Sold and Seduced Review

The Romance Junkies have reviewed Sold and Seduced. It received Five blue ribbons. So I am very pleased. My favourite part of the review was Michele Styles is a much beloved historical author and SOLD AND SEDUCED is a prime example of the reason why her fans are so devoted. With characters so vivid you can see them in your mind’s eye and a plot that will keep you glued to the pages awaiting each battle of wills between Fabius and Lydia. There’s an undertone of some wrong doing from someone associated with Lydia’s father but we’re kept in suspense until near the end of the book. I loved the historical aspect to the storyline and was fascinated by the different types of marriage and Lydia’s horrified reaction to what she perceived as being forced into an archaic marriage. I have to confess I love how Fabius challenges Lydia with the kissing wager. There’s no doubt that it gets her thinking about kissing him constantly and actually seems to bring them closer rather than destroy their relationship.

The news absolutely made my day. So thank you to Chrissy and all the rest of the team at Romance Junkies. It is reviews like this that remind me why I am writing and who I am writing for.

23 April

Lovers of the English language should rejoice today -- it is Shakespeare's birthday as well as being St George's day.

There is much debate on the authenticity of Shakespeare. Was the playwright really the man buried in Stratford on Avon? Some of it must be pure snobbish -- how could the son of a glove merchant has such a way with words. Personally, I have no problem with Shakespeare being Shakespeare. He does use many colloquial Warwickshire phrases. Neither do I have a problem with his leaving his wife and family in Stratford when he went off to London to make his fortune. It happens all the time. There are many logical reasons why he might not want to bring a young family to London. And who knows about his marriage.

My dh gave me 1599 for Christmas. It can be hard going at times but basically details one of the year's when Shakespeare was at his most creative. It is interesting that he too felt the tug of do you make your work commercial or do you write for the critics? In general he chose the commercial. The court thought he should contrate on his sonnets.

What shines through in his work is his voice. The way he put words together. How he created characters. The best way to enjoy Shakespeare is to go in person and see the plays. A play is a living, breathing entity. It needs actors to bring it to life. How the actor interprets the words, how the scene is set. To simply reading Shakespeare is to miss the whole point. Go and see a play. Listen to his words. It should refresh you. Also remember that he was not in general playing to the court, but to the average man in the street. he competed with the orange sellers, the monkey grinders, the pick pockets and the thieves. He is a multi-layered playwright. And what is also obvious is that he worked at his art. He was a professional. He exhibits -- desires, determination, dedication and discipline. And he made everyone's life richer for it.

Debra Dixon: Goal, Motivation Conflict

Almost since the time I started to get serious about my writing and read the e-harlequin boards, I have heard about Debra Dixon and how wonderful her book, Goal Motivation and Conflict is. HOWEVER, if you go on Amazon, it appears to be out of print and only available at an extortionate price. How could such a highly rated book be out of print I wondered? The truth is -- it isn't. You can order it from the publisher Gryphon Books for Writers for $19.95 plus postage and handling. It works out $26.30 or 13.15 British pounds if sent sea mail.
Is it worth it? Now, this is a hard question to answer. Dixon is certainly very good, and easy to follow. She made me think about my current wip. BUT most of what she is saying is not new. It is in most other books about writing. What is new is the way in which she presents the material.

I also wonder if many would be published authors get little bits of her work and read it as gospel. For example the bit about not having misunderstandings. Misunderstandings are fine, if you can see the motivation behind them. There are many reasons WHY people can not simply sit down and talk about things. Or if they tried to sit and talk, they would lie. Easily cleared up misunderstandings are not good, but misunderstandings that play to the heart of the internal conflicts are. Some people appear to go for the broad brush approach. The devil, however, I am pleased to say is in the detail. Dixon is describing what works for her. She does not say that it has to work for everyone. She talks a great deal about rules, but makes the point that understanding the motivation behind the rules is more important than the rules themselves.
Dixon makes the point about degrees of conflict. How heavy do you want to get in your motivation? If the conflict is too heavy, it can sink the story because the HEA is in doubt. One way around is to move out a degree. Dixon uses the example of heavy v light with a hero who wants a large family and a heroine who can't have children. A lighter conflict is a hero who wants a large family and a heroine is bringing up five boys on her own and wants her freedom from parenting. Depending on the sort of story, you may want to increase or decrease the level of conflict. But however you write it, the conflict should be clearly defined.

This book is not a beginner's book. I would call it more an intermediate book. It is best aimed at those writers who struggle with plot and structure. It is very good for those people who want to learn more about the WHY. There is much to like in the book and any book that makes me think is a good book. It addresses a very specific problem -- namely goal, motivation and conflict.

Will I use it? It is another tool in my toolkit for trying to create the best wip possible. What Dixon says is not new or revolutionary. But the way she says it, may appeal to some people. It is easy to understand. The examples are straight forward ( even if I don't agree with all of them). She uses film rather than books.

I would certainly not pay the crazy price on Amazon for it. Go directly to the publisher. If you like writing craft books, it probably worth reading, just to see what the fuss is about.

I had to laugh at the list of recommended books -- Linda Gooodman's Love Signs is there as a book that should be somewhere within your house. She also lists Vogler and Campbell. But I think the list incomplete and a bit facile. My list is somewhat different, but then that is fine. Different wirters work differently.

The Roman's Virgin Mistress -- cover

Barnes and Noble have the July covers up and so I have finally been able to see what the North American cover is going to look like. I love the strap line -- Seduction Under the Italian Sun.


I am really thrilled with it. I know my editor went and looked for images Baiae where the story takes place.

The blurb reads:

Scandalous!
Silvana Junia knows what the gossips say about her – and doesn't care! Until a mysterious, dangerous stranger rescues her from the sea, and she's instantly drawn to him.
Notorious!
Lucius Aurelius Fortis is rich and respected. But his playboy past could come back to haunt him if he cannot resist his attraction to beautiful Silvana. And in the hot sun of Baiae their every move is watched…
Outrageous!
Tempted beyond endurance, Silvana will become his mistress. But she has one last shocking secret…which will change everything between them!
Rome, 69 B.C.

You can read an excerpt of the story here.

Anyway, I am really thrilled with it all. It is a really special moment when an author gets to look at the cover of her book.

Now All I have to do is keep writing my current wip.

Required Listening

Phillipa Astley has a link to the Easter editoion of Open book on her blog and it should be required listening for all writers -- whether they are published or not. The programme deals with how editors, publishers and authors work together. In particular it gives an editorial view of revisions and why they happen. I can't imagine ever working like Rose Tremain who has her editor come and visit. They then go over the book page by page in the course of two days. And I did find it amusing when an editor described how she tried v hard to be diplomatic and postive. One of her authors was then asked how he felt when he got one of her letters -- bruised and battered came back the reply. The morale is: author's egos are fragile. And some times, it does not matter what is said, the author is not going to like it. Personally, I agreed with another author who said he would be upset if the publishing house simply took the novel without any revisons, because he knows how much stronger a professional eye can make the book. There is always something that can be revised.

The part on covers was very interesting as well. How a cover needs to create a mood. This is certainly true of Sold and Seduced and The Roman's Virgin Mistress. And the prototype of Taken by The Viking that I have seen. As Cheryl St John has already recieved her July cover and it is beautiful, I am hoping they will be putting the July covers up soon and then I can put the cover for TRVM up.

The programme is very much geared towards the literary end, but I know that much of what is said is true of HM&B. They do stick with authors. they want to grow authors.they believe in authors. They buy books because they like the authors. I loved how Orion stuck with Ian Rankin for seven years.

