Goodreads Giveaway for An Ideal Husband?

Because An Ideal Husband is due to be released on 5 April, I have organised a giveaway with the good people from Good Reads. I think I have remembered to put most countries in...
It can be hard but I do ship everywhere for contests etc.

I will be doing my newsletter later in March but first I need to finish my wip and submit it.It is getting getter, depsite my head hitting the desk moment on Monday when I realised that I had stretched out a plot point for far too long and had thus disapated the tension and the pacing was off.
An extended period of ripping and writing is currently happening but the book will be better for it.
I do like my new editor as I get light bulb moments, even when I am being a bit dim...

You can enter the Good reads giveaway  here:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

An Ideal Husband?

by Michelle Styles

Giveaway ends April 04, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Lead work

Where has the month gone? I promised my editor a partial by mid month and yelp it is nearly here! Although I know they will read the full when it is submitted, the hope is that by submitting a partial plus a more detailed synopsis, I will avoid some of the revision stages. However, I do think the books have been far stronger for the revisions so it is swings and roundabouts.

I do however think the process is valuable as it is forcing me to focus on what is going to work rather than what I think might work and the why. Anyway, it is all about trying to work smarter.

The puppies are starting to be trained with a lead. Or rather they would be but they both appear to be frightened of the lead. Tess jumps like a jack in the box and Hardy assumes that the lead is there to tug. I spent some time with each of them separately yesterday, simply sitting on the lawn, holding the lead lightly so they could used to it. In the end, Hardy was better, and stopped attacking it, if only because he was told to sit and given treats. And Tess seemed to accept it. She came and curled up next to me. Hopefully I can build on that.

In the main, I have decided that Chile is at times a Grumpy Old Man. He is quite content to have Hardy curled up next to him. I always feel that if two animals voluntarily sleep in the same room, they are friends. Hardy worships Chile, but he is not quite big enough yet to properly greet Chile and it irritates Chile to have this creature jumping at him, trying to lick him. Chile is far more tolerant of Tess. Chile should be careful though because little people grow. And Hardy may be small but he is one determined puppy.

My daughter has finished her exams. Her first act on entering the house was to toss her uniform in the bin. She has cleaned her room and tossed her notes etc, chanting about various subjects as she did it. I have taken repossession of my bulletin board as I do find it useful when constructing a synopsis. She did use most of my note cards though...

n starting a new wip

Right, I am still waiting for my editors' thoughts on the manuscript I turned in back in January. There have been reasons for the delay. And I think I should get them finally on Friday.
The latest Viking's draft is finished and just wants tweaking, but I want to see my editors' comments on the other one before I tweak. The tweaking should take about a week.
My next HMB is not due until end of September (or at least that is what I vaguely agree with my last editor). I know the time period and the subject and the characters, BUT first I want to start writing a longer more complicated story. Just to see. If I organise my time well, it should be doable. I know I am not Kate Hardy, but I also spend a lot of dead time.
Anyway, I now FINALLY have a working title -- The Viscount's Vengeance, and while the title might not stay, it gives me some straw to make bricks with. After reading Ally Blake's piece on working titles for the Pink Heart Society, I realised that I ALWAYS have to have one. I have no hope or expectation that the title will remain (that is a decision for TPTB in marketing) but I need something to remind me what the story is about.
So amongst other things that I did last week, I spent time thinking about the working title. It came to me late Saturday, so I was pleased as simply calling the wip by the hero or heroine's name does not inspire my daemon.
I think though this hero is going to prove difficult. He has already informed me that he is a Scorpio. I know vaguely what he looks like from Natasha's sheik pictures. But it is the intensity...any way it should be fun. My heroine is being quieter, but I suspect she is no less determined.

Rome tonight

The BBC in its wisdom has decided to show Rome on two nights per week. In some ways, this is very good as then I get to see more episodes and in others, I have to remember the day!
James Purefoy is definitely worth watching as Mark Antony. And as the whole Antony/Octavian relationship did shape the future of Rome, it is good to have two such strong actors in the pivotal parts.
When I was speaking to the journalist from the Evening Chronicle, we spoke about tv series helping to make a time period more accessible. In other words, more people are interested in the time period because of the series and because they can see that Romans were in most respects people like us.
My prepartions for the e-harlequin workshop do continue at pace and I will put up worksheets on my website. I will also be offering a critque to one lucky (or unlucky) winner from my newsletter.
I have also started my Regency duo -- or at least made a folder for the first one and started to think about the characters. One of the problems when you have written several books is that you have to think up new situations and reasons. It can be so easy to fall into the trap of repeating themes and situations. Sometimes, a theme can take more than one book to explore, but it soon becomes like Twyla Tharp about scratching for ideas in the same place and your work starts to be stale.
I want my work to be improving and that means constantly looking for ways to polish and add more.

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.

Hired by the Cowboy arrives

Donna Alward who is one of my cps has sent me a hardback copy of Hired by the Cowboy, her first novel for Harlequin Mils and Boon. She has officially joined the Pink Lady brigade of authors. The Pink Ladies is the affectionate name given to those women who check the hardback copies of Mills and Boon out of the library. They are the backbone of the UK library system, coming in week after week to read these books. Once it is in the system, Donna's book will probably not be shelved for upwards of two years. It will come in and go out immediately. The popularity of the titles is one of the major reasons that so many UK city libraries still purchase them in hardback -- otherwise they would fall to pieces...in a short span of time.

Donna has v kindly mentioned me in the dedication but the real thrill for me was reading the first page. She has worked so hard on this book, and it is a testimony to her guts and determination. No doubt I shall be blogging about this book again when it actually in the shops, but for now, I have the quiet satisfaction of knowing I made a small contribution to it.

And the timing was perfect as it is my birthday today.

I am working away on my latest wip --VC. It is starting to take shape. I have promised my lovely editor the first three chapters by the end of January, so we shall have to see.