L is for Luke

Meet Luke, the hero of Paula's second Irish book, Irish Intrigue.

Charley reached Clifden shortly before five o’clock and pulled into the parking area of the supermarket on the outskirts of the small town. Still familiar with the layout of the store, she didn’t take long to collect some basic supplies.

A tall man in a sheepskin jacket stood near the chilled cabinet of yogurts and desserts, speaking on his phone. “Kate, which yogurts do the kids like? Melissa said something about pink pots.”

She reached past him to pick up some mixed fruit yogurts at the same moment as he turned and bumped against her.

“Oops! Sorry,” he said.

“No problem.” She put her yogurts in her shopping trolley, but couldn’t resist pointing further along the cabinet. “The pink pots are those strawberry ones.”

“Thanks.” He gave her a quick smile before speaking into his phone again. “It’s okay, Kate, I see them.”

She started to push her trolley toward the cash desk, but stopped when the man said, “Thanks again, but don’t I know you from somewhere?”

With a small grimace of resignation, she half-turned back to him. She didn’t recall meeting him when she lived here, but perhaps he’d seen her on television. Or else it was a clichéd chat-up line.

“I don’t think so.” She gave him a perfunctory smile as her glance took in rugged good looks in a square face and dark wavy hair. Not exactly tousled, but certainly untamed.

The man frowned for a moment before his face cleared. “You remind me of my mother-in-law.”

“Really?” She suppressed a grin. Being compared to a mother-in-law was a novel kind of comment.

“Not really, no. Her hair’s short and straight, not long like yours, and her face is rounder.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “So I’m nothing like her?”

“You’re much younger, of course, but your eyes are the same colour. Unusual.”

“Brown eyes are unusual?”

“Kind of coppery. I’m useless with colours, but that’s what she said hers were.”

“Oh, I see.”

It seemed an odd conversation to be having with a stranger in a supermarket, but her heartbeat quickened at the attractive twinkle in his dark eyes as he smiled.

He held out his hand. “Luke Sullivan. Pleased to meet you.”

Irish Intrigue

Charley Hunter returns unwillingly to Ireland to complete the filming of a TV drama series. She still hasn’t come to terms with the tragic loss of her husband there two years previously, and the last thing she expects is an instant attraction to an Irish veterinary surgeon.

Luke Sullivan’s life is full as he tries to balance caring for his two young children with his busy rural veterinary practice. After the break-up of his marriage, he vowed to leave women well alone, but now finds himself drawn to Charley.

While Charley struggles with the re-awakening of her emotions, Luke faces a series of unexplained crises at his clinic, as well as an impending custody battle with his ex-wife.

They grow closer as their initial interest in each other develops into mutual support and then into love. But how can an English actress and an Irish vet reconcile their different worlds? And will their relationship survive when Luke believes Charley has endangered his children’s lives – and then betrayed him?

C is for Charley

Paula’s secondary character re-invented herself as the main character in the next novel.

While I was writing the first chapter of Irish Inheritance, the heroine, Jenna, makes a brief reference to Charley on the second page. Maybe Charley would lend her the money for a quick trip to Dublin. When I wrote that line, even I didn’t know whether Charley was male or female! By the time I got to the second chapter I’d decided that Charley was female – short for Charlotte, but only my grandmother calls me that – as she explains later. During the story, Charley developed her own personality, often giving Jenna advice in a straightforward matter-of-fact manner. She also met assistant hotel manager Steve, and at the end, she and Steve joined Jenna and Guy in Ireland, ready to establish a Living History group at Mist Na Mara house.

As far as I was concerned, that was the end of it, as I had no plans to write a sequel or series. By the time Irish Inheritance was published, I’d already started another novel, set in England’s Lake District. Then I had an email from Rebecca, my publisher, saying, ‘You have an opportunity here for a spin-off story about Charley.’

My first reaction was, ‘Okay, I’ll think about that once I’ve sorted out the story I’m writing at present.’ In fact, I’d been having problems with that story, having got to Chapter 12 or 13 twice, deciding it wasn’t working, and going back to start it again.