The programme takes about a half hour and I enjoyed it. I was also amused that they did not dare state the obvious -- the one publisher who REMAINS a brand -- Harlequin Mills and Boon. M&B readers still wait for the publication day of their favourite series. Something that Penguin readers gave up on awhile ago.

Sold and Seduced in the shops

My friend Kate Hardy has sent a photo of S&S in WH Smith's in Norwich.

Red Rose for Authors has done a lovely review of Sold and Seduced. You can read it here. My favourite bit of the review was: This sensual, beautifully written and researched book is an absolute joy to read. I think it is equally as good as her first – The Gladiator's Honor – which has been short-listed for the RNA Romance prize. It quite made my morning.

Today the children go back to school, and i have to get very serious about my writing. I have allowed it to slip, and I need to reassert my discipline. However, I do think that it is often like this -- the first few weeks are slow as I stumble around and then I pick up speed as I begin to know my characters better. It is one reason why I like to write down the number of words done each day. It means I can go back and check. A sort of comfort blanket for those days when I feel daunted. I have only written 4.5k words since last Tuesday, but I am still on course for finishing the first draft by 8 June.

Over the weekend, I read the column --A Writer's Year and the woman was extolling the fact that she had written 25k in 4 weeks as being wonderful. I suppose it is -- it depends where you are in the novel. But she was then going to take six weeks off as she had other things to do and maybe she would come back to it. If I am 25k into a novel, I find I can't time off, it begins to consume my waking hours. Even if I have other things to do, I would make sure I spent sometime every day on that novel. I would owe it to my characters. Otherwise, after six weeks, I would have to start all over again.

As I said to my dh after reading the article, either you are a novelist and make the time, or you're not. And this woman holds herself out as a full time novelist. It is why she is writing her column in the newspaper and advising other people on their novels. Good work habits pay off in the end. It is all about discipline. There again the only way I ever finished any writing was to work on it each day.

I don't have the time to sit down and write 10k in a day. I can remember when I first started, I read on e-harlequin about writing two pages per day and how that would give me two books per year. I can do that I thought, and it helped me. I now do considerably more than two pages -- my ideal is about 10, in addition to any editing. For me, I need the discipline of working a little each day.

It is probably one of the reasons that I like the Tharp book so much as she does have a heavy emphasis on discipline.

Sold and Seduced Contest winners

The three winners are:

Amanda Packard

Amanda Jenkins

Stacy Helpman

Each winner will received a signed paperback copy of Sold and Seduced and Kate Walker's The Antonakos Marriage, the book that gave me my seed or as Twyla Tharp would say -- the book I scratched my idea from.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who entered. My next contest will be for a signed hardback copy of The Roman's Virgin Mistress and full details will be in my May newsletter.

Failure leads to success

I have been reading Tharp's The Creative Habit and have found much to like. I loved her chapter on disasters. How people do their best work often after failure. Nobody succeeds all the time. Failures humble. The best failures are the ones you make alone in your room with no one watching as you strive to perfect your material.

It is the old Thomas Edison theory about finding 9,999 ways that a light bulb didn't work. In order to get to the 10kth time, he had to try the other ways first. As Tharp points out -- contrary to the assertion in Amadeus, Mozart work hard to perfect his musical skill. The striving towards perfection means you are going to fail. It is better that you make mistakes at the start so you can develop the skills later on. One of the worst failures in Tharp's opinion is denial. You know something is weak but you are hoping against hope that no one else notices. This is also where a good editor and good critique partners or as Tharp calls them the validation squad. I trust them with my crudest and clumsiest work and they reward me with honest criticism. I put a lot of faith in them and their eye. I trust their talent. I know they have hammered my work in the past and therefore no afraid to be critical and above they want what I want -- the strongest story possible. By working with them and learning also to examine my work critically,

Revision is the biggest test in the creative process. It is the admitting that something does not work as well as you hoped/feared and then putting it right. She has a great mantra -- first put right those things you know you can fix. It is also something that I believe.
Anyway, I hope to avoid the public humiliation of a total disaster. by going through the validation process and working with my editor and critique partners. From my point of view, it was lovely to see someone else provide a clear and concise reason why it works.

I am not a master Romance novelist yet. Perhaps I never will be. But I can strive towards making my work better. There is always something to work on. I also liked her idea about polishing skills being a clock face. You polish up one, and then go on to the next until you have come full circle and the first one needs polishing again. She spoke of how dancers spend time perfecting the basics, and how the best dancers are the ones who are constantly going back and relearning their basic moves.

Anne McAllister went on and on about this book, and now I am as well. It is excellent.

I shall be drawing the winners of the Sold and Seduced contest soon. I was very pleased at the response.

DCI Gene Hunt and women

The Daily Telegraph has now waded into the Life on Mars Gene Hunt thing with an article about why women love him. The journalist, a female, quite rightly pointed out that Philip Glenister should have been up for a BAFTA. A few weeks ago a female journalist also wrote about her obsession with Gene Hunt and how she discovered Philip Glenister reading bedtime stories on CBBC (something that had the mothers tuning in in droves I have no doubt).

Actually I am not surprised that women are enthralled with him. It is not his looks. It is his underlying core integrity, his loyalty to his team. He is the sort of man who despite his faults, you know will go into single handed combat with spiders, mice and other creepy crawlies. Through out the series, I was worried that some how the Life on Mars writer would add bits in that made Gene more grey. less attractive, but they didn't. Gene Hunt works because he has a code of honour. he also has a series of outrageous one liners. But when the chips are down, you count on him to do the right thing for his team. He is an alpha male hero, and why anyone should be surprised about women's reactions to him...It is the fantasy that is the perennial best seller in women's romance.

I do worry about the proposed new series Ashes to Ashes. He would be 12 years older. I don't want a shades of grey Gene Hunt. I don't want an older but wiser Gene Hunt. I don't want a ravaged by time Gene Hunt that might be more interesting to play. I want the black and white Gene Hunt, the scene stealing Gene Hunt, the unreconstructed male hero. And please, please, can his wife stay off screen? He is not the sort of man domesticity comes easy to. A bit like Sharpe.

Why do so many men assume women go for looks? Personality, codes of honour, doing the right thing can mean a lot. Give me a man of honour any time over a pretty boy snake.

The new wip goes slowly, but with my hero sorted. Things are starting to flow. I want my current hero to be even more dangerous. The sort of man who says -- this far and no further. But now that I have found him. Things have had to change.

The Anne McAllister Commission

Anne McAllister's blog should come with a warning: You will discover interesting and intriguing books that will cause you to visit Amazon. Her latest discovery is Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit.

Twyla Tharp, in case anyone is unfamiliar with her work, is one of America's great choreographers. She is exacting, demanding and above highly creative in her medium. She has choreographed ballets, Emmy winning television shows and Tony winning musicals.

I thought the book sounded interesting when Anne described the rituals, and the thinking out of the box. I knew I needed to read the book when Anne mentioned ruts.

It arrived yesterday and is well worth reading. And yes, okay, I am creative. I like making connections. I do like the act of creation. I like change.

There is a lot to absorb. Little throw away sentences that suddenly open up new vistas. She writes of the discipline needed for creativity. Of scratching around for ideas -- scratching in terms of looking everywhere, like one scratches off lottery cards in the hopes of finding something. She also speaks about not mining too deeply in one place, and the combination of ideas. She also speaks of skill. Her stories about Mozart and DaVinci are not new, but they are in one place. ...the better you know the nuts and bolts of your craft, the fully you can express your talent. Build on solid foundations. Skill enables you to execute your vision.

