It's Official!

For one reason or another, I never got around to going public with some excellent news.

I'm delighted to announce that my second book, Dangerous Lies, will be published by Medallion Press in 2009.

Let's celebrate by looking at one of the inspirations for Alan....



Mmmmmm.

I've sold my second book! Can you believe it?!?

As you know, Run Among Thorns (available June 2008) is Jenny Waring and Kier McAllister's story. Now, Jenny has a brother – Alan – who leads something of a double life. A double life that catches up with him with a vengeance when he allows himself to be beguiled by a holiday romance with pretty, unsophisticated Marianne Forster.

Dangerous Lies is their story.

You know, I was braced to have all sorts of problems selling my second. I know so many people who've tripped over all sorts of bad luck, bad timing and bad communication in trying to make that second sale, I feel enormously privileged to have breezed through this so easily. J I'm told that Dangerous Lies is an excellent book (by Julie, who is a Writing Goddess, and I am therefore forced to believe her), but even excellent books hit problems… I sent off the partial in every expectation of waiting some months before maybe getting a request to see the full MS (if I was lucky) and was stunned by a quick offer of a contract only a few weeks later.

I suppose I was just lucky this time.

Who knows, perhaps book three is going to be my nemesis?

In any case, if you had hell with your second book, whether it was performance pressure, incomprehensible lack of publisher interest or just damn bad luck, I raise my glass to you.

Visits

This house is about to have a baby in it for the very first time....

Julie is battling the M6 as we speak, bringing herself and her fecklet for a long weekend. On Saturday, I will have TWO big Harlequin M&B talents in my house, when Michelle and her daughter visit, too!

Hooray!

Why is Green so Shy?

It's odd, isn't it? Green is the colour of Go. Red means stop, danger.

So why are there so many words that mean red, and so few usable ones that mean green?

Think about it. Say you're describing a pool of blood – it could be crimson, vermillion, scarlet, claret, burgundy...

Now say you're describing new grass. It's... green. Light green. It's not pistachio or jade, lime or couleur de corpse. It's possibly emerald. But it's certainly not olive.

Meanwhile, our pool of (now congealing) blood is ruby, wine and ruddy, carmine and cardinal. It may even be flushed cherry.

Our grass is still... Green. It's distinctly un-chartreuse-like, and I'd struggle to call it malachite. It's not beryl. Beryl is an old woman in a nylon pinny and a knitted hat.

Is it pea? It peeing well isn't.

Bah. I live in England's Green and Pleasant Land, and when spring springs, there just aren't the words to describe the new grass, the bursting hawthorn, the budding alders and willows, the sharp spires of daffodil leaves and the soft moss.

There's just not enough Green to describe the Green.

RTB

Well lookee there. I have a post up at Romancing the Blog today.

Misc Weekly Catchup

The Wardrobe Rides Again
Brother would like to point out (in reference to our Valentine's Day activities) that things Husband and I might do for each other that come under the 'gutter mind' heading are indeed still practical and useful. However, if Husband continues to point at discarded items of clothing and growl awfully, "Put that in your new wardrobe!" when I am stripping for him, all such activity may well cease.

The Navel on the Middle of Nowhere
On Thurs I'm off on a team residential. The venue is rather remote. We've had three sets of maps and directions, none of which give instructions if you're travelling from the north. I am travelling from the north. One map shows a vast expanse of forest, three hamlets and a number of wriggling single-track roads, but does not mark the venue... I should be back on Friday night. On the other hand, I might never be seen again. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it...

Let them Scoff Cake
There is a cake conspiracy afoot. Everywhere I go, there's gratuitous free cake. Ordinarily, this would be a good thing. But I really want to lose some more weight pronto, and I'm not very good at resisting temptation.

To Do
I haven't posted my To Do List update this week. Please don't make me post my To Do List update this week. I'm holding on to the idea that I can catchup at the weekend. I may even clean the bathroom then, too. If I'm lucky.

Patience, Patience
Many people told me that the time between sale and publication date would fly past. It's not flying quickly enough! Waaaah! I'm so impatient, it seems like decades away. Especially with exciting things happening at Medallion Press on an almost daily basis.

See you at the weekend!

Reasons to be Squeeful (again)

It's a small thing, but nonetheless a good reason to go, "SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" at the top of my voice, and a great Valentine's Day present.

Go to Medallion Press's site, and then you can go two ways.

You can either click on Genres, Romance, Emerald/Romantic Suspence and scroll down to 2008 releases,

OR

You can click on authors, scroll down to the Ls, and click on my name.

It's real. I'm real. So's the book.

What an amazing thing.

I don't believe it...

This is a momentous occasion! I have just sent off my MS of RUN AMONG THORNS to Medallion Press, correctly formatted in house style.

I have done this... *drum roll*... OVER SEVEN MONTHS EARLY.

THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!! I'm EARLY for a deadline!!!

Granted, the deadline's set to their production schedule, not how soon I can do something, but still. I'm going to enjoy this rare, and wonderful moment...

And all this remarkable, unheard of achievement is created in THAT chaotic space. Scary, eh?

(Note Cleo (tortoiseshell) and Chrissy (ginger) curled up together on top of the in-tray stack. They're wondering why I've been dancing round the office going, "booo-yah!")