Boxing Day and Christmas presents

I had the best Christmas present I could give myself in the week before the big day, when I finally pressed 'send' on the very last  edits of Out of Sight Out of Mind. The text is as good as I, and the editorial team, can make it and the cover - back and front, looks great - so now it's on its final journey to print. The next time I will see it will be when my box of author copies arrives. Last time, with Never Coming Home, that was an emotional moment, and I sat down and cried on the stairs. (Shades of Rod Stewart!) This time I think I might break out the champagne. The book has already got a fantastic preview review from The Bookseller - I hope other people will like it too. I think it is a bit more romantic that Never Coming Home, but the plot revolves around mind reading, which is not everyone's cup of tea. Well, we shall see.

This time last year I did a post on how Kaz and Devlin, hero and heroine of NCH, might spend Christmas. This year I've been thinking of Madison and Jay from OSOM. I have to say that my first though was that as they are both totally wrapped up in their work, they might just see Christmas as an unwelcome intrusion. Madison is not totally scientist to the core though - she does have a very feminine side, and she does like to enjoy herself, when she remembers to do it. She has no family, so she has only herself to please at holiday time. I can see her jetting off, at the very last minute, to some warm, exotic location with a beautiful spa, where she will try all the pampering treatments, totally chill out and relax. I wish she would take me with her.

Jay - now he is a completely different story - I think intense is the best word for him. A complete workaholic. But - when the book opens he's a homeless man, with no memory, so his Christmas would very likely be spent in a homeless shelter, or a shop doorway. A sombre thought.

But then he meets Madison ...

I'd like to wish everyone a very happy Boxing Day. I've enjoyed your company here, and on the Choc-lit blog, over the year, and I hope we will be meeting again in 2013. There will be all the excitement of the launch of Out of Sight Out of Mind, I'm planning another photo tour of the locations I used in the book, and I also have plans for a series of posts on my inspiration as a writer. I'm calling them the Inspiration Files. I hope you'll join me to read them and will find them interesting.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday - see you in 2013!