I love her quote from John Gregory Dunne explaining the difficulties of writing novels and each new novel is a tabula rasa, and he has to remember how to get characters in and out of rooms.

She also speaks of casting, and getting the right person for a part. Justifying that.

I knew that I did not have the right person in mind for my hero. I have known about him for a while. but I couldn't think who I would cast as my hero. Which actor would I chose to play him? What quality does that actor capture? My usual cast of suspects was not working. I asked Anne for some ideas. Anne is very good with ideas btw. She came up with two. One I had already rejected. The other -- I had not even thought about. I did not recognise the name -- Mads Mikkleson.

He played Le Chiffre in Casino Royal. The minute I realized -- I knew that he had the quality of movement that I was looking for. Things fell into place. Horizons opened. I will have to change some of the things I have already written but it is going to be a better book.

It is a magnificent book. Full of sound advice. Or maybe because it tallys with my thinking, I find comfort in the reaffirmation.

Twyla Tharp is another one of those -- desire, dedication, determination and discipline ladies.

All I can say is get the book, read it and absorb it. I know I will be returning to it time and again.

Life on Mars -- the ending

In some ways they bottled the ending. I was still left with questions. And therefore it felt vaguely unsettled.

My big question was who caused Sam's accident? It happens exactly at the same time and in the same manner as the 1973's Sam. Coincidence is fine but there has to be a strict law of probability, and near the end every action must have been foreshadowed/comes as direct result of action taken by a main character.

Equally did Sam actually change the past/ Specifically with regards to the death of Annie Cartwright at the end of series one? What were the consequences of this? Is this why suddenly he is dead in the future? In other words why has 1973 become more real than 2006? Did he chose to live with the love of his life?-

Also did Gene Hunt et al really exist? Should this have been left in doubt?

Could the 1973 Frank Morgan have a son who was studying to be a doctor also named Frank Morgan? All it would have taken was the throw away line of my father was a copper...in Hyde.

Anyway, there were choices the writer of Life on Mars made, and me being me -- I would not necessarily have made them. However, the Life on Mars writer did make them, and generally the series worked me. In every case, the writer of Life on Mars made the correct choices for his story. But part of me is always asking why did he do such and such, and would a little tweak have helped?
If I can understand why the choices are made, I might be better able to understand why I make choices in my writing.

The Creative Habit book that Anne McAllister has been raving about arrived today. She was right. It does look excellent. Interestingly I have never really thought of myself as creative. Yes, I write, but that is just part of me. Anyway, I look forward to reading it.

I also went to Beamish Museum. Absolutely excellent. They have a railway carriage there from 1846. The whole set of manor gave me food for thought. And I have done a little on my new wip.

Life on Mars

Tonight is the final of the Life on Mars. It has been a wonderful show. There are many reasons why I should not like Gene Hunt, but I do. He has a core integrity, and he is very loyal with a code of honour. Okay, it might not be your code of honour but it is his. He also has some of the best one liners in recent television. Philip Glenister was born to play Gene Hunt.

I also love how the secondary characters like Phyllis, the desk sargant are drawn. You can see them as 3-d.

It is a show that has kept me coming back for more. I am interested in finding out about why Sam Tyler is there and why he went there. Was the accident an accident? I reminded of a time travel book I read once where a woman and her g grandmother switched places. I suspect if I tried to explain it logically it wouldn't work. and there would an ick factor. Suffice it to say that the woman was never able to get back to her own time and crippled by a stroke had to watch helplessly as her younger self tumbled into the mirror. And I can't remember the name of the novel,but it was partly set in the goldfields of California. I used love time travel books. But there is a paradox in time travel that makes them difficult to write.

Was an *older* Sam driving that car? Did he send himself back into time because he knew that was where he would findthe love of his life -- Annie? Was Annie driving the car?

I hope they don't bottle it and that the ending is satisfying. I am looking forward to Ashes to Ashes. gene Hunt is too good a character for the BBC to get rid of him. BTW the show which is the one of the most popular in BBC for a decade nearly was not shown. It is what they call a sleeper. Whatever it is, I shall be watching the final tonight.

Oh and I have started writing my next wip. Early Victorian. I know what my hero looks like, but I don't havea photo of him. Philip Glenister served as a model for my latest one. See above. Can't you imagine him as a Viking?

Easter Monday musings

I survived Easter, and the house is now awash with chocolate. Unfortunately much of it is Green and Black's or Thornton's. I shall simply have to exercise more.

On Saturday, I went over to Anna Lucia's. She lives in the sort of wonderfully quirky house that I love. Bits are from different times and the spare bedroom has distinct ghost like feel apparently until they redecorated. Whatever ghosts that are in her house, they appear benign. Julie Cohen was there with the fecklet. She looks wonderfully happy and relaxed. All in all a good time was had. Where Anna lives is wonderfully old fashioned and rural, but my middle said as we came back along Hadrian's Wall that she thought where we lived was not bad either. The Spring sunlight highlighted the wall perfectly -- it was the sort of day that photographers love.

I have started to do my calculations for my next wip. It is getting to the point that I have to begin writing. My critique partners are going to start cracking whips...but I have been writing in my moleskine. I love and adore my moleskine notes books. They are fun to write in but I will have to put words on the computer -- starting tomorrow. It is part of being disciplined.

When I saw Julie and Anna, it was interesting to see the different ways in which writers work. I had a sneak peak of Julie's latest -- all rubber banded and clipped. On the other hand, I use a large binder to keep my manuscript in when I doing revising. I find it easier -- particularly when I come to the random page tightening stage. BTW Julie's cover for it is even better in the flesh as it were. I am sure it will be brilliant. She used David Tennant as a model for her hero. As my middle says -- David Tennant is totally hot in Dr Who. My middle kidnaps Julie's books and reads them. Her favourite thus far is Spirit Willing ,Flesh Weak. Julie very diplomatically said it was up to me if my daughter read those books. All I know is that they are in many ways tamer than the stuff I read at her age. I can well remember reading the John Jakes Bicentenial series (The Bastard, anyone?)when I was 12. So how can I complain?

Kate Hardy said lovely things about Sold and Seduced on her blog. Her comments mean a lot to me as I like her writing, and I respect her judgement. Sold and Seduced has also been reviewed on the PHS review site and I was very pleased with the review there.

I suppose this is the time to remind one and all that I am running a contest. Basically email me with the answer to the question:
Which song is playing on my myspace page?

I am drawing the winners on 14 April. 3 lucky people will receive a signed copy of Sold and Seduced as well as the book that gave me the seed -- The Antonakos Marriage.

Easter, eggs and that bunny

Why the connection between eggs and Easter? It is not the chocolate manufacturer's gimmick.

Eggs were forbidden during Lent, but they were also a Christian symbol. An egg symbolises rebirth and renewal. New life. Easter eggs used to be called Pace (or Passion) eggs. Although most people give a chocolate eggs in Britain, people in many other countries still decorate hard boiled eggs for gifts. In Greece, as far as I can recall, the eggs are dyed red to symbolise the Lord's Passion. So there is a religous significance to eating eggs on Easter.

The word Easter most probably comes from the Anglo Saxon goddess Oestre. One of her animals was the hare. It should be noted that the Lord's Passion was more than likely celebrated in Britain BEFORE any rites to Oestre as the Saxon did not arrive until the 5th century. Christianity was definitely wide-spread in Northumberland during the 4th century -- IE the one found at Vindolanda. Another example would be Constantine the Great's acclamation at York in 306. Much was lost when the pagan Saxons invaded. When the Anglo-Saxons were Christianized, the festival's name stayed the same and the meaning changed. Oestre's fertility rites happened in the Spring.

