group - or just anyone who is interested in the workshops/course on writing that I do - just a reminder that I'm not running any more workshops for a while but I will be teaching Writing the Novel at Fishguard in February or the five session course on the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance at the wonderful Writers' Holidays at Caerleon in July. Details can be found here. If I do get asked to run any more workshops in the future, I will of course announce them here or you can check out my Events page to see what's coming up.

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to get any photos of the evening event in Guildford. But I had a lot of fun there too - and I think the audience enjoyed the first part of Girls' Night. But then, being on a panel with wonderful Katie Fforde (her web site describes her books as 'witty and generous romance' - they could be talking about Katie herself) and Matt Dunn (who is much more smiley and friendly than his picture makes him appear) can't really go wrong. And of course there was a great contribution from the other M&B author - Gill (aka Roger) Sanderson and a sparkling performance as compere by Jane Wenham-Jones. A combination that really couldn't fail. I came home with both Katie and Matt's latest books - just need a little free time to sit down and read them!

The Saturday in Guildford was spent in the delightful company of my dear friend Julie Cohen and her gorgeous not-quite-two-year-old son. (He and the Babe Magnet got on particularly well!) The October weather was unexpectedly kind to us - it was warmer than many days in August! - and we had a fabulous time wandering around the city, exploring the castle grounds and discovering the connectionsto Lewis Carroll in Guildford . Including the Alice Garden which is close to the Castle and which has this intriguing stature of Alice Through the Looking Glass on display there.

I could quite happily have spent more time finding out a lot more but time was something we didn't have. Maybe there will be a next time.

Since I came home I've had some more foreign editions arrive - a Japanese and an Afrikaans edition of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife - and I've been thrilled to see Bedded By The Greek Billionaire featuring highly in the ebook sales charts on eHarlequin.

Oh - and if you're into ebooks, the Mills & Boon UK website now features sales of ebooks of many of the recent publications there.

I heard back from my editor about Ricardo. She likes the book - she really loves Ricardo himself - but as always there are tweaks she wants me to look at so guess what I'll be doing over the next couple of days.

But next week, Bedded By The Greek Billionaire will be published in Harlequin Presents and as I'm already thrilled by the reaction and the reviews this book has been getting - the thought of that RT Top Pick still makes me want to do the Snoopy Dance - I think I'll be running a small celebratory contest to mark the event. So watch out for that.

And don;t forget that the Presents Month blog focus is still going on over on We Write Romance. There have been lots of great blogs already, with more still to come this week.

Guildford Book Festival Part 2

Girls' Night Part I

Hosted by Jane Wenham-Jones
Fiction
2008-10-17 19:00
Electric Theatre
Venue Details: There’s nothing wrong with a happy ending!

A celebration of Mills & Boon. In the Mills & Boon centenary year the panel celebrate the enduring popularity of these classic romances.

Katie Fforde, a ‘failed’ Mills & Boon writer who went on to become a successful writer of romantic fiction. Her latest novel, Wedding Season, is her fourteenth.

Matt Dunn’s Ex-Boyfriends Handbook was shortlisted for the 2006 Romantic Novel of the Year Award and the Melissa Nathan Award for Romantic Comedy. His fourth novel is Ex-Girlfriends United.

Roger Sanderson lectured in English Literature during the week and relaxed with rock-climbing and mountaineering at weekends before writing Romance. He has now written 48 medical romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon under the name Gill Sanderson. Roger was a committee member of the Romantic Novelists' Association for twelve years.

Kate Walker has published 52 romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon. Her novels have appeared in over 50 countries and have sold over twelve million copies. Kate has also written the award-winning 12-Point Guide to Writing Romance and A Straightforward Guide To Writing Romance.

£7• £12 Joint ticket for Parts I & II

At last - the RNA!

I'm not at all sure what happened to the last week. There was the journey back from Chichester in some appalling road conditions, there was the interview with Jen, there was catching up to do . . .lots of catching up. There were proofs to correct . . .

And then there was in internet lock out. I just could not get into my email or my web browser - so frustrating!

So now I'm back at last and it's a week since I was in Chichester and lots of other people have posted blog reports on the RNA Conference - check out Kate Hardy and Liz Fenwick for some great reports - and I'm running fast to go nowhere - so I'm just going to post a sort of mini photo-diary of the event so you can see people and get some flavour of it all from the pictures >

So here goes . . .


