Sophie and Mark now have a title and a release date. Their story will be called
THE BRIDESMAID'S BEST MAN and it will be released in January 2008.
This means they will be part of two milestones!!! The first month of Mills & Boon's 100th anniversary, which is the biggie!!! (Isn't it wonderful that M&B have been publishing since 1908?) And my personal milestone -- 25 books.
The funny thing is, I've been thinking about the need to "brand" myself as an author, thinking I need to write all my books set in the Outback with a certain kind of hero. (One of my author mates has suggested my brand is a modern Lucy Walker -- I wish.)
I'm not sure how readers feel about that and I would love to hear if they like to know exactly what kind of story they're going to get when they pick up an author's book. More or less like knowing if this author is a cherry ripe of a peanut brittle. For example, when I read Rosamunde Pilcher, I know her books are almost always going to be set in Cornwall or London or Scotland (with a dash of Spain or America thrown in), and I know I'm going to be reading about reasonably wealthy, upper class people with artistic sensibilities, who invariably love gardening or the countryside. I know I can expect warm, emotional stories with some delightful, witty insights, some wise older characters and some less wise young ones, etc, etc. And then there's RP's distinctive voice.
And I love knowing that I can trust her to write about these things. The expectation is part of the enjoyment, I guess. Dick Francis or James Herriot are similarly reliable (no, I didn't say predictable. (quick examples off the top of my head.)
I have no idea if I have a distinctive voice, but anyway, to get back to the point I began making a few paragraphs ago, Sophie and Mark's story is set right in the Outback on the Queensland/Northern Territory border and Sophie is an English girl, pregnant after a one night stand with Mark (when they were best man and bridesmaid). But the title doesn't have a whisper of the Outback in it. I guess it will be on the blurb, however and may be evident on the cover -- and does it matter? I haven't a clue.
Did you know that Rosamunde Pilcher used to write for Mills and Boon? That's why she's my hero. I dream of some day writing a longer book set in WW2, in the vein of the "The Shell Seekers".