The Easter bunny is Germanic and a relatively recent addition in Britain. As the Saxons were a Germanic people, it is possible that this is a hang over from the Oestre fertility rites. Germanic references to an Easter hare stretch back to the 1500s. Another version of the old hare v rabbit arguement -- is the Easter bunny really a hare?

The making of chocolate eggs of course happened during the Victorian period. This is because of technological innovations. Many people of course give up chocolate for Lent.

This is just in case anyone is interested.

Sold and Seduced went on sale in the UK yesterday (officially) I need to get a photo of it.

Happy Easter to one and all. May you enjoy your Pace eggs, even if you didn't know they had another meaning.

Good Friday and hot cross buns

Today is Good Friday -- one of the most solemn and sacred days of the Christian calender. Without Good Friday, the promise could never have been fulfilled. The date is set because of the Jewish Passover. We know it was a Friday because the next day was the Jewish sabbath. The days of the week were also just beginning to be used. It goes back to astrology and the belief that each of the planets govern a day. The major change was calling Sunday -- the day of our Lord. If you look at the week days in French or another Romance language, you will see what I mean. English days are derived from Anglo Saxon/Nordic gods.

In many Catholic countries such Spain and Italy, the day is one of processions. Years ago when I visited Spain during Holy Week, I was surprised at how many processions happened. It was Catholicism at its most raw -- robes, whips and chains. The procession on Palm Sunday in Grenada frightened me as the dark was falling and these men were solemnly processing, cowls hiding their faces. A few years later, we happened to be in New Mexico going from Santa Fe up to Taos and passed by the Chimayo pilgrims -- many were carrying crosses. The guidebooks all said that unless you were taking part, it was best to steer clear of the festival...Given my experience in southern Spain, I agreed.

In Britain, spiced buns first became popular during the Tudor period. Elizabeth I forbade the making of hot cross buns on any day except Good Friday. I forget when the edict was relaxed. I tend to like the British version of hot cross buns much more than the American. This is mainly because you have a dough or pastry cross in the UK as opposed to an icing cross.

I adapt the Elizabeth David recipe for her definitive guide to English Breads for my recipe.

It is basically -- warm 10 oz milk to blood heat, add 1 tablespoon of yeast -- allow to soften. Mix 1 lb strong bread flour (4 cups) with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp nutmeg, ground allspice, and ground cloves, and 2 oz dark brown sugar (1/3 cup). Add yeast milk mixture, and then two eggs. Make into a soft dough, add more flour if required and then add 4 oz (1 cup) currants. Allow to rise until double (about 45 minutes.
Shape into 16 balls. Make a short crust pastry ( 4 oz flour plus2 oz butter. Mix into a fine crumb add2 tablespoons approx water) Make snakes of the pastry. Put crosses on top of buns. Brush with milk. Allow to rise for about a half hour. Cook in a hot oven for 20 minutes until nicely browned.

Far better tasting than the hot cross buns one purchases in the shops.

On Setting

Setting is more than a one dimensional word. It encompasses -- place, duration, time period and level of conflict. Again it goes back to why -- why does your story have to happen at this particular place and moment in time space. Why does it have to happen where it happens? And why does it have to take as long as it does? Finally the setting must take into account the level of conflict.
This is because nothing moves forward in a story without conflict.

In other words, your setting is your story's world. Everything that happens in that story must obey the laws of that world. If you are going to have to do something strange or imbue something with power, you need to foreshadow. for example in A Noble Captive, a trumpet plays a part at the end. In order to have it play its part, the trumpet had to be alluded before -- it had to be part of the world and tied up in the beliefs of that world.

Similarly with Sold and Seduced. The story takes place in the manner that it does because of the real life political events that were happening in Rome. Just before the story began, Pompey had cleared the Mediterranean of pirates. If Lydia had not thought the wine promised to a pirate, she would not have sold it and the story would not have unfolded. Because the story structure is wound up in the setting, it could not have taken place at any other time. Hopefully this helps make it memorable for the reader.

Stories need to exist in their own world, and when you write historical novels, you must obey the historical rules as well. You need to have it feel authentic.

With my wip, part of my initial work is to ensure the story has to take place where and when I say it does. The setting has to be part of the structure.
One great leap forward for me was speaking to some friends yesterday who had lots of books on the area that I was able to borrow. Okay, we did a bit of bartering -- duck eggs and honey for the use of the books. And the books are fantastic --- a 1930s guide to Hexham and the Tyne Valley, a reprint of the 1888 Tomlinson guide to the area and a guide to the lost great houses of Northumberland.
Not only am I discovering why my story has to take place where and when it does, I am also discovering things like cruel Sykes burn near Haydon church once ran red with Scots blood when Edward III crossed the Tyne. I think I know which stream is Syke's but am now wondering what the burn/stream that runs through my garden is called and did it ever run red with blood? Today has been such a gloriously sunny peaceful day that it seems incredible that this tranquil place could ever have run red with blood.

Hands in marriage

One of the things about writing is knowing the creative limitations. Everything must be believable in the world you are writing about. Certain laws have to be obeyed. In the context of writing historicals, I do believe you have to obey historical laws as well.

After I got my idea for Sold and Seduced, I started to think about it. And suddenly realised that I had a problem --- basically Roman marriage law. Th Romans recognised four types of marriage. In the time period that I write about, in the vast majority of marriages, a woman's hand was not given in marriage. It was sans mano. She remained under her father's or guardian's control. This is why Roman women do not bear the same family name as their husband's. In the very early Republic and then later in the Christian era, Roman women did come under the control of their husbands and were married cum mano, but during this time, it was felt that women would be batter served if the legal guardianship stayed with her birth family. The intention was to make marriage stronger, but actually, it only increased divorce and made families less stable.

Personally I think it interesting that the early Christians went for the cum mano. I suspect Jewish tradition may have played a part, BUT as Roman custom and law prevailed at that point, and there are certain similarities in the wedding ceremony, I find it interesting.

Anyway, I had then had to come up with a reason why after Aro and Lydia were married, they would stay married -- particularly as Lydia's father was not keen on the marriage. In other words, I had to find a reason WHY Aro would insist on a marriage cum mano or with hand.

Once I had accepted the limitation, I was able to work with it, and the rest of the story flowed.

Some writers like to think about total freedom, but actually it is the structure and the demands of the world you create along with the main arc of the story that force you to exercise your creativity.

On not starting

Today I supposed to start my next ms, but I didn't. Instead, I went shopping with my daughter.

Several things I discovered: Monsoon is a lovely shop with clothes that suit me as well as my daughter. John Lewis has good shoes -- shoes that matched the clothes we bought in Monsoon.
And I spent far too much on make up etc.

This is all in aid of the RNA Romance Prize. I am determined to look okay when I go down. Today on the e-harle blog Jessica Harte explained what it was like to win. But more importantly she gavea taste of the buzz -- what it is like to be there. It all sounds exciting. But I am going to have to rediscover my nearly non existent skill at make up. Luckily I ended up speaking to the regional manager at Clarins who appeared to know lots. She was also v excited to hear about my big occassion.

All in all this took longer than planned and I didn't get back. I will start writing tonight.