Starting with the wonderful, unflappable, lovely Jan Jones who organised the whole thing and always does such a brilliant job. Here she is starting off the conference with the notices and the 'Celebrations' announcements.

Next the conference proper started with the panel discussing 'What is Romantic Ficiton anyway?' In this picture are, from the left in white is Nicola Cornick, next to her is Kate Harrison, the Sara Craven, Kate Hardy and Anna Jacobs.

Later that evening, in the bar. Here I am with my friend Kate Hardy. Thanks to Mary who tok the picture and actually managed to get one of me with my eyes open - I always seem to have them shut in photos.

Firsts talk Saturday morning - the interesting and wonderfully helpful Shelf Secrets or how to get your books onto the bookshop shelves by thinking like a bookshop owner by Mark Thornton who also ran a fabulous bookstall through the conference with titles by every author there - including the 12 Point Guide 2 which sold out early on.

Mark's bookshop, Mostly Books in Abingdon won the New Bookshop of the Year 2008 award and you can find out more about that - including his blog on the conference here.

Fabulous Katie Fforde introduces An

Audience with the equally lovely and witty Jill Mansell -->

The bar where most of the - um - networking took plpace. In the centre Katie Ff is chatting with the Sunday morning speaker, Jane Wenham-Jones.

The Chapel where most of the talks were held with the beautiful huge windows.

Brand new M&B author Sabrina Philips whose first book Valenti's One-Month Mistress will be out in February 09. Sabrina has also just got married and brought some of her beautiful wedding photos with her. Congratulations on both counts Sabrina!

The Saturday night dinner and Imogen Howson received the Elizabeth Goudge trophy as the author of the best first chapter of
less than 2,000 words - on the theme 'To Have and To Hold'.

Imogen's own blog can be found here.

Anna Louise Lucia looking glamourous at her first conference as a published author. Her first book Run Among Thorns (which I have read and thoroughly enjoyed) was on sale at the conference - and I also managed to persuade her to sign a couple of copies for the Tote Bag of Books contest which is coming up soon. (I also managed to grab copies of Jan Jones' Stage by Stage for that too- and a couplpe of other books from other authors - more soon)




Nell Dixon (in white) and beyond her Fiona Harper who writes for Mills & Boon Romance. Nell's new book for Little Black Dress Blue Remembered Heels was on sale at the conference too and was the first book to sell out. I took this photograph while she was deep in conversation with the babe Magnet - so you can see why he has this nickname at the RNA!

The dining hall for the Saturday evening Conference dinner - you can practically hear the buzz of conversations!

Julie Cohen at the Saturday dinner looking bright and beautiful - the next morning the image was slightly less so after a glass or two of champagne too many as she celebrated the publication of Anna Louise Lucia's first book.





Biddy Coady who won 3rd prize in the Elizabeth Goudge contest - with only a point or so between the top three. Yes Biddy - you can write - now finish that submission for M&B!

Sunday morning - RNA CHairman Catherine Jones (who writes as Kate Lace for Little Black Dress) leads the session on publicity and plans for the RNAs 50th birthday coming up in 2010.

Jane Wenham-Jones entertains the conference on Sunday morning. Regular readers of this blog will remember that Jane is a friend and regular tutor at the wonderful Caerleon Writers' Holiday which I shall have to miss this year (sob!) because I will be in San Francisco.

Julie Cohen showing the chart of themes and events that she used to plot out her lastest Little Black Dress Girl From Mars during her workshop on Pacing. I found this fascinating as Julie's approach was so very different from the way I work - hers is far more analytical in contrast to my more instinctive approach. Which just goes to prove that there is no one 'right' way of working - and we can all learn from looking at different ways of doing things.

The last night of the weekend - most of the delegates had already gone home but some of us stayed over in order to have an early start in the morning. We all crammed into Jan Jones' flat for a drink (or two) before dinner. And I really meant to join them back there after wards too for the quiz but I made the mistake of going to my room for a moment, sat down on the bed - and fell fast asleep. Conferences are like that! Talking and learning and talking some more . . . and som e more . . . and some more - wears you out! In this photo, I'm afraid I don;t know who the lady on the left is but next to her, with the grey hair is Liz Bailey, then Joanna Maitland, Sara Craven and Amanda Grange.

Christmas Stocking Contest - More Great Books

I should know better than to try and run a big contest at Christmas - right?

