Pisces are self indulgent...

Have spent my birthday money on the following:-

* 'The Joy of Writing Sex' by Elizabeth Benedict -- my writing friends tell me this book makes all writing joyful.

* 'His Captive Lady' by Anne Gracie -- my complimentary copy from Anne went missing in the post (sob) and I can't miss an Anne Gracie book.

* 'Writing Fiction' by Janet Burroway -- because Susan Wiggs recommended it.

These have all been purchased on line, but of course, while I was in Brisbane, I couldn't resist bookstores and I came home with:-

Classic Ecco -- a cookbook by Philip Johnson an amazing Brisbane chef -- for Elliot -- and he's in heaven.

Book Ends By Jane Green -- because she's such an accessible writer and she fires up my muse like no other.

How to have a Beautiful Mind -- by Edward de Bono -- because a girl can wish, can't she?

What books are on your wish list?

Our Ally...

Gorgeous and talented Romance author Ally Blake is fast becoming a media favourite.

Australians can check out the double page feature on her in this week's New Idea. It's lovely. Ally's a fabulous ambassador.


Go, Ally!!!

Funny how the headlines always want to gloss over the fact that Ally went to university to study English and they concentrate instead on her cheer leading background. I know many people like to think that anyone can write a Mills and Boon and it's true you don't need a university degree. Some of the company's bestselling writers haven't been to uni. That's not really my point. But, the truth is -- these stories are a lot harder to write than they are to read. Ally is one of the very few authors I know who didn't have to submit for years before her book was accepted. Most of us have suffered many rejections, but we stuck it out because writing these particular books is something we really felt called to do.

You have to love it to go on writing book after book once you've been accepted. Harlequin Mills and Boon aren't interested in publishing just one book. They want an author who can produce, at a minimum a book a year, preferably more.

There are a lot of myths out there about romance writing.

If you'd like to know more about this, check out this perceptive article on Anne Gracie's website.

Rita nominations

What an exciting week it's been hearing about friends who've received Rita nominations this year. I've written before about how much I love Kelly Hunter and Anne Gracie books. Both these fabulous Australian writers have scored Rita nominations and believe me, these gongs are so well deserved!
Kelly's was for Best short contemporary with her fabulous book set in Penang, Sleeping Partner, and Anne's is for Best Historical novel for The Perfect Kiss, the final book in her fabulous "perfect" series.

Another very clever Aussie writing friend, (who served me a delicious lunch on the Sunshine Coast at New year) and who's made a huge splash in the romance world in the past twelve months is Anna Campbell, who has two books that are Rita finalists -- Claiming the Courtesan, and Untouched. Wow! Can her feet still be on the ground?

Oh, and I was particularly pleased to see a Young Adult book that I really loved when I was judging my pack of Rita books is also a finalist. Am keeping my fingers crossed that it wins!!!

Much more modest excitement arrived for me yesterday in the form of two new books. Well, one (Princess in the Outback) is actually an old story that's being reprinted. Will tell you more about that when I can show you the cover.
Also received hardbacks of Adopted: Outback Baby, my July Romance release. I tried to scan the cover, but my elderly computer is no longer up to the task.

Oh, and I noticed on amazon that I have a book out in Mills and Boon Polish. Apparently, there are so many Poles living in England now that M&B are selling Polish books in English bookstores. I have no idea which book it is.

Here's what the German edition of In The Heart of the Outback looks like, newly titled You Have Inflamed My Heart.

Meantime, I'm plodding on with the Mother's Day secret baby novella. A secret baby plot always involves a lot of back story, and the trick is working out how much about the past to tell and when. My aim is always to give readers enough information to make them care about the characters and want to read on, but to raise questions in the readers' minds, which will also, hopefully, keep them reading the pages.

So this week has involved a lot of writing and then dumping. I keep a dump folder for bits I've written, that I then discard, but don't want to lose, because they might come in handy later. It's rather sad watching my word count go up and then down again. But I think it's been worth it. I feel as if the juggling and pruning is paying off and my story is starting to show through the mist.

Always so much to do. I met two interesting people recently whom I want to interview to help me with background for two different story ideas.

But I must be disciplined and not get too distracted from this book. There's nothing more alluring than a wonderful new idea, when you're stuck in the middle of the WIP.