Sold and Seduced has been spotted in several WH Smiths -- the official publication date is Friday. It was not in my local one or in the one in Newcastle. The contest is still open, and I have been getting a number of entries -- thank you. To enter, you simply need to answer the question -- Which song is playing on my myspace page? (Hint you can find a link on the side of the blog) Then email me with answer before 14 April. I am giving away three copies of S&S as well as three copies of Kate Walker's The Antonakos Marriage. If you are not on my newsletter list, I will enail you an invite if you enter the contest.

Contest for Sold and Seduced

As promised, I am doing a contest to celebrate the official publication of Sold and Seduced.
I am giving away three signed copies of S&S as well as three signed copies of The Antonakos Marriage by Kate Walker. This is the book Kate was talking to me about when I got the seed for S&S.

To enter the contest, you need to answer the following question:
Which song is playing on my myspace page?

Please email me with the answer.

If you are not on my newsletter list and enter, I will send you an invitation to join my newsletter.

The closing date for entries is 14 April 2007

My next newsletter goes out tomorrow -- 1 April.

Cataromance review for Sold and Seduced

Once again Julie Bunello has penned an intelligent and thoughtful review. It is always a joy to read Julie's reviews. Julie takes a lot of trouble with her reviews. She loves series romance, but is also unafraid to express her opinion. It is all a writer can ask for -- an honest reviewer. Reader feedback in whatever form is such a gift.

My favourite bit of the review was:
With Sold and Seduced, Michelle Styles transports her readers back to Ancient Rome with her assured storytelling prowess, her astounding historical knowledge and her wonderful ability to make her readers feel as if they are living the story rather than just reading it. Atmospheric, evocative and entrancing, Sold and Seduced is a compelling romantic novel which captivated me from the very first page!

You can read the whole review here.

Hooks and writing

Yesterday was a better day. I finally figured out a hook I can work with for my next book.

To do this, I had to find my copy of Leslie Wainger's Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies. I had been looking for it for days, ever since I knew I was slightly stuck on the exact hooky premise. Could I find it? No. Not until, I looked under the sofa in my cave. There long with half the known pens in the universe, a pair of scissors, my very handy device for cutting articles out of the newspaper that my sister gave me two Christmas's, a book on Victorian etiquette and assorted items, it rested gathering dust.

I find Leslie's book useful for a number of reasons. Like a good editor, she does list the tried and tested premises for romance. These include: reunion, secret baby, marriage of convienence, runaway bride, kidnapped bride, pregnant bride, office romance, mistaken identity, woman in jeopardy, dad next door, back from the dead, stranded with a stranger, on the run, cowboy v city girl, amnesia,bluestocking v bad boy etc etc. You can also reverse the hooks. Cowgirl v city slicker for example, or woman returns from the dead. They are tried and tested places to hang hats, and the most important thing to remember is the WHY and WHAT are the CONSEQUENCES. When one uses a hook, the characters and their motivations become the most important part of story. In other words, to use one of Leslie Wainger's catch phrases -- It's All In the Execution. Of course, these things are much easier to execute, if you have an idea of your hook in the first place. An idea of why your two main characters are going to be forced to be together if you will.

Personally I find it easier to write without reinventing the wheel, I do like to think of my hooks and how I can use them. They have to fit with the characters and the basic situation. I know my heroine as she was a secondary in A Christmas Wedding Wager. My hero has been dictating his terms. I know where and when it took place. I knew what I thought the hook was, and then I read the list and both characters said -- not that one, but this one. So Kidnapped bride it is. Now all I have to do is figure out the exact whys and wherefores. In other words, really and truly make it my own. Why is this story going to be different from any other kidnapped bride stories? Why should the reader care? The answer is going to lie in the characters' motivation.

For anyone wondering I saw Sold and Seduced as a marriage of convienence story with a little twist of woman in jeopardy. The working title was The Pirate's Bargained Bride. I had filled out the Art Fact sheet with the wedding etc. My lovely editor had other ideas and indeed saw other hooks. She wanted to go with the mood of the book. It is she who came up with the gorgeous title -- Sold and Seduced and then found the artwork which matched the mood. If you want to learn more about tiles, Buzz, Balls and Hype has had several interesting articles about the science of choosing titles.

It was at this point I realised that I write my books with certain ideas, but my editor when she is writing the blurb might or might not see them as important.

BTW if anyone is wondering how office romance fits in with historicals -- Iwould ask them to think of it as employer v employee. The governess story or the knight hired story.

My newsletter is coming on, and I hope it will prove interesting reading. If you have not signed up for it, please do. The contest prize is a signed copy of S&S's seed book --The Antonakos Marriage as well as a copy of S&S.

Grim reality v Romance in historicals

Carrie Lofty who organises the Unusual Historicals has a very interesting post about literary v romance interpretation of history. Basically, she was pointing out that literary historical novels tend to emphaise the grim realities and while romance tend to paint a roiser picutre.

I can not disagree with this assement. The late great Elizabeth Goudge also pointed out how romantic novelist tended to see the rainbows in the pools of mud. She saw nothing wrong with this and neither do I.

Will Self is on record as saying that he likes to write about images that shock. But why are gruesome images more potent or striking than other images? Why are they more worthy?

With historicals, there is also the point of historical perception. If you do not know any different, will you necessarily perceive yourself as dirty or unclean? And there is an argument that actually things were far cleaner than one might think. (see for example Behind the Scenes --Domestic Arrangements in Historic Houses by Christina Hardyment) and that evangelic Christian movement of the mid-nineteenth century sought to portray things differently to prove a point.

And of course, the going on about lice always amuses me. Obviously those writers have never experienced the Lice War of primary school. As a battle hardened veteran, let me assure you that lice are with us today. The only thing that gets rid of them is the old fashioned combing combined with conditioner. Been there, done it. Tried everything. My scalp still crawls when anyone mentions them.
I won't mention rats but been there and done that as well. Rats scurrying over your feet is not fun. It is hubris to think that these things only existed back then.

If someone has never experience electricity, will they not think candlelight bright? It is all in the perception of the thing. What would the historical perception of an incident be?

When a spectator went to see a gladiatorial match, did he or she really give much thought or notice the blood? A long time ago when I went to the Spanish bullfight in Arles (in the Carmague -- traditional bullfighting does not include the killing of the bull), I noticed that the ritual killing was very different. The thought is absolutely horrific -- seeing a man gored by a bull, only to return leg bandaged and kill the next bull. The dead carcass of the bull was dragged around the area to the sound of loud cheers. Gruesome and shocking, yes, but on that sunny afternoon, somehow thrilling.
When I was writing the scene in Gladiator's Honour , I thought about that bullfight and how one can capture the whole thing. What would the reaction of the spectators been? Why was it so popular?

I also remember my high school English teacher who said that sometimes, things are more horrific for being offstage and simply alluded to -- for example the putting out of eyes in King Lear. It would not have been as powerful if it happened on stage.

For me as a writer , I have to weigh up my general audience and would certain images add or detract in the story. In other words, I know the dirt is there, but I may chose to take my camera shots from other angles. I only have a limited number of words to tell my story, and I like to look at a glass being half-full.

Monday morning

The full list for the Ritas and the Golden Heart is up. I was very pleasead that my friend Fiona Harper made the list twice -- for best first book and for best traditional romance. Her book Blind Date Marriage is a lovely traditional read, and throughly engrossing and engaging. It has already won the RNA's NewWriter Award, so I am hoping for a treble for Fiona.

With a little bit of help from my eldest, I have managed to make a myspace page. All friends readily welcomed. For my music, I chose the bit from Defying Gravity that has been going through my brain lately. I bought the cd for Wicked the Musical on the strength of it.