The day after Rebecca’s email, I suddenly thought, ‘What if I move this story to Ireland?’

I thought about it for a few more days. Changing the location to Clifden in Connemara involved far more than renaming places or giving the heroine a different name. It meant changing the original heroine’s backstory, and her personality too. The heroine in the original story had been less assertive than Charley, so I needed to change her whole approach. I soon found that this was easier than I had anticipated, as Charley was already a ‘real person’ to me. In that sense, I didn’t have to wait to get to know her as I wrote her story.

I also found that the new story that developed didn't give me the same problems as the original story had done! Maybe Charley knew all along that this was her story, and not that other heroine's!

Irish Intrigue

Charley Hunter returns unwillingly to Ireland to complete the filming of a TV drama series. She still hasn't come to terms with the tragic loss of her husband there two years previously, and the last thing she expects is an instant attraction to an Irish veterinary surgeon.

Luke Sullivan's life is full as he tries to balance caring for his two young children with his busy rural veterinary practice. After the break-up of his marriage, he vowed to leave women well alone, but finds himself drawn to Charley.

While Charley struggles with the re-awakening of her emotions, Luke faces a series of unexplained crises at his clinic, as well as an impending custody battle with his ex-wife.

How can an English actress and an Irish vet reconcile their different worlds? And will their relationship survive when Luke believes Charley has endangered his children's lives – and then betrayed him?

Edits - a learning curve?

I’ve spent the last 6 days going through the edits of ‘Dream of Paris’ which I finally sent to my editor on Monday evening. By Tuesday morning, she had the galley proofs ready for me (she works very quickly!), and I spent another day hunched in front of the computer.

 

The edits were interesting. I didn’t realise how often I had my characters starting a sentence with ‘So’ (please take note, Ana, and kick me if you notice me doing that in future!). My other over-used word seems to be ‘that’. I’ve managed (on the whole) to get out of the habit of using it after words like realised, decided, thought (etc) but I’m still unsure of when to use ‘that’ and when to use ‘which’ in a sentence such as: ‘There was an expression in his dark eyes that ( or which?) kicked her heart into double time.’ In some similar cases, my editor changed ‘that’ to ‘which’; in other cases, she left it as ‘that’ – and I don’t really know why!

 

I also had the usual American/British English differences to sort out. My editor was quite happy for me to do this. As she said, she and her sub-editor have never been to England, so they’re not familiar with our phrases. Besides which, she says they both enjoy the ‘British’ tone of my writing. The main ones I had to change ‘back’ to Britspeak, were: ‘Let’s go make coffee’ back to our phrase ‘Let’s go and make some coffee’; ‘she glanced out the window’ to ‘she glanced out of the window’; and ‘hit his stride’ to ‘got into his stride.’ Oh, and we say Maths, not Math!

 

The thing I had the most problems with, however, was the use of the past perfect tense. To my mind, when characters are talking or thinking about something that happened in their past, then you use the past perfect tense.

 

I’ll qualify that slightly and say I do make an exception if it’s a paragraph (or longer) of thoughts about the past. In that case, I’ll use the past perfect in the first sentence, then slip into the normal past tense for the rest.

 

But if it’s just a ‘one-off’ thought, then I tend to use ‘he had’ or ‘she had’ (or the contractions) e.g. “She thought about what Jenny had mouthed to her.” In this case, Jenny had mouthed a comment to her ten minutes (i.e. about a page!) earlier. The sub-editor changed this to ‘She thought about what Jenny mouthed to her’ – which to me simply didn’t sound right! In all fairness, I have to say my editor accepted the times when I reverted to ‘had’ (or she’d or he’d in other examples), and it did make me look out for the times when I didn’t actually need to use the past perfect, so maybe that’s something else I’ll have to watch out for in future.

 

In fact I’ve just spotted one in my current WIP in something my heroine says: “He said I’d already seen one like this but I can’t remember where.” Now – should that be ‘I’d already seen’ or ‘I already saw’?

 

All in all, a useful learning curve – which all goes to show we’re always learning in this game, aren’t we?

