The core of the matter

I've been distracted by Nanowrimo - and didn't make my wordcount.

I've been distracted by my cover.

And the fact that the Irish economy is imploding.

And book sales, and blogging, and twittering.

I almost forgot the most important thing. The core of the matter.

Just in time, my priorities reasserted themselves, and I'm happy to announce that I'm back on track.

All that matters is the writing.

Not if an editor loves it enough to want to read more.
Or people I don't know love reading it.

All that matters is the writing.
Writing from the heart.
Writing words that wring emotion out of me.
Scenes that resonate with truth, depth and emotion.
Writing deeper, better, stronger and more beautifully.
Writing my very best, then pushing it to write even better.

It's not about the volume, but rather about the quality.

Tomorrow my guest Caroline Clemmons will be here to give us her Christmas eve recipe.

And with that, dear reader, I'm back to the wip.

Wild Rose Blog Tour - Today's Guest - Maya Blake!

Today is the first day of the Wild Rose Blog Tour - and I'm totally delighted to welcome author Maya Blake to my blog. 

 Hi, I’m Maya Blake, I’m a thirty-something romance writer whose life-long dream of writing finally came to true last year when my debut novel was published by The Wild Rose Press. I’m the fourth of five siblings and I live in Kent, England with my husband and two (sometimes, lol) adorable kids.

So, Maya, what's on your 'to be read' pile for the holidays?

What’s on my Christmas TBR Pile?

First off, the words Christmas and read always evoke such a warm, wonderful feeling. Christmas at my house (like most, I expect) involves too much eating, drinking mulled wine and flurry of present opening (no, I don’t wait until Boxing Day, lol).

But all through the merriment, I savour the thought of sneaking upstairs back to bed, diving under the covers and reaching for a book (my TBR pile is handily next to my bed). And since I read more than one book at a time, my bedside table always holds a treasure trove of brand spanking new novels waiting to be devoured.

So what’s on my Christmas TBR Pile? The one book I’ve been meaning to read is The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Ironically, this was a Christmas present from my sister-in-law two years ago. I’ve deliberately not seen the movie because I want to read the book first but friends tell me it’s a brilliant book so I’m looking forward to it.

If family and friends and the general madness that comes with Christmas lets off a little, I also plan to read Clive Cussler’s Skeleton Coast. Clive has been an autobuy for me since I read my father’s copy of Atlantis Found years ago. Dirk Pitt, one of the main recurring characters in the Cussler novels is engaging and funny, even in the face of extreme danger so I know when I pick up a Cussler novel I won’t be disappointed.

Next on the list (and I’m straying into wish list TBR here) are a couple of Harlequin Presents novels – Bought For His Convenience of Pleasure? by Maggie Cox and Memoirs of a Millionaire’s Mistress by Anne Oliver. I say wish list here because four books in two weeks on top of personal writing deadlines is ambitious, but who knows, the phone might not ring with friends and relatives demanding attention, the kids may wash, cook, feed and entertain themselves, DH will decide not to pop in for a chat every few minutes or invite me to watch a move with him…yes, I can see ten lovely pigs flying past my window now.
Oh well, the mince pies and mulled wine will help things along splendidly, I’m sure.

What about you? What do you plan to read this holiday season?

Let me know and you’ll be in with a chance to win one of my prizes. You can win by commenting on this post and subscribing/following my blog, Tweeting about this post on my Twitter page or by becoming a fan on Facebook. For a full list of prizes to be won on this blog tour, click on this link.

Good luck and Happy Christmas!
Maya

Hostage to Love is available from The Wild Rose Press and Amazon.com as both e-book and paperback.


Crushed by betrayal, Belle Winkworth-Jones flees the shambles of her short-lived marriage, only to be kidnapped by a vicious rebel soldier determined to keep her for himself. Nick Andreakos mounts a ruthless rescue to save the wife who walked away from him, even though he's resentful Belle could dismiss their marriage so easily.


On Althea, their private Greek island where Belle recuperates, passion ignites, taking hold with relentless force. But in the shadows, danger lurks. The rebel soldier is determined to recapture Belle.


Can Belle and Nick set aside their differences in time to fight this threat and save their love, or will it be too late…?