Lady Day

Today is Lady Day. Or the day Mary supposidly became pregnant. (ie nine months before Christmas). Until the calender changed and eleven days were lost, it was the start of the New Year in Britain. It was the day that all the rents and contracts came due. However, a variety of people objected to being elven days short one year, and so when the change over was made, they simply moved the day along until 6 April. This is why the British tax year begins on 6 April. The Roman New Year was also around this time. This is probably why Lady Day was adopted as the change over for rents and such.

Today is also my dh's birthday. I have made him a carrot cake or as Anna Lucia calls it -- The God of Carrot Cakes. it is a recipe from The Village Baker's Wife with one or two adaptations by me. We are going out to lunch later. Nothing major but then we have recently had a lot of work done on the house...

I have discovered where the duck is nesting. Quite close to the house and more than likely on the cat route through the garden. As Penny and Tuppence tend stay in the house these days unless the weather is exceptionally warm, our garden is used by several cats -- generally at night after the hens and ducks are away. Our cats have not liked going out very often ever since a series of unfortunate incidents involving the hens and ducks. Large bird can defend themselves. None of the participents were worse for wear but both Penny and Tuppence decided -- indoors was better.

Having delivered, my Viking, I have started thinking about my next one. I was going to take time off, but my muse started whispering. And I saw a hugely inspiring photo of James Purefoy in the Times yesterday. He just does work for this book...despite being the model for Fabius Aro in Sold and Seduced. A doppleganger effect I suspect. Because the deep characters will have certain differences. James Purefoy is promoting the Macmillan Cancer Support's Pin Up campaign. He made an interesting comment about Marc Antony -- he had to make sure that he had the body they had back then. He also hates his toes and loves his son.

And my good friend Nell Dixon has put up an interview with me on her myspace page. Nell is a wonderful writer and my fingers are firmly crossed for medical full that is current with HM&B. Her book Marrying Max is a finalist along with Gladiator's Honour for the RNA's Romance Prize.

Book delivered

I pressedthe send button this morning and my latest Viking has gone off to my editor. I will be much happier once I hear her thoughts on the book. there is always wild exhileration once I send it, quickly followed by the Crows of Doubt attack. But I do think it is agood story and has the potential to be a great one.

My next book is going to be a linked book to A Christmas Wedding Wager. My daughter is desperate for a secondary character to have her own story. The wonderful part for me is that it gets to take place in the North East. My lovely editor says that the character may prove a bit of a challenge for me but I am looking forward to it. Every woman is the heroine of her own story.

My next newsletter will go out on 1 April. It will have tips on using personality characteristics to fashion characters, a recipe, a bit on the background to Sold and Seduced and contests. There is a sign up form for it at the side of the blog.

My house is a tip, and one of the ducks has started nesting. SIGH I do not want more ducklings. I was out last night in my dressing gown, and hiking boots, trying to capture the duck who had decidedto hide under the car. Our best guess is that she was distrubed by a cat as my dh saw one strolling up the garden path as the duck quacked her head off. At least it was not at 3 am...

On editing

At the moment, my brain is a bit fried. I am in the final stages of editing VC. I do love editing as you can suddenly without warning see a way to make the book better and stronger. I am currently doing my Donald Maass tension exercise. This involves going through the manuscript at random and tightening one sentence. In theory at fer you have done this for each page, you will have a far tighter more pacy novel. I suspect I am now very superstitous about this approach as I do it every time snd have done since I first sold.

It can be a pain to do as you really do have to justify sentences. Sometimes whole paragraphs. It is a mirco rather than macro way of looking at a novel.

I have gone about Donald Maass before, but I do find his workbook --Writing the Break Out Novel to be very useful. However, there are other writer friends who have made bonfires with his and other writing books and scattered them to the four winds. It alll depends on your comfort level.

I suspect one of the reasons I want this particular book to be excellent is that it will be my seventh for HM&B. I am mindful of the maxim Maass said -- it takes seven books to become an overnight success, but you have to push the snowball from the first book. Janet Evanovich is on record as saying that it took at least six books to gain a following. I have no idea about the truth of that or not. I simply know that I want my books to get better.

Sometimes, I feel that I should know what I am doing, but each book throws up new challenges. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why I love writing so much. You can never fully master it.

One of my c.p.s says that I am too close and that VC is really strong. Personally I shall feel much happier when my editor has seen it and given her thoughts.

More on Mother's Day

My sister emailed to say -- that it wasn't quite true about the US Mother's Day being started by card companies, and she gave me a wikipedia article which claimed that Mother's Day was started after a campaign by Julia Ward Howe in her magazine.

Now after the kerfuffle at Wikipedia about their entries, including one of their major contributors resigning, I did some more checking, particularily as I didn't like the Roman and Greek explanation. I am not going into the whole celbrations of Cybele -- except to say they were sometimes not very pleasant. Andtherefore article did not ring true for me. And there was no explantion as to why the 2nd Sunday in May was chosen. I couldn't be bothered to check my Roman calender of festivals but somehow, I am pretty sure a day honouring mothers was not around that day.

Anyway, it was fairly easy to discover and wikipedia did not tell the full story.

Julia Ward Howe who also wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic did advocate a Mother's Day, BUT it did not really get started until 1914 in West Virginia when Anna Jarvis organised a day of remembrance. The second Sunday in May was chosen as it was the second anniversary of her own mother's death. A white carnation signified a deceased mother and a red one, a living one. The idea was enthusiastically adopted by the West Virginia legislature and from there spread to other states. In later years, Anna Jarvis denounced the whole enterprise for becoming far too commercial. You can read the story here. West Virginia is very proud to be the founding state of Mother's day.

It is an interesting problem in this day and age -- how do you stop things from becoming commercialized, particularly when they have proved as popular as Mother's day. But at least I now know why it is the second Sunday in May... and it does have a very different meaning than the British one.

Are all mothers inherently peaceful? Or are they more willing to protect their children at all costs? I am not sure of the answer. But the US Mother's Day was started because Anna Jarvis and many others believed in peace and of course their mother.

Mothering Sunday

Today in Britain is Mothering Sunday. The date varies with Easter -- which varies with Passover. It is when people were supposed to return to their Mother church -- IE the one where they were baptised. As this generally meant going back home, mothers were honoured as well.

I find Mothering Sunday easier than Mother's day in the US, simply because there is a historic reason for it. Mother's day in the US I think was started by a greeting card company.

My children were most insistent that I sleep in. I did. I have received two DVDs -- Elizabeth I and The Queen. My dh thought it most appropriate. He also got me a Quentin Blake card of a woman reclining on a chaise lounge with a glass of wine. He thought it most romantic writer...

In the Telegraph, there was a piece about how people chose books -- 49% from friend's (word of mouth) 45% from Author's reputation, 32% from from the back cover and 22% from reviewers. I forget the other percentages. I think 12% for the front cover. Obviously respondents could pick more than one choice. The telegraph journalist was most upset about reviews appearing so far below back cover copy. Personally I gave thanks that my books have such EXPERT back cover copy -- editors write it (and rewrite it many times). From my pov though, writing a book that has people telling their friends to buy it is the best way to sell a book...

The editing continues...

Is Jane Austen a women only writer?

Give the nice comments in the previous post, I am going to keep on writing my blog as I see fit -- typos et al.