 

‘Dream of Paris’ should be available on Amazon later this week – just in time for Valentine’s Day, which is very appropriate, since Paris is called the City of Love! And here’s the cover, which I think is fabulous – and very romantic!

 

 

10 Sentences

I'm taking the easy way out this week because I am sitting in the middle of my half-decorated study which has no curtains or carpet. It was hard work clearing everything out of here, and it's going to be even harder work putting everything back and returning to 'normal' again.

You may remember that my 'inspiration' for 'Her Only Option' was wondering whether the hero could vault over the rails from one Nile cruise ship sundeck to another. In the end, however, Ross didn't actually do this - but I couldn't omit my original thought completely.  So here's a 10-sentence excerpt, which takes place a week after they first met on the neighbouring sundecks.

They're at a party at the Rahman villa, and we're in Neve's POV. The first speaker is Ross.

"You and Joanne exchange ships next week; she’s on the Nadia and you’re on the Amirah. It’s a good thing I found out, otherwise I’d have had to practise vaulting over the rails between the sundecks."

"Easier to go down to the lobby where they have the gangplanks between the ships."

"Yeah, but not half as much fun. I even considered doing it last week when I first met you." He spooned rice on to her plate until she put out her hand to stop him.

A vision of him vaulting the four-foot gap between the rails of the sundecks came into her mind and she gave a quick chuckle. "Last Monday I’d probably have been willing you to drop down into the gap."

"Ouch - that bad, was it?"

"The first impression was not good, no."

Writing a 'blurb' for your story

Writing a blurb is probably about ten times harder than writing a synopsis, but back-cover blurbs are one of your main selling tools. In my case, I’d say that it’s the blurb (rather than the cover) that influences my decision to buy or not to buy.

 

First of all, go into your local bookstore – or, even easier, open the Amazon site – and look at the blurbs of the same genre books as yours. What attracts you to a book? What puts you off? What clues did the blurb give you about the characters and the setting? Did it give you too much information, or not enough?

 

Here I’m going to talk about the blurb for romance novels, since that is what I write. Blurbs for thrillers, science fiction, paranormal etc may be different, of course.

 

When I was writing romance in the sixties and seventies, the publisher wrote the blurb for me. My first novel had this back-cover blurb:

 

Christine thought it was too good to be true when Don Bowden, whom she had loved for so long, confessed that he felt the same way about her. It was too good to be true ...

 

Short, but straight to the point – and, of course, it raises an immediate question in the reader’s mind. Why was it too good to be true?

 

The setting for this story wasn’t mentioned in the blurb because, in this case, it didn’t form a pivotal part of the story. The two main characters were teachers but they could quite well have been in any other profession, since the emphasis was on the relationship between them and not on the setting.

 

In my second novel, however, the setting was paramount to the story, and this was reflected in the blurb, which was longer this time:

 

Janet Harris and Philip Morton were on opposite sides of the fence. The future of Janet's beautiful Lakeland village home was at stake, and she put the blame squarely on Philip. Falling in love with each other should have been the solution. But somehow it only complicated an already tense situation. Then Fate took a hand. But was it too late?

 

Even though it’s over forty years since those blurbs were written, this is one occasion where things haven’t changed much over the years. Blurbs continue to be the ‘sales’ pitch, and should arouse curiosity. You’re seducing the reader and persuading them to buy your book. Give enough to whet the appetite, and don’t give too much away.

 

For romance novels, the blurb needs to concentrate on the characters—who they are, the first major ‘plot point’ of the story, and what stands in the way of their happiness together. If the setting or their occupations are a contributory part of the challenges or conflicts facing them, then these get a mention too. The blurb should also leave the reader asking questions (even if you have to spell it out for them!).

 

This is the blurb I wrote for ‘His Leading Lady’:

 

Jess Harper’s predictable life is turned upside down when she discovers that Lora, her twin sister, has disappeared. It’s just a week before rehearsals are due to start for a new West End musical in which Lora has the lead role. Jess decides to pose as her sister in order to save Lora's career, and this brings her into close contact with arrogant theatre director Kyle Drummond. Attraction sparks between them but there’s also evidence that he had been dating Lora. So is Jess simply a substitute – in real life as well as in the show? And what will happen when Lora eventually returns?

