Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Green is not your colour, Jennifer Crusie
…that people think they can act like two year olds?
Somehow the rules we live by day by day, the etiquette we use in our every day dealings with other people, the manners that ensure dealing with even strangers does not have to be an unpleasant, brash encounter, seem to be quite gleefully tossed asunder under the cloak of the internet.
On the internet, you can vent your spleen, splash your greenest colours, vomit vitriol from every aperture, and all from behind the safety of an alias.
No, it’s not sweet Jane Doe posting these remarks about how unfair is life, the universe and everything, it’s Ms Dejected and Despondent, or such similar disguise.
It must be wonderful when you know everyone else is wrong and you’re right and you have to tell the world. It must be wonderful to attack people, tell them they’re cheats and don’t deserve to be where the are, from your towers of moral superiority. It must be fabulous to have that level of self assurance. Mind you, not enough self assurance to sign your name to your posts…
So this weekend, I’m seriously disheartened by sad and angry people who post vicious things about others on the internet. I’m saddened. Disappointed in my fellow man. Or at least the ugly ones. And yes, I’m talking about the weekend brouhaha that erupted over the weekend at iheartpresents. The post was to celebrate the winners of the latest Presents writing contest. Unfortunately the celebration soon deteriorated. A published author winning a contest? How dare they?
I once read a fabulous article by Jenny Crusie in the Romance Writers Report (the RWAmerica journal) about professional jealousy. It stuck with me because of it’s brash honesty and its powerful message and it’s very appropriate now. It’s called “Green Is Not Your Color: Professional Jealousy and the Professional Writer” and you can find it here.
Here’s just a taste of what to expect…
“You wanted something, somebody else got it, and that’s not a good feeling. It’s normal to feel disappointed.
Then wallow in it. Quietly, to yourself, the bathroom is always good for this, but just let it rip. For five minutes. That’s all you get, five minutes to be seethingly, teeth-achingly bitter. It’s your five minutes, so make the most of it.”
It’s sad to see that some people prefer to use the internet as their bathroom.
Filed under: Just for fun, Travel, Writing life, family | Tags: Noosa, Sunshine Coast
I’m still waiting to hear on revisions for Prisoner in Paradise, and the longer the wait, the more you start to worry. Strange, how that sending off euphoria lasts only a wee short while before turning to paranoia…
Luckily I had four glorious days away to take my mind completely off life, the book and everything, and I spent them with some fabulous girlfriends up at Noosa, on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.
Here are some shots from that weekend…
This is the shoreline around the National Park walkway. Fabulous to be where the forest literally meets the sea.
Aren’t they gorgeous? No wonder they inspired characters in early Aussie children’s books. They look like a gang of hairy no-gooders.
The walk along the beach turned inland and along a sandy path that joggers ran along while we all suffered in our thongs (the foot kind of thongs – not the other:-))
But then the path diverted through rain forest and we were in paradise. We saw brush turkeys (the pics too blurred to show) black cockatoos and trees that devoured others.
What a wondrous place. My last foray up to the Sunshine Coast ended up being immortalized in my novella, Back in The Spaniard’s Bed. This time too, there will be a book. The Noosa book, and already it’s simmering away in there.
Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a message I read on a stony beach in Noosa. It was a long way down, must have taken an age to make, but the message was one that we could all do to remember…
Filed under: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Andrea Zanchini, Prisoner in Paradise
It’s been two weeks since I posted and I’m horrified I’ve neglected the blog that long. My apologies! In my defence I sent off my completed ms a week ago and it’s taken a wee while to scrape my brain up off the floor and reassemble it. (Believe me, it feels like that:-)) In the end, after going through a thousand iterations of “The Italian’s Tropical Island Temptress” and “The Italian’s Mistress of Desire”, I simply called it “Prisoner in Paradise” so the wait is on to see if a) it makes the grade, and b) what the title ends up being if it does! Never a dull moment here.
But the ms is done and while I’m waiting on the inevitable feedback, it’s been great to catch up on the mundane stuff like tax returns (seriously, it’s great to catch up on them when you’re so late!) bills and life in general. Even grocery shoppingand ironing looks interesting when you emerge out of deadline:-))
Meanwhile Mills & Boon Australia has some great news! They’ve just started out on Facebook, so maybe you might like to drop in and see what’s happening here! They have big plans for the page and would no doubt love to see you there.
This weekend I’m about to head north to the Sunshine Coast of Queensland for a wee bit of R’N'R with a few fabulous girlfriends, and look forward to a good dollop of research into the deal. Nothing like traveling to a gorgeous destination to get those creative juices flowing:-))
But meanwhile I’d like to leave you with another glorious shot of the inspiration for my latest hero – his name is Andrea Zanchini and he never quite made it into my ms wearing this gear although to my credit, I swear I tried (and actually he makes it wearing much less in some scenes:-)) but I thought he was so lovely I should share…
Enjoy!! In moderation, I should think… Can’t be healthy to overindulge, you reckon?
What do you mean, you don’t care?
We live in the gorgeous Adelaide Hills where we’re always being visited by wildlife. We’ve had koalas, echidnas and even the odd kangaroo thumping around the balcony (in the dead of night, that is so not a sound that comforts you!). Yesterday we found a new friend, an injured Boobook owl, very groggy and scrabbling unsuccessfully to get to his feet.
We rushed him off to the emergency vet service that treats injured native animals and birds and farms them out to specialised carers in the native animal network while they recuperate. The vet called last night to say they think he must have flown into a window and knocked himself cold, which apparently they have a tendency to do. Hopefully he’ll come good in the next couple of days and then the carer will bring him back here to release him.