I'm busy enough as it is and there are so many other things that need to be done. But then Christmas is always a busy busy time - and I lov e running this contest. It reminds me of how many great books there are in the world (too many!) and so many of them are written by my great friends - and the prize is being offered to my great readers.

So that's a lot to celebrate.

OK - so here are some more of the great books on offer:

Amanda Ashby's You Had Me at Halo is her very first book , published in August this year. It's not a traditional romance - it's actually one of the most original and fun books I've read this year. One of the most original books I've read ever. And a synopsis will give you an idea why.

She's halfway to heaven . . . and she's just been pulled over

Holly Evans has just seen her own body laid to rest, and if it had been up to her, she wouldn't have chosen that particular polester dress for the event. Still, she could live with that (so to speak) if it guaranteed a quick jump to Level 3 of the afterlife, which she hopes will feature both reruns of Friends and reunions with lost loved ones.

But Holly has some mortal baggage to unload first, starting with the matter of how she died. Yes, she drowned in her bathtub under suspicious circumstances, but she did not kill herself. Holly had too much to live for, from her recent promotion to taking the next big step in her relationship. OK, her life had a few loose ends but whose doesn't? Holly's heavenly shrink isn't buying it. He says she has to return to Earth to straighten things out. The problem is, she'll need to borrow someone's body to do so, and the body in question belongs to none other than computer geek, Vince Murphy. Oh, and although Vince was supposed to have vacated the premises, he apparently never got the memo.

Now Holly has 48 hours to resolve her issues while sharing arms, legs, and . . . other things with a guy she barely noticed while she was alive. But the real surprise is what life has to off when you have only two days to live it.

And this book actually comes with your own personal free halo!
Don't believe me? Well, check out Amanda's blog where you can see her wearing hers!

Amanda's next book will be the equally original Zombie Queen of Newbury High, a Young Adult book. Coming Spring 2009 (Puffin)

If you read this blog when I wrote about the RNA Awards lunch in April this year, you'll remember that I met new Modern Extra author Heidi Rice there. Heidi has given me two signed copies of her very first book too - Hers is titled Bedded By A Bad Boy.

A tough loner - with a past . . .

Monroe Latimer is a drop-dead gorgeous Harley-riding bad boy who doesn't do commitment. No way; no how.

One look at Monroe and feisty English girl Jessie Connor knows he's about as Mr Wrong as a guy can get, but there's one great big problem. He's sexy as hell, he fires her blood like no other man ever has, and his killer bllue gaze is focused right on her. His look says he'll bed her - but never wed her . . .

Is Jessie the one who can tame the untameable?

Bedded by a Bad Boy is out in the US in January under the new title Bedded by a Playboy in the Harlequin Special Releases Presents collection Pregnant Mistresses. Heidi's second Modern Extra The Mile High Club was out in the UK in November, is due out in the US in March under the new title The Millionaire's Blackmail Bargain. Her third book was accepted last month and is out in the UK in July as The Tycoon's Very Personal Assistant.

Finally today, there's One Glass is Never Enough by Jane Wenham-Jones, who, as you'll know from my posts on the subject, shares my love of and and teaches at Caerleon Writers' Holiday which is where I met her:

Three women, one bar and three different reasons for buying it.

Single mother Sarah needs a home for her children, Claire's an ambitious business woman. For wealthy Gaynor, Greens Wine Bar is just one more amusement. Or is it?

On the surface, Gaynor has it all - money, looks, a beautiful home in the picturesque seaside town of Broadstairs, and Victor - her generous, successful husband. But while Sarah longs for love and Claire is making money, Gaynor wants answers. Why is Victor behaving strangely and who does he see on his frequent trips away? What's behind the threatening phone-calls? As the bar takes off, Gaynor's life starts to fall apart.Into her turmoil comes Sam - strong and silent with a hidden past. Theirs is an unlikely friendship but then nobody is quite what they seem in this tale of love, loss and betrayal set against the middle-class dream of owning a wine bar. As Gaynor's confusion grows, events unfold that will change all of their lives forever.

So if this makes you want to enter the contest and you haven't already, then check out my Contest Page on my web site for the details of what you have to do.