 

Two years on from when I wrote this, I can already see ways I could improve it! But the salient points are there – characters, first plot point, reference to the setting/occupations, the potential conflict(s), and finally, the question.

 

Basically, the blurb ‘leads’ the readers into the story, but without giving too much away, and provides a ‘hook’ which hopefully will leave them wanting to know more.

 

Here's the blurb for my latest release, Changing the Future:

 

 

How do you write your blurbs?

 

Promotion - what works?

In June last year, I discovered Six Sentence Sunday. This is a regular, weekly bloghop. You sign up each week (between Wednesday and Saturday), and on Sunday you post six sentences (no more, no less) from either a published work or your WIP.

The trick, of course, as with any excerpt you post anywhere, is to choose carefully. You need to find six sentences that hang together without needing a lengthy explanation of the context. If the sentences also provide a teaser to make people want to read more, so much the better.

My very first six, on 27 June 2011, had this brief intro to my six sentences from His Leading Lady:

To save her twin sister's career, Jess is pretending to be Lora who's gone missing. She's just been out for the evening with Kyle Drummond, the director of Lora's new show in London’s West End.

And this was the six:

Kyle tightened his arm around her and Jess closed her eyes, not to relax but to try to think straight and to work out just how she was going to extricate herself from what seemed to be the inevitable sequel to all this.

She couldn’t say she was tired, not when she’d made such a fuss about wanting to stay at the club, but there were limits to what she was prepared to do ‘for Lora’s sake’ and going to bed with Kyle Drummond was definitely way beyond the limits. If that was what he expected, then she would have to admit to the whole pretence, even if it ruined everything for tomorrow's TV interview and Lora’s contract.

When the cab came to a standstill outside Lora’s apartment, she eased herself away from him but couldn’t stop herself from looking round at him. “God, I want you,” he breathed, his voice husky.

She stared at him, sure he must be able to hear the sudden frantic pounding of her heart.

That first time, I had 18 comments, most saying similar things e.g. “What a sticky situation. Can't wait to find out how she handles it.”

I’ll admit that, at times, I have ‘edited’ my six slightly, either by missing out a sentence or two from the original, or by combining two sentences into one, in order to provide a meaningful six. Most of my ‘sixes’ are usually much shorter, too, than this first excerpt.

You’re not expected to visit all the other contributors (there are now 200 or more each Sunday), but of course you can’t expect other people to visit your blog if you don’t make an effort to visit theirs. It’s time-consuming, of course, visiting many different blogs each Sunday and leaving comments. Of course, I always try to make positive comments even if excerpts about vampires, shape-shifters etc do not appeal to me personally! I also make every effort to respond to the comments on my blog, although i do wonder if anyone actually has the time to return to read them! The net result is that, over the last year, I have built up a ‘network’ of contacts and, in some cases, new friends.

So how does all this affect promotion and marketing? To begin with, I looked on it simply as a case of getting my name known and making more contacts. I had absolutely no idea whether it led to any sales – until a couple of weeks ago.

On July 8, one commenter said she had just bought my latest book ‘Changing the Future’ from Amazon. A week later, she posted a 5* review – which began: “I loved this book. I rarely read straight up romance, but after reading snippets of this book on the author's blog, I thought it really sounded good.”

Last Sunday, four other commenters said they had my book in their TBR pile. Okay, it’s not thousands(!), and it’s taken about 40-50 Sundays (I did miss some!) to reach this point. I leave it to you to decide whether or not this kind of promotion is worth the effort one puts into it week by week but, of course, even one sale is better than none! 

Summer Reading

Need some recommendations for your summer reading?

Here are 9 heart-warming romances by members of Heroines with Hearts, all available as e-books and paperbacks from Amazon.
Click the Amazon links to read the first chapters.