I ask the above question because I had interesting conversation with my eldest's English teacher.She showed me a list of the books that they could choose from to study in depth at AS level. On the list were Waterland by G Swift (the teacher admitted it was *challenging* -- code for boring? non linear? confused plot line?), The Colour Purple (these are the two texts that the school uses), Tess' D'ubervilles, Great Expectations and Pride and Prejudice. As P&P is one of my favourite novels, I said -- oh why not-- P&P, the teacher looked vaguely uncomfortable and said she disliked like doing it if there were a lot of boys in the class. I stared at her in astonishment. When did JA become for women only? She is a classical writer who helped make the modern novel what it is today. P&P is far more than simply a good romance to curl up with. It is just as worthy as Waterland to be studied. Has its success as a romance blinded people to its other qualities? When I did Emma at school, the emphasis was on the characterization and social satire, rather than on the story. I don't think the boys complained. Why should a novel with a good and easily accessible plot be ignored in favoured of something that may or may not stand the test of time.

Unfortunately, I did not get to say any of this, because a would be A level student came in and loudly announced she hoped there was no poetry on the course, she couldn't see the point. I resisted the temptation to make a snide remark to the girl, and felt sorry for the teacher. It must be hard.

I am currently reading Waterland. It was with no small irony that I saw the opening quote was from Great Expectations... Swift is a lyrical writer whose prose is replete with symbolism. I am hopeful of finding the plot soon.

Bees and editting

Yesterday's Telegraph had a very tiny article, so small I nearly missed it. Complete Colony Collapse has hit Europe. Spain, Poland, Greece and Croatia have been hit. This syndrome/disease has already wiped out 50% of bee colonies in the US. It has the potential to cause an enormous impact and only rates half an inch.
Right now, there is nothing I can do. My colonies appear to be healthy and I shall be giving them a Spring tonic when the weather next turns warm. But as far as I know -- no one knows what is causing this disease or how to prevent it. Or indeed what the long term consequences of it will be. The wild bee colonies have already suffered because of the varroa mite. Much of agriculture depends on bees as the chief pollinating insect. If this population suddenly decreases by 50% or more, what does that mean for the food supply?
It is not good. And perhaps I should be pleased there are not the panicked articles such as one might find for avian flu, but it is another worry. I don't want anything to happen to my colonies and I really don't want to think about the long term consequences. Hopefully they will figure out what to do BEFORE this syndrome reaches Northumberland.

Another worry is : are the ducks going to have ducklings this year? I don't want any more ducklings. They are cute but a pain. And ducklings grow into ducks. We already have more duck eggs than I know what to do with. Duck eggs are great for cooking btw. I am just hoping that we discover all nests and the ducks don't decide to build their nests in the neighbour's garden...

My wip is coming on. This is my favourite phase of novel writing.It is taking and shaping. It is in the shading that you can really start to do something. I am a great believer in bad pages can be fixed easier than blank ones. You have clay to work with. You start seeing connections.

I have discovered another how to promote your book blog -- Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion. It is worthy of looking at and does give some pointers about Technorati. However, the best reason I know to use Technorati was Isabel Swift's post from about a year ago. If you have not read the Long Tail article -- it is worth reading. I am well aware there is more I could do with my blog and that I basically use it to write whatever I am thinking about. Hence it tends to jump around -- possibly not ideal for promoting my books, but it makes more interesting for me! SO I am afraid you will have to suffer through it.

Sold and Seduced will be on sale in the UK in April. The cover is yummy, and well, I like the story.

Using astrology in tweaking

As my earlier post about astrology led me to remember Love Signs, I thought I would have a reread. It is every bit as good as I remembered it. I was doing some research on the Cancer/Scorpio relationship for my next wip and happened to glance at the Leo/Leo relationship. It gave me a light bulb moment for my current hero and heroine. They are both Leos. Have to be because of their behaviour. It explains much about their relationship -- why it failed the first time, and what has to happen to make it succeed this time. There are certain conflicts that are inherent in the Leo/Leo relationship -- not the least being both wanting to be the one in charge. There is also a hint of how the conflict needs to be resolved -- involving sacrifice and sharing the limelight.
It is part of what makes it such a wonderful resource for writers -- Linda Goodman examines the internal conflicts inherent in relationships. It is 1200 pages long but thoroughly useful. One forgets exactly how useful.
Goodman examines the relationship not only from a non gender basis, but also specifically with the male/female.Why would a Cancer Male,Scorpio Female relationship be different from a Scorpio Male/cancer Female relationship. What are the conflicts and how can some of them be resolved in general rather than specific terms.


This is one of the reasons why I love doing research by the book, rather than on the Internet. You have to flip through pages and other things catch your eye. Luddite maybe, but it is the way I like to do things.

The wip needs a few tweaks but I have promised my editor the full for 23 March. This will keep me on track for writing four mss this year.

Haunted places

Over at Unusual Historicals, there is a discussion about haunted places. Do battlefields and thelike leave imprints? Do they feel different? I will put my hand up and say yes.

I can remember when a few years ago we were visitng my mother in Va, and drove out to Sharpsburg.We stopped to look at the sunken road where so many died. A creepy feeling came over both my dh and I, we huried the children back into the car -- only to have it not start the first try!

Culloden postively reeks of atmosphere. Bosworth Field as well. Flodden. I tend to think battlefields when no one else is there have a quiet hush of their own.

The place on Hadrian's wall that bothers me the most is the museum at Chesters. It always feels close for some reason. I don't mind the actual site but the museum has an odd atmosphere. It is stuffed full of statues, grave stones and the like...v 19th century. It has been preserved as the man who basically saved Hadrian's Wall left it.

Is it ghosts? Impressions of past time? Or simply me trying to put myself into the ambience of the place? Does anyone have any thoughts?

I see that my vistors have gone up and suspect it might be from Sela's post about me knowing about personalities traits. I will admit to being interested in them and how one uses that raw material to fashion believable characters. If anyone has any questions using astrology or ennegrams or Myers Briggs, do ask. I am not so keen on birth order because I think it is less useful as a tool for creating characters. It is highly interesting to read about though.

And in case anyone is intersted Sela was listed as a warrior women in a very early history of the Danish people.

VC is coming near to its conclusion. I wonder sometimes if I just want my writing to be so much better than it is. I know what needs to happen here. I know why it needs to happen, and I just want the words on the page but they are not flowing as well as they should be. I have made several mistakes. But it is all about fixxing bad pages. I hope. My v lovely dh keeps saying -- but you are on track to get this finished...Yes, but I know the editting I am going have to do. I know what I want to accomplish with this book. AndI know the time I am sometimes wasting, when the words are not flowing. I want it to have a really satisfying ending. And at the moment, it is getting there. There are reasons why I love revisions. Anyway I wrote about 3k today and will prbably write the same tomorrow. And I have known probably the last line of this one for almost since I began thinking about it...

Books and compliments

Yesterday, I had alovely package -- the hardback for The Roman's Virgin Mistress arrived. I lvoe the cover. And when it is up on Amazon, I will post it here. It is another one of my editor's specials. We had a conversation last summer where she informed that she had already done the commisioning. She had great fun looking at Baiae on the web... It really does have a glorious Italian feel to it.

I also got the large print of ANC and discovered that Sold and Seduced will be going into large print as well at some point. Hooray.

My friend Kate Hardy made my day and posted lovely things about A Noble Captive on her blog. I am not sorry at all that she didn't get anything done this morning. It is revenge for me burning supper last year when I read Seb's story -- Her Honourable Playboy.

Rioght now I have to get to work and finish writing some more of VC...Sometimes it can be difficult to work out exactly why things are happening, but I think I have done so...I think it is going to be fine when it is finished but I shall be much happier with it once I have my editor's thoughts back.

