Good News Week!

It's been one of those weeks - I'm happy to say that I've just signed the contract for a brand new novella, which will be coming out as one of Choclit's e-book line - Choclit Lite.  It's a bit different from what I usually write. Quite a bit lighter - crime, but no dead bodies at all. (Don't worry, the bodies will be back in the next one.) The novella is a little holiday from the dark stuff -  lots of fun chasing my hero and heroine around the Italian Riviera for 50,000 words or so. I can't give you a title yet as the publisher is thinking of changing it - until then, we're all in suspense.

The other big news was a complete surprise and I really mean complete. Last year my debut novel, Never Coming Home had quite a bit of success in some of the contests organised by regional chapters of the Romance Writers of America - ones for published authors, judged by readers, booksellers and librarians.

I didn't plan on entering Out of Sight Out of Mind, my 2013 paperback release, for any of them, because of the cost of postage, etc.  But my friend, the American author, Barbara Longley, who I got to know when we were both competing in the American Title contest, had entered her contemporary novel Far from Perfect for the 2013 Maggies - run by the Georgia chapter of the RWA - and won her category. Inspired by Barbara, I thought I'd have a go. I hadn't tried that contest in 2013. I had nothing to lose but the postage.

My entry went off, went through the judging, and a few weeks ago the finalists were posted. Out of Sight Out of Mind wasn't one of them. I was disappointed, naturally, but that's life.

But yesterday I got an e-mail from the organiser. There had been a glitch in the scoring, and Out of Sight Out of Mind was a finalist after all!

The Maggie Awards for Excellence have been given out by Georgia Romance Writers for over three decades. It is a highly respected award in the writing community. I'm thrilled and honoured to have been chosen as a finalist. 

As a taster for the book, the video is below.

The video for Out of Sight Out of Mind

Seeing Stars

Confession time.
I'm currently in grave danger of succumbing to two of the seven deadly sins. That would be pride, and envy. And the source of this temptation? A perfectly innocent magazine - RT Book Reviews.

Making the final of the American Title contest, which was run by RT and Dorchester Publishing, was a big turning point in my career as an author. Never Coming Home was actually written while I was taking part in the contest with another book, Out of Sight, Out of Mind. And that book will be published by Choc-lit in 2013. So the magazine has a rather special place in my heart.

This Saturday the May 2012 edition of RT Book Reviews dropped through my letter box. It takes a while to get to me, as it has to swim the Atlantic first, but it was worth waiting for. Never Coming Home was reviewed in the  romantic suspense category, and was awarded 4.5 stars with the comment that it was a 'nerve-wracking thrill ride filled with deception, base emotion and death and a tempestuous love story.'

What can I say, except thank you? The book has come full circle. When I sent the manuscript off to enter American Title I never dared think that I would one day get to see the published book reviewed in the magazine. It was a dream.

But this year, dreams are coming true.

So - that's pride. But what about envy? Well - today is the first day of the RT Book Lovers Convention, which is taking place in Chicago. Friends Trish Milburn and Barbara Longley from American Title will be there, together with Lynne Connolly from the Romantic Novelists' Association. They will be signing books at the huge book fair that is part of the event, meeting readers, attending balls and cocktail parties, mixers and brunches and generally having one heck of a good time. And I am sooo envious. I want to be there too.
Maybe next year? In Kansas City?

All I want for an e-Christmas

All I want for Christmas -- is an e-book reader.  I'm not that much of a gadget person, but this is one piece of kit I do covet.  The idea of all those books (the voice drops and eyes glisten manically) stored on something the size of one paperback.

I'm a compulsive reader – I read anything from the back of the cornflakes packet to the heavy scholastic tomes.  You know, the ones that break your knee trying to keep them on your lap.  Quite a few of those around the house these days, although I don't always claim to understand what's in them.  This compulsion to read is inherited.  My mother and my grandmother are/were the same.  Is this in the genes or is it learned behaviour?  I've no idea, but whatever it is, I know I get close to panic if I'm stuck somewhere with nothing to read. Or if I think that my stack of books To Be Read is going down.  Now that one is just plain daft, because like any academic /writer/reader, the house is groaning at the seams with books -- but somehow those are  'best' books -- for special purposes or occasions, like going on holiday.  But when the pile of everyday books -- the ones from the library -- starts to go down, that's when the terror starts to mount.  And an e-book reader -- books, just a click away, and no need to buy yet another bookcase to put the little blighters in -- bliss. 

I already have my electronic TBR pile -- a number of my fellow American Title contestants are e-book published -- Savannah and Pat, Edie from ATV who is proving very successful at self publishing, Barbara who has recently debuted with Harlequin’s e-book imprint Carina.  Then there are other writers who have careers based almost solely on e-books, like Lynn Connolly.  One of her latest, Bloody Crystal, features vampires in Llandudno.  I used to visit Llandudno quite regularly when I was working on things involving the Welsh Assembly; it's a favourite Welsh conference centre. When I was there I never encountered any sexy vampires -- clearly I was missing something.

All those books, just waiting. So - an e-book reader is definitely on my list for Santa Claus.