Thank you so much for visiting today, Maya. I'm appearing today on Rae Summers blog, and will be offering a prize throughout the blog tour of some lovely sparkly bling (pictures coming soon -made by me!) in either festive red, or holly green, a necklace and matching earrings, so to be in for a chance to win, follow my blog, and comment after any of my blogposts at the sites I'm visiting over the next month.

I have a cover!

Bound to Love my launch title for Embrace Books now has a cover! So here it is.
Bound to Love will be released on 14th Feb, available as ebook and print.... but for now, enjoy the cover!

I'm going on tour this week!

Clicking on the new icon on the left will tell you all about the upcoming blog tour that I'm on over the next 4 Wednesdays.

While I'm off visiting, I'll be hosting other wonderful Wild Rose Authors - my guests will be Maya Blake, Caroline Clemmons, PL Parker, and Nana Malone.

All of the gals are offering great giveaways, click on the picture to find out more, and I'm offering a prize of a lovely sparkly swarovski bling necklace and matching earrings - made by me - in either red or dark green, to give the winner something to wear over Christmas.
To win my prize, just comment after any of my blog entries where I've been a visitor, I'm starting off visiting Rae Summers, then Amy Corwin, Amber Leigh Williams and Rachel Brimble. I'll introduce my visitors and put in a link to where I am, so follow the link and comment to claim the prize.

Also, I'm asking that commenters wishing to claim the prize follow me, so if you're not doing so already, remember to click the follow button on the sidebar and join in!



x Sally

Catch Me A Catch Giveaway!

Read it for free!

If you'd like to read my book, Catch Me a Catch and haven't already done so, you'll be interested in this!
Just leave me a comment on this post, follow the blog (if you aren't already!) and tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm I'll put all the commenters in a hat and draw out three lucky posters and send them a Wild Rose Press gift certificate so they can own their own copy!

The only thing I'd like in return when you've read it, is a review on either Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or the Wild Rose Press site, I'll send details to the lucky winners.

Also, they'll be an opportunity to win some lovely swarovski bling later in the month - more on that later! It's only open to people who follow my blog though, so please follow!

Okay, and the competition is now closed. Joanna, Elissa and Leah, you've all won, so please read the comment below, and thank you so much for taking part!

Modern Heat - Why are they together?

Well, there’s Mills and Boon Modern (aka Harlequin Presents) and Mills and Boon Modern Heat (aka Modern Extra).


The guidelines state that the difference between these two lines is that the Modern Heat hero is younger, maybe not so rich, but definitely powerful and charismatic. The heroines are feisty and modern. Guidelines are good, but there’s nothing like reading to see the differences – and to make it easier I’ve taken 24 modern heats, put them into a spreadsheet, and crunched em to see if there are any themes that repeat.

And guess what? There are!

She’s working for him                                       7

Help distract the paparazzi                               4

Wild affair required (by her or him)                    6

Ex’s                                                               5

Forced into business together                          2



Hero jobs? Tycoons, a title or two, millionaires and a couple of comfortably off, but not off the scale heroes too. Some of the millionaires aren’t obviously so.

So, if you’re putting a couple together in a modern heat environment, have a think. How could they be forced together? Any new ideas?

New Story Love

It's the first of November, so don't expect to see much of me this month. For the ninth year in a row, I'm immersing myself in Nanowrimo, striving for 50,000 words in 30 days.
My approach is different to many others, I suspect. I love writing 'pantster style' which is writing by the seat of my pants, and November is the month when I toss out any ideas of writing to a plan, and just go for it.
I love what comes out of the ether - and this year is no exception. So last night, before nano started, all I had was a vague idea of a woman who pays attention to her daily horoscope, and acts on it.
An hour in, and she's told me her name (Portia Blake), and introduced me to the inciting incident, and all of her five sisters - all with lovely Shakespearean names.
I've got a working title of 'Written in the stars' (but I'm pretty sure that will change, it's not quite right).
And a tough, macho hero is stirring - Aidan Devlin (sorry Lacey, he says he's no relation).
It's a modern heat. And so far, I'm loving it.
Wish me luck in finding out Portia and Aidan's story by the month end!