Books by Debra St. John

This Time For Always

Reed walks back into her life, turning her world upside down. His presence brings back painful reminders of the past: the love they once shared, the money he took from her father, and the baby she gave up for adoption.
Logan wants to buy The Corral, and he’s come back to town to prove he’s made it on his own without the Montgomery money. Sparks fly whenever Sharlie and Logan are together. Anger, fear, and jealousy aren’t enough to erase the love they once felt for each other. But is love enough? Logan wants a family—the one thing Sharlie can’t give him.

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/MaZ982

Wild Wedding Weekend

All Abby Walker ever wanted was to live a normal life in her small suburban-Chicago house. After traveling around the world in her youth, staying put in one spot is a dream come true. But when she winds up on a game show as a favor to a friend, her life takes an adventurous turn she isn't at all prepared for. Noah Grant has put his small-town Indiana roots behind him. He travels all over the world, enjoying the freedom and adventure. He has no intention of settling down anytime soon, if ever. But then he finds himself married to Abby in a bizarre quirk of fate, and he realizes his life will never be the same. Their passion flares as hot as the sultry Caribbean air. But is passion enough to turn their Wild Wedding Weekend into a lifetime of love?

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/LDhHNp

This Can’t Be Love

After the disastrous end of another dead-end relationship, all Jessica Hart wants is solitude and time to heal at her grandfather's mountain retreat. Instead she finds Zach Rawlings.
Zach has made himself at home at the cabin. He's house-sitting while the owner is away, and the temporary nature of the job suits him perfectly. For Jessica, Zach is everything she wants to escape.
As she gets to know him better, she realizes there's more to him than meets the eye. His patience and tender concern begin to heal something deep inside of her. But can she trust her heart to a man like Zach?

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/MH1dYR

A Christmas To Remember

Newly single, Heather Morgan gathers her courage and decides to take a Christmas ski vacation on her own. However, the festive holiday atmosphere reminds her how dispirited and alone she feels. When she meets a mysterious stranger, her lonely vacation takes an unexpected turn.
Sam is at the resort at the urging of his brother, who thinks he needs to get out and have a little fun. Having no desire to get involved with anyone, Sam needs a way to get his brother off his back. The intriguing Heather seems like the perfect solution to his dilemma, so he makes her an offer she can't refuse.
Sam restores the joy of the season to Heather. Their time together is magical, something she'll never forget. Soon her feelings for him deepen beyond their romantic holiday fling. But Sam has a secret, one that could prevent the fantasy from ever becoming real.

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/NdeOoA

Books by Jennifer Wilck

A Heart of Little Faith

Lily Livingston is a widow raising her six-year-old daughter, Claire, in New York City. Devastated by her husband’s death three years ago, she’s in no hurry to fall in love again. Besides, trying to balance her career with motherhood leaves her little time for romance.
With a wheelchair instead of a white horse, and a vow against falling in love again as his armor, Gideon Stone is the last person Lily expects to sweep her off her feet. But when a business agreement forces the two of them together, that is exactly what happens.
As they navigate the minefield that fast represents their relationship, can either of them overcome the obstacles to find true happiness in each other’s arms? The answer is yes, but the bumps along the way demonstrate that neither of them can go it alone.

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/LTUSYk

Skin Deep

The last thing Valerie needs, after escaping an abusive marriage to an alcoholic and rebuilding her life, is a broody, secretive, standoffish man. But that’s exactly what she gets when she becomes a makeup artist on the set of a hit sitcom and draws the attention of the series’ star.

John Samuels hides a terrible past—a life of abuse and neglect. A successful acting career and the affection and support of cast, crew and friends, does nothing to convince him that he is anything other than an unlovable monster.
Will he learn that the life he’s been living has been built on a lie or will he be doomed to repeat the sins of his father?

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/M5QHe0

Books by Paula Martin

His Leading Lady

Jess Harper’s predictable life is turned upside down when she discovers that Lora, her twin sister, has disappeared. It’s just a week before rehearsals are due to start for a new West End musical in which Lora has the lead role. Jess decides to pose as her sister in order to save Lora's career. This brings her into close contact with arrogant theatre director Kyle Drummond. Attraction sparks between them but there’s also evidence that he had been dating Lora. So is Jess simply a substitute – in real life as well as in the show? And what will happen when Lora eventually returns?

