April/May 2008 Update
Hello everyone, I hope spring and the longer days and warmer weather is beginning to make winter seem like a distant memory, despite April showers. I’ve been busy working on my seventh book and am glad to say that it’s in its very final stages. I’ll have a bit of a break now while I go back to my day job for a few weeks. I’ll be working and living in Connemara, a stunning part of the country.
Connemara
It’s a lovely time of the year to be heading to the west of Ireland and I can’t wait to get out of the city.
After the job I’m going to be getting stuck into book number eight, and preparing for my trip to the RWA conference in San Francisco at the end of July. I’m due to be sharing a room with fellow Irish author Trish Wylie – say no more. I can’t wait to see the madness of it all…and with Trish being practically a veteran she’ll be a great guide to have. She has also agreed to step into the lovely Natasha Oakley’s shoes should Ms Oakley win the RITA award for best series romance for her book The Tycoon’s Princess Bride which was part of the Niroli series. I’ll be there to hold her train as she accepts the award on Natasha’s behalf.
This is just a quick note, I’ll be back with more news in a bit – take care for now! And happy reading and writing.
February 2008 Update
Welcome to the start of the end of winter and hopefully the start of Spring. Optimistic I know, especially here in blustery rainy Ireland. But still, there are more and more days with that hint of a certain smell in the air. And that's not just the cows, I promise.
One of the most important things I have to tell you about is that together with my fellow Irish author, the lovely Trish Wylie, we are going to be doing a workshop here in Dublin on Saturday March 8th, in Fitzpatrick's Castle Hotel, Killiney, Co Dublin on - you guessed it - Mills and Boon Romance.
We are doing it at the kind invitation of the Inkwell Writers Workshop,
and if you check out their website: www.inkwellwriters.ie, and click on workshops it'll give you all the details. And not only that, the lovely Jenny Hutton, an extremely experienced Editor from the Richmond offices of Mills and Boon will also be attending, so for any aspiring authors out there, it's an unmissable opportunity. Trish Wylie also has loads of information on her blog, so you can check that out too at: www.trishwylie.blogspot.com. And hopefully we will see you there?
Liz Fielding is celebrating her 50th book publication this year, a remarkable achievement, and she's having a blog party to celebrate at: www.lizfielding.blogspot.com, and I've been lucky enough to be asked to contribute a blog, so I'll be there the last week in March talking about my UK release that month of Bought for the Frenchman's Pleasure.
This book is my fourth for Harlequin Mills and Boon and a very proud personal achievement. When I sold the first book back in March 2006, I almost expected that was it! But of course it wasn't, and thankfully I'm still being asked to write and come up with new ideas which is one of the nicest parts of the job.
Bought for the Frenchman's Pleasure features an Irish heroine: Sorcha, and an arrogant and I hope deliciously gorgeous French hero, Romain. It's special to me because I've set parts of it here in Ireland, in Dublin and also in the far west, on Inis Mor, an island famous for its fort, Dun Aengus.
Sorcha & Romain
Inis Mor
It was lovely getting to mention the classy and famous Dublin Shelbourne Hotel in the book too, as it has been recently refurbished. Unfortunately I haven't yet had the pleasure of dining in the restaurant with its gorgeous banquette seats, but my characters did. Lucky them.
It's also extra special because I got to set part of it in India, one of my favourite countries. I backpacked in India many years ago with a friend, and we went to a place called Udaipur, a stunningly beautiful lake town in Rajasthan which incidentally was featured in the Bond film Octopussy. We used to look longingly across the lake (from our far less salubrious surroundings) to the Lake Palace Hotel and imagine that one day we wouldn't be penniless backpackers but able to afford to stay in the five star resort.
Lake Palace Hotel
Well I haven't made it back there yet but Romain and Sorcha did and I'm pleased to say they had a lovely lunch in the Lake Palace, so we can all live vicariously through them. I hope you enjoy the book which is out in the UK in March and in the US in April.
In early February in London there is a glitzy cocktail party to officially launch the Centenary year of Mills and Boon.
One hundred years of successful publication from 1908-2008. And still producing astounding statistics. Mills and Boon is also launching in India this year, www.millsandboonindia.com which will be fascinating to watch. I have no doubt they'll go down more than well in the land of Bollywood movies which are so gloriously romantic.
In July and August I'm heading off to San Francisco for the RWA conference which is being held in the JW Marriott hotel. And I'm so excited as it's my first big writer's conference to attend as a newly published author.
Other book releases in the UK this year are The Mediterranean Billionaire's Blackmail Bargain in July, about Italian Dante D'Aquanni and Alicia Parker who is convinced that he has fathered and cruelly deserted her sister's unborn child, or has he? And then in October comes The Spaniard's Marriage Bargain featuring the autocratic Isandro Vicario Salazar and Rowan Carmichael, she is the society trophy wife who did the unthinkable and unforgivable: deserted her husband and child, and for no apparent good reason. But then she comes back to claim her child, but will her reasons for leaving be enough for Isandro to understand why she did what she did?
Happy reading and writing!
Best for now