PHS and more astrology

First my blog about how I use a synopsis to get me through to the end of the book is up at the Pink Heart Society. At the moment, I am laughing at my current synopsis as the ending has totally changed. It just worked out that way. But I think the ending will be stronger.

After my post last week about astrology, I went and ordered my own copies of Sun Signs and Love Signs. It is amazing even after more than 25 years, I could remember some of the words and knew what was coming next. The books are as thorough as ever. And perhaps because tey were written in the 60s/70s, the males they do protray tend to be more on the alpha side. But even with that, you can quickly pick up the traits. And even after al this time, the Arian male is still my favourite. Which is just as well considering my dh's birhtday is coming up at the end of the month...
But as I am nearing the end of my current wip, I need to start thinking about my next one, and I am considering -- just because it terrifies me -- writing a scorpio male.I think he would fit for the story I want and if I make the heroine who did appear A Christmas Wedding Wager a late Cancer, it could work every well indeed. It is the challenge of the thing. Can I write a truly dangerous male? One who has a sting in his tale? It is an interesting exercise.

A side note, my middle who has read an early version of A Christmas Wedding Wager thought this character worthy of her own story. She has been on and on at me...My editor has not said no...

Now all I have to do is finish VC. And I have promised my cps that I will. It is matter of figuring out how to do it.

Italian editions, Mix ups and hair cuts

First and foremost, I received my copies of The Gladiator's Honour in Italian. It is very cool to see my words translated. Rossana Landfredi did the translating. There are a few words that I recognise. Now I know that a lot of people speak Italian, and some Italians even read this blog. Some people find HM&B wonderful for improving their grasp of the language or brushing up on it as they are page turning reads. I have an extra copy. If you belong to the newsletter, and would like a signed Italian edition, can you please email me by 14 March 2007, saying why you would find an Italian edition useful. Please put ITALIAN BOOK in the heading. If more than one person emails then I shall pull names of the hat. But you must be on my newsletter list to win.

The mix up with Sold and Seduced has finally been solved. The Mills and Boon site now has the correct author and blurb listed. There was a slight glitch in the system and somehow a medical blurb was listed. No longer, Sold and Seduced's rightful blurb is there. This reminds me I shall be doing a contest in April for copies of Sold and Seduced combined with The Antonakos Marriage by Kate Walker, the book which gave me the seed for the story. The newsletter describing the contest goes out on 1 April.

Oh and I got my haircut yesterday. Same style. And I have booked a trim for 26 April -- the day before the Savoy lunch. My middle keeps saying that I will have to wear clips etc until just before I get to the lunch or I will do my usual and wreck it.

Portents of change

Last night, in case you missed it in the UK was a total lunar ecillipse.

The moon slow went a blood red/orangy colour except for the white bit at the top. My friend Kate Hardy assures me that the white bit is called the diamond ring and that is exactly what it looked like.
Looking through a telescope, you still got the orange effect but the white bit was more a light grey shadow. Kate was one of the few people I could guarantee who would be as excited as I and my dh about this. Like us, she kept going to the window every five minutes to look. However, she obviously have has better vido equipment and did video bits of it. I knew ours wouldn't work...

Normally the moon looks very flat and 2-d in the sky, but last night during ecillipse, it was a definate sphere.

There was a strange light, and it is easy to see why the anceints considered a total lunar ecillipse to be a portent of change. Imagine if you saw such a thing right before battle!

But as I wactch the moon change and saw the cars swishing by on the A69, and the lights on in other houses, I realised how out of tune and out of touch the human race was. Where once this would invoked great panic, or ceremony by all, it was mostly forgotten.

SOmetimes, it is worth taking the time to experiences the wonders of the world.

Astrology and character development.

Kate Walker recently did a blog about March and the Alpha hero. In she said mention that many people consider the sign Leo to be associated with an Alpha. Now, for me, Aries has always been the archetypical alpha male hero. And it has been ever since I first read Linda Goodman's Sun Signs -- lo those many years again. And here I will confess to a teenage obessession with astrology. It was perhaps aided and abetted by my aunt who was also into it. It was not so much the prediciton of the future, but the personality traits that interested me. I am going to keep it simple bcause --even though I know about moon signs, and the necessity of knowing the exact position of the planets at the excat time of a person's birth to be able to determine a person's true character. If you want to look at it as an ancient form pyschology, rather than something mystic, it is probably of more use to the writer.

Now Kate Walker came back in her comments and said that you could use any astrolgoical sign to create an alpha male hero, and here i must slightly go -- yes in theory BUT if you are using astrology for personality disliation, some signs are going to make your job much harder than others. Just as certain Myers-Briggs types, or certain ennegram types makes one's job harder. There are certain signs that more consistently exhibit overt leadership traits than others. And I am all for making my job easier.

Although most perple know the 12 signs of the zodiac. Fewer people are aware that the 12 signs can be divided up into the four elements -- fire, earth, air and water. This goes back to Aristole's theory that everything can be divided up into four different types (something that astrology has in common with. If you read Linda Goodman's Sun Signs, the signs most overtly displaying the traditional characteristics of an alpha male are the fire signs -- or Aries, Leo and Saggitarius. The signs least likely to display the characteristics are the air signs -- or Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. With earth (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn) and water (Cancer, Scorpio and Pieces), it is more mixed and depends on where in the sign they born. Basically it gets complicated really fast.

But if you are having trouble creating your hero, or making him alpha enough, looking at the characteristics for one of the fire signs might help you to give him that little bit extra.

And just as you would never give an overt clue to the Myers-Brigg personality or the ennegram type, you do not need to mention that your hero is a Leo or an Aries or whatever.

Astrological signs are merely one way of getting to deep personality, and if it helps to think in those terms, it is worthwhile exercise. If your mind doesn't work that way, then you find some other way. There is no one right way to devise a character.

If you are interested in using astrology as a way to develop personality, I would suggest reading Linda Goodman's Love Signs as she does explain the possible conflicts between each of the signs, and what they might have to overcome to reach their happily ever after.

Above all, the most important characteristic for your hero is that your heroine (and therefore you) are able to fall in love with him. If you can't love your hero, how can you expect anyone else to? And thus for me, my archetypical alpha male will always be an Aries male.

Friday Morning

It is a lovely sunny day and there was a frost this morning. Firends of mine in Minnesota have emailed to say that thiswinter has been the coldest since 1979 and they were expecting more snow.
In other words, a direct contrast to the UK's weather...

My dh showed me a somewhat frightening article from The Independent --Honey ,Who Shrunk the Bee Population. It is all about how in North America, bee colonies are suddenly suffering from colony collapse disorder. Over the space of a few days, bees are abandoning hives and going away to die. The remaining bees are found to be riddle with all sorts of diseases. And no one knows why. Thus far, it has been mainly limited to the mobile apiaries. These are colonies that are hauled around the US to do the necessary pollination of crops. Because the US has been flooded with cheap honey imports in recent years, pollination has become the biggest money earner for many large beekeeping concerns. First to Florida for the citrus crop, then up to Pennsylvania for the apples and on to Maine for the blueberries. Some speculate that it is the stress of travel combined with the high protein and syrup supplements and differing pesticides that is making the colonies toxic. BUT they just don't know. It has the potential to severely impact the bee industry in the US, and with it agriculture over all. The true extent will not be known for at least a month because winter hibernation is not at an end. All I know is that I hope they find the cause and cure soon, and that it does not spread across the Atlantic.

One more worry but at least I know my colonies have not collapsed this year. Knock on wood.

And I need to get back to my wip as I can see the deadline looming, but also light at the end of the tunnel...