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/Nu2tuK

Fragrance of Violets

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." (Mark Twain)
Fragrance of Violets is a story of two people who need to forgive each other and also deal with other issues in their lives.
Abbey Seton distrusts men, especially Jack Tremayne who destroyed their friendship when they were teenagers. Ten years later, they meet again. Can they put the past behind them?
Abbey has to forgive not only Jack, but also her father who deserted his family when she was young. Jack holds himself responsible for his fiancée’s death. He’s also hiding another secret which threatens the fragile resumption of his relationship with Abbey.
Will Abbey ever forgive him when she finds out the truth?

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/M5R1tc

Changing the Future

Lisa Marshall is stunned when celebrated volcanologist Paul Hamilton comes back into her life at the college where she now teaches. Despite their acrimonious break-up several years earlier, they soon realise the magnetic attraction between them is stronger than ever.

However, the past is still part of the present, not least when Paul discovers Lisa has a young son. They can’t change their past, but will it take a volcanic eruption to help them change the future?

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/NdfHNL

Enjoy!!

 

P.S. If you do buy and read any of them, we hope you will consider writing a review on Amazon or Goodreads.  Many thanks!

Questions - and Answers

Following my request last week for questions about my latest release and /or about writing generally, I was delighted at all the interesting questions you sent. As there are so many, today I’m answering the ones specifically about my latest release ‘Changing the Future’, and tomorrow I’ll answer the more general ones about writing.

Lisa Marshall is stunned when celebrated volcanologist Paul Hamilton comes back into her life at the college where she now teaches. Despite their acrimonious break-up several years earlier, they soon realise the magnetic attraction between them is stronger than ever. However, the past is still part of the present, not least when Paul discovers Lisa has a young son. They can’t change that past, but will it take a volcanic eruption to help them change the future?  (Available from Amazon)

From Erin O’Quinn: The volcano itself is a powerful image. Can you give us a few hints of how you used the symbol throughout your new book ‘Changing the Future’?
This question made me think, Erin! I don’t think I consciously used it as a symbol but, in fact, the analogy is there throughout the book! Maybe my subconscious was at work?
(a) Volcanoes are usually found where tectronic plates are converging or diverging. In this case, the two lead characters are ‘converging’ after several years apart.
(b) The early signs of possible volcanic eruptions are (amongst other things) increased seismic activity and/or gas emissions; this could represent the words and actions of Lisa and Paul that gradually become more intense.
(c) Of course, not even the best experts can predict the exact moment when a volcano will erupt. They can monitor the changes and may know from these that an eruption is imminent, even inevitable. In the same way, I think my readers will recognise the ‘signs’ of an inevitable eruption in Lisa and Paul’s relationship, but even my two characters were taken by surprise about how and when it actually happened.

From Lindsay Townsend: How did you research what volcanologists do? And do such experts share certain characteristics which you could show in your novel?
I won’t pretend I’m an expert on volcanoes, Lindsay, although I did do a mass of research, 99% of which I didn’t use, but still needed to do to ensure the other 1% was reasonably accurate. In particular, apart from the ‘theoretical’ information about volcanic activity, I read a lot of first-hand accounts about eruptions and also watched dozens of videos!
As far as volcano experts are concerned, I got the impression that they work closely together and respect each other’s expertise. Thus I had Paul in close contact with the head of the Iceland Volcano Research Centre, and with other geologists.

From Jennifer Wilck: What first attracted you to the idea of making your hero a volcanologist?
Would you believe he started out as a High School geography teacher? That was back in the 70’s when I first wrote this story. When I dug the ms. out of a box into which I’d dumped my stories, I decided I needed to ‘upgrade’ him to the top of his profession. I’m not really sure how or why I decided he was a volcano expert. Maybe it was a kind of progression from geography to geology to a specialist who might also be a television ‘celebrity’. The Iceland volcanic ash cloud a couple of years ago played a part in this decision too.