Contest closes 18th December 2008

Catching up - and the Blog Party one last time

Well, I suppose it was inevitable. You know how it is when you've had a wonderful party and you finally get all the tidying up done. The ballons have withered and the flowers faded, the food is all eaten and the wine has been drunk - and you've picked up all the wrapping paper and ribbons and the gift tags and tried to make sure you remember who gave what . . . and then under the table or behind the settee or in a box you thought was rubbish, you find on last little gift that you'd manage to miss all this time.

And that's what happened this week. As I sorted out things and organised the last distribution of prizes from the Great Big Blog Party, I realised that there was one final giveaway that had not been given away.

I know what happened. When I said that I would write some Writers' Holiday at Caerleon specials to round up the Blog Party, I originally had two books from writers and tutors at Caerleon to go with those posts. Books by Zoe Sharp (First Drop) and an extra novel by Jane Wenham-Jones (Perfect Alibis) . Then the lovely Jane Jackson said that she wanted to join in too and she wrote a blog post and gave away her book Dangerous Waters. And in the final Caerleon post I rounded off the Blog Party with copies of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge and Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride.

Spot the not- so -deliberate mistake? Jane W-H's book was never given away. And that's what I found this week, complete with the 'Greetings From Caerleon' message where she signed it for that Caerleon Special.

Well, this is a book that was meant to be given away - so, although the Blog Party is over, I need to organise a winner to receive this book. So I'm offering it as a final, very last Blog Party Prize - and all you have to do to be in the running for it is to leave me a message in the Comments section telling me what you liked best about the Great Big Blog Party - all 60 posts of it! Did you have a favourite visitor - a favourite post? What did you most enjoy about the party? If I have another one will you come again?

Leave a message and I'll get Sid to pick a winner in the usual fashion and you could end up with a copy of Perfect Alibis to go on your To Be Read Pile.

And talking of celebrations. Remember the real Writers' Weekend to celebrate the 50th title when my lovely, wonderful friends gave me flowers galore to celebrate - well, I just had to share this with you . .

Here (on the left of the picture) is a little patio rose bush that dear Jan Jones gave me back in June. I brought it home, found a larger pot to put it in and put it in my garden. This week I was checking on it after the rain and more rain and a little sun and more rain - and I found that it now looks like this -->

And guess how many flowers there are on this bush now - 50 - some in full bloom, some part open and some just buds - but there are 50 of them! That's really rather special.

So Thank you again Jan - your rose bush is looking wonderful.

And finally, for the fans of the Hecks, the hedgehog family. They are all doing well, in spite of the cold evenings and the rain. They were round visiting last night, looking for cat crunchies or cast-off cat meat. So I'll leave you with a picture of Middle Heck - who has grown over the summer in to Pretty Great Heck.

Great Big Blog Party Caerleon Special - and Jane Jackson

When I think of Caerleon - which I do quite often - I think of food. Lots of it.

I've been to conferences, writers' events, courses where the food had been adequate - sometimes even good. But I have never been anywhere, even at a far greater price, where the food has been as plentiful and wonderful as it is at Caerleon.

You arrive, unpack, head for the welcome reception and a glass of wine and go from there into your first meal - Sunday evening dinner - a choice of 3 cooked meals (one veggie) or the salad bar. I always, always indulge in the salad bar. Yes, indulge. It's not one of those miserable two bits of lettuce and a tomato salad bars, there's a huge choice of at least ten different salads - and there's chicken, ham, salmon, quiche, prawns, tuna . . . to go with it. Then if you have room there are wonderful puddings - and cheese and biscuits and fruit - and coffee . . .

The first time you think 'well, I'm on holiday . . .' The next morning you think 'Oh a cooked breakfast -what a treat . . .' Lunch offers the same number of choices as dinner the night before, dinner is the same. And you can, if you really want to pig out, have biscuits with your tea

and coffee mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

By Wednesday, I'm always thinking 'Oh no, do I really have to eat again?'

The other thing that always hits me in the dining room is the noise - the sound of a couple of hundred voices talking - getting to know each other, asking what course are you going on, buzzing with excitement at what they've learned. Later the lecture theatre will be full of sound too - from the speakers talk or thequestions asked - and often the place is rocking with laughter too. And on the last night there is the glorious, soul tugging sound of the Cwmbach Male Voice choir in their regular concert.

Food - and a little wine - and lots of talk and laughter. A dozen wonderful courses to choose from. Another half dozen 'Main Speakers'. And then there are the 'After Tea' Sessions - times when volunteers - people who are at Caerleon for the holiday or as speakers who offer extra short courses or just a one off class so that you can learn even more,, find out extra things. There's been a class of Palmistry, dowsing, the BM talked about writing the Grim and Gruesome, there is a time to practise reading poetry aloud, ready for the regular Poetry Night with Caerleon's resident Mad Russian Poets (of which more tomorrow).