We only have a photo of him lying doggo in a cat cage (that’s a pretty neat trick for an owl:-), but here’s a shot of how he should be looking, once he’s all patched up and ready to be returned to the wild…
Isn’t he a handsome bird?
Filed under: Covers, New releases, Uncategorized | Tags: A Virgin for the Taking, Virgin
While my next Presents isn’t out until February in the UK and March in US and ANZ - His Mistress for a Million – a story that transports you from cold and wintry London, to the magical Greek Island of Santorini and then home to the arid heat of the Australian outback – I do have more good news on the release front!
Harlequin Mills & Boon are reprinting my Broome book, A Virgin for the Taking, in a special release this coming December, VIRGIN: Wedded by a Billionaire, which features two other great titles as well – Anne Mather’s Seducing the Virgin and Carole Mortimer’s An Innocent Secret.
Here’s the gorgeous cover:-
March and April also see re-releases in the UK, but more about them later.
Meanwhile, my October Bestsellers Collection is on the shelves Downunder, featuring two of my favourite stories, The Mancini Marriage Bargain and For Revenge…Or Pleasure?, so don’t miss out on that one if you missed those releases the first time around.
Lucy Monroe and I are chatting over at Writerspace at 9pmEastern time (US) about The Latin Lover. That’s in about 2 hours from now.
Maybe we’ll see you there!
Because I’ve been remiss and haven’t updated my website for so long (mea culpa!), I haven’t posted an excerpt of Back in the Spaniard’s Bed, the novella that accompanies Lucy Monroe’s in the upcoming The Latin Lover October Presents release. It’s been doing really well on amazon.com this week – currently #1 Presents listing – and I really want to thank everyone who’s bought it so far and kept that rating high.
Here’s the excerpt…
Chapter One
Nobody walked out on Alejandro Rodriguez. Not business tycoons or CEO’s or poker-faced politicians. And definitely not women. Leah Mitchell was just going to have to get that through her head.
He watched her working through the window of her small dressmaking shop from his vantage point across the narrow street, her head down, totally focused on the task at hand, her fingers nimble and quick as they worked the fabric through the machine.
He remembered those fingers, long and slender like the woman herself, and he remembered how they’d once worked their skilful magic on him…
He missed them.
He growled, low in his throat, a familiar thumping demand building below. Soon, he knew, soon he would feel her hands weave their magic upon him once again.
All of a sudden those same fingers stilled and she looked up, her eyes alert, searching the streetscape outside, the passing pedestrians and traffic, almost as if she’d sensed his presence. He smiled as he flipped the collar of his coat up against the unseasonable November cold. So she wasn’t over him? He’d suspected as much.
And he’d enjoy proving it to her.
He’d make her wish she’d never left him, make her beg for more.
And then he’d unceremoniously dump her.
The peak hour Sydney traffic was bumper to bumper along the narrow one-way street but somehow Alejandro forged a path through, parting the sea of cars like he had a god-given right, the tails of his long black coat swirling in his wake like the wings of a manta ray.
He was oblivious to the sound of car horns, oblivious to the calls from irate drivers to get off the road. Because right now his focus was on one thing and on one thing only – Leah Mitchell, and how he was going to get her back into his bed.
* * *
While I’m here, I’d love to share a picture of someone who could be Alejandro – here he is, none other than the entirely gorgeous Antonio Banderas, looking his ruthless best…
Enjoy:-))
I see my fellow Presents author, Lynn Raye Harris, has a copy of my recent US release, The Ruthless Greek’s Mistress of Revenge to give away, so why not rush over to her blog and leave a comment in answer to her question…
Tell me what you love about ruthless Greeks, virgin princesses, or Harlequin Presents in general!
I’m not sure how long the contest runs, but why not leave your answer and see if you can pick up a free book?
You can find Lynn Raye’s blog here!
Filed under: Just for fun, Uncategorized | Tags: Dark Hearted Desert Men, Desert Romance, The Sheik
…why I ADORE sheikh romances – an clip from the original THE SHEIK movie, made many, many desert moons ago
Ah, EM Hull, the world has a lot to thank you for. Including no doubt, the Dark Hearted Desert Men miniseries coming to Presents from April to July next year.
Filed under: Translations, Uncategorized | Tags: Manga, The Greek's Virgin, The Spaniard's Blackmailed Bride
When I was away in conference land recently, my second Manga arrived! Now after my first one, a Manga version of The Spaniard’s Blackmailed Bride, I knew exactly what to expect – a doe eyed heroine, dashing pointy chinned hero and a puppy with floppy ears so cute you automatically went, awwwwwww.
Here’s the front and back covers…
Gorgeous, aren’t they! And so romantic. So I really was expecting the same kind of treatment when my second lobbed in, the Manga version of The Greek’s Virgin. Boy, was I in for a shock! I guess I should have had a clue merely by the cover treatment…
This one is flagged Passion in top left corner, rather than Romance on the first, and straight away this one is more intense, that hero is dripping with angst! And as the back cover treatment, where are the flowers, the smiles? And she’s almost, oh boy, naked! It’s from the opening scene, where Saskia, our heroine, is flung from Alexander’s bed when she makes the huge mistake of admitting she loves him. She is left devastated and totally humiliated and no wonder it’s such a dark dark scene.
Then I opened up the book and WOW. Now I understand why they also call Manga graphic novels, because this one is, um, graphic! I’d show a couple of the inside pages, but this is a family blog, and I’m sure you get the idea. Needless to say, my mother’s eyes bulged and my girls were shocked! (It’s always satisfying to shock your teenage children, don’t you think? Makes such a pleasant change:-))
So I learned something in all this. Whereas my stories have a similar level of sensuality, not all Mangas are the same. And don’t show your mother or your teenage children until you know which is which:-))