But before I introduce today's Caerleon Guest Blogger, I remember that I promised back in July that I would let you know what colour Jane Wenham-Jones (who was running the Starting to Write a Novel course) had her hair this time. It was red white and blue last time I saw her in London at the launch for Wannabe a Writer. This time is was - well, see for yourself . . .

As I said, Jane is never boring.

Oh, and inside Wannabe a Writer there is a competition to write the opening of a novel - and the prize is a free week at Caerleon Writer's Holiday.

Jane W-H was running the beginner's course on writing a novel, and today's guest - another Jane - was running the Intermediate Novel Writing course.

Looking back at my photos of this year's wonderful week in Caerleon, I was stunned to realise that I didn't have any photographs of lovely Jane Jackson and her equally lovely husband Mike. I suppose that was because she was teaching a lot of the time and when she wasn't teaching then she and I - together with the BM and Mike and often Marina Oliver (also a tutor -on the Advanced Novel Writing Course) joined us too - spent a lot of our time talking and talking - over one or more of those amazing Caerleon meals. We don;t meet up all that often so we have to make the most of it when we do.

I first met Jane at an earlier visit to Caerleon and took to her straight away. A softly spoken, lively-minded woman, with an amazing smile, she has brought a real warm friendship and a lot of laughter into my life in a very short time. After only one meeting, when we met up again for the Fishguard Novel Weekend last November, it was as if we had been friends for ages and we just took up where we left off. Jane and I share a connection in that she used to write for M&B too, as Dana James, but now she writes historical romantic adventures set in Cornwall in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Jane's recent book Dangerous Waters was long-listed for the RNA's Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Jane has kindly offered a signed copy of this book as her giveaway prize today.

So I'll let Jane Jackson introduce herself:

A professional writer for over 25 years, with 25 novels published, I've lived in Cornwall almost all my life. My last ten books have been historical adventure romances, and the most recent, Devil's Prize, set in C18th Cornwall, will be published early next year.


I'm delighted to have made it in time to join Kate's fantastic celebration party. Fifty novels is a tremendous achievement, and Kate deserves every one of the accolades she has received. Her books transport readers into another world: one of conflict, passion and love that triumphs over all.

The moment you pick up the latest Kate Walker novel you feel a delicious sense of anticipation. All the covers are so gorgeous I'd be hard-pressed to choose a favourite. But if forced, two of the more recent ones that draw me back time and again are At the Sheikh's Command, and The Sicilian's Red Hot Revenge.

Though Kate and I only meet rarely, we got together recently at Writer's Holiday in Caerleon, South Wales where Kate gave one of her fantastic talks. As gifted a speaker and tutor as she is a writer she had an entire hall full of people rocking with laughter. What secrets was she sharing with us? Ah, that would be telling.
Many many congratulations, Kate. Here's to the next fifty!


GIVEAWAY QUESTION:

Who is your favourite character from a historical novel?

GIVEAWAY PRIZE:

Copy of Dangerous Waters, long-listed for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2007.

Website address: http://www.janejackson.net/

Jane and I will be back together again at this year's Fishguard Novel Writing Weekend in November. She, like me, is one of those generous, caring - or just plain mad - tutors who can be persuaded to run an extra class on the Saturday night - and we only need to be bribed with the offer of a glass of wine! Can't wait to see you again Jane !

(If you want to know more about the Fishguard Novel Writing Weekend - click on the link above or here . There are details on my web site and some photos of the hotel - where the food is pretty good too! - but the web site url had changed and I haven't updated it yet. Same with Caerleon Writers' Holidays - the info for that is on this link.)

Great Big Blog Party 27, 29 & 30 - Prize Catch Up

Right lets have a Great Big Blog Party winners catch up :

First up is Trish Wylie - whose absence on the day of her blog was caused by her brother switching everything off and going on holiday - no internet connection!

So Trish has had to go rather a long way to find a connection and send the news of her winners - a long - long way!

Here's what she says:

Right from New York I choose Lidia for the Anne McAllister recommendation to add to my reading list - so she gets Bride of the Emerald Isle

And Melissa for the lovely description of her hubby...and she gets Return of the Rebel

Trish

Next Guest Blogger with a prize on offer is Jane Wenham-Jones whose winner is Rachel

All the replies were great - enjoyed them all. But Rachel's was the one that made me chuckle the most. It was the image of the gin hidden behind the cookbook - you and me girl! :-)
Thanks so much for commenting though each and every one of you. You all sound great - shame we can't have a real-life fiftieth party together and get that champagne flowing. Hurrah for Kate eh?
(See you at the end of the month, sweetie - shall buy you a big drink then xx )
best to all janexx

Rachel - you win a signed copy of Wannabe a Writer - together with a signed copy of Jane's third novel One Glass is Never Enough.

And finally, wonderful Liz Fielding who employed her equally wonderful DH to pick a name out of a hat - and he picked Dena .

Dena you win Reunited: Marriage in A Million - which is on my TBR pile right now.

So ladies, you all know what to do - send me your snail mail adresses and I'll send them to the blogger who donated your prize

And Congratulations

Great Big Blog Party 29 - Jane Wenham-Jones

The thing I always notice about today's guest - Jane Wenham-Jones - is that you never know what colour her hair is going to be. It always has some sort of reddish tones in it - but those tones could be auburn or coppery gold - or even, the last time I saw her - red white and blue. Whatever else she is Jane is not boring!


Definitely not boring. The other thing about Jane is her sense of humour. As Jane herself recalls, we first met at Caerleon Writers' Holiday (and yes, Jane - Caerleon is definitely the jewel of writers' holidays - that's why we're both addicted) I sat in on one of her Main Talks and laughed all the way through it - as a speaker she's a star. It was an hour of pure entertainment. Now I'm stunned to read that Jane actually thought me scary (moi, Jane? You have to be kidding!) Well, I soon disillusioned her on that score. That was when she cornered me in the loo - yes I do remember Jane!

As well as being a great speaker, Jane has written 3 excellent novels - and contributed to the Sexy Shorts range of Short Story collections, which raise money for charity. And the last time we were in Caerleon she told me about her latest project - a book on how to be a writer called Wannabe A Writer? She asked if I would like to contribute and sent me a detailed questionnaire. You'll probably remember that I wrote about the launch of Wannabe A Writer in May when I went down to join Jane and all the other contributors in Borders Charing Cross Road. That was when Jane had the red white and blue hair.


I'll be seeing Jane again soon in Caerleon - this time she's running the beginner's novel-writing course - Novel Writing - Where Do I Start and I'll be doing the Main Talk. I suspect we'll share a glass of wine - or two - or three . . . And Jane will probably end up dancing in - or even on - the bar on the final evening after the performance of the Cwmbach Male Voice Choir . Can't wait. I'm already starting to wonder - what colour will your hair be this time, Jane?

So here's Jane Wenham-Jones

Tra la la la la.. There must be fifty ways to leave your lover - tra la la la - as Paul Simons sang so eloquently. Or in Kate Walker's case - fifty ways to hook one in the first place. Fifty sizzling love affairs, fifty happy endings, FIFTY books - blimey! My admiration knows no bounds.

As one who has taken the best part of ten years to weep, wail (while doing god-only-knows-what damage to her liver) her way through a mere four books I literally do not know how this woman does it and was suitably terrified of her when we first met.

It was at Caerleon - the jewel of writing holidays - where we were both speakers. Imagine how daunted I felt standing up to give a how-to talk to an audience including someone who'd been there, done that, got several dozen of the T-shirts and always looked totally fabulous to boot.

"She's very scary", I confided to my friend Maureen. "Go and talk to her," instructed Maureen, who doesn't have any truck with nonsense like that. I eventually cornered Kate in the loo (do you remember K?) and discovered how lovely she is. Generous too - she gave me so many tips for my writing book - Wannabe a Writer? - she's got nine page numbers in the index.

Congratulations Kate! I'm raising a glass to you (any excuse) on a fantastic achievement and here's to the next fifty...

MY GIVEAWAY QUESTION : Who is the scariest person you've ever met?

MY GIVEAWAY PRIZE: a signed copy of Wannabe a Writer - containing wit and wisdom from our Queen of Romance together with a signed copy of my third novel One Glass is Never Enough (because let's face it, if you want to be a writer, it won't be).
love janex

http://www.janewenham-jones.com/
http://www.wannabeawriter.co.uk/