From Elizabeth Rodriguez: In your latest book, one of the main characters is a volcanologist! That is a bit off the beaten path - how did you come up with it? Did you research volcanoes? Did you find out anything interesting?
Elizabeth, you’ll see part of my answer to you in the above answer to Jennifer. When I decided that was my hero’s job, I then had to do a huge amount of research. I admit I didn’t understand some of it! But I still found it fascinating. I think the most interesting was all the information about the eruption of Mount St Helens in 1980, and also the reasons why the Icelandic ash cloud caused such problems a couple of years ago when other eruptions in Iceland don’t have the same effect.

From Linda Swift: Paula, this is more than one question but all related. Where is the setting of this story? Did the plot involving volcanoes require a lot of research? Are you setting us up with the foreshadowing that the heroine's son may belong to the hero or just being upfront about it from the get-go? Now I HAVE to read the story and find the answers!
Linda, the first part of the story is set in an imaginary college on the edge of the Lake District which, as you already know, is my favourite part of England. I could have located the collage anywhere really, so why not the Lake District? It’s easier for me to write about places I know personally. I did take the hero and heroine to New York for a short time, but again, I’ve been there several times, so I’m reasonably familiar with it. The scenes set in Iceland presented a different problem, as I have never been there, so had to rely on maps, photos, and videos to give me an idea of the landscape etc. As I explained in my previous answers, I did a lot of research and made pages of notes about volcanoes, the ongoing monitoring even of dormant volcanoes, and the causes/signs of volcanic activity and eruptions. And I’m totally upfront in the story about the child being the hero’s. For the rest, yes, you’ll have to read it!

From Nancy Jardine: So, what would make him doubt the boy is his?
Without giving a real spoiler, I can’t answer this one, Nancy! Maybe it’s enough to say he hasn’t seen the heroine for over 5 years, when they split up because... no, can't say any more.

From Betty Alark: Is Lisa's son Paul's? Is Lisa presently in a relationship with someone that is the child's father and if so what future can Lisa and Paul have without affecting the lives of the people that she presently has a life with?
You’re asking me to give away the whole story here, Betty! I can tell you that yes, Lisa’s son is Paul’s. That information is revealed on page 3, so I’m not giving too much away there. Regarding any other relationship, my lips are sealed! You’ll have to read the book!

From Carol: Will there be a prequel to explain how they got together originally?
Carol, I hope there is enough in the story to give the reader a pretty good idea of how they first got together and why they broke up.

From Ana: What was the hardest part of writing ‘Changing the Future’, and what was the easiest?
I think the hardest part was deciding which scenes from the original to retain and which to ditch! I had no problem abandoning the ‘flashback’ scenes, but then had to find some way of incorporating enough about their earlier relationship for the reader to get an idea of the love they’d once shared. Easiest part? Difficult to say! Sometimes the tricky scenes flow, and the easy scenes become the hardest to write. Probably the easiest part to write was when Lisa finds out the volcano has erupted, because I was living through her panic and dread all the time I was writing about this.

Please come back tomorrow to look at the questions about writing in general, and see my answers!
Tomorrow’s questions are from Gilli Allan, Debra St John, Brenda Moguez, Glynis Smy, Jennifer Wilck, Jo Heroux, Daphne Romero and Ana Morgan.

Zest?

The dictionary defines zest (in addition to the outermost part of orange and lemon ring) as ‘keen, hearty pleasure’ or ‘excitement and enjoyment.’

By rights, I should be feeling extremely ‘zestful;’ right now. My new novel, ‘Changing the Future’ comes out next week, and my first published excerpt earlier this week (on Six Sentence Sunday) got some ‘rave’comments.

So why I am feeling decidedly ‘un’-zestful?

Is it because by the time you get to the publication of your third novel (or seventh, if I count my novels in the 60’s and 70’s) the excitement has worn off? No, not really, because you can still be thrilled at having a new book published, however many have gone before. In this case, it’s a story with which I struggled long and hard. I wrote the original story many years ago and it was the first one I ‘resurrected’ about four years ago when I decided to try my hand at romance novels again. Since then, it’s gone through several re-writes, not least the transfer of the story setting from the original UK setting to America and then back to the UK again, before I was happy with it! So I’m well pleased that I finally got it to publishable standard.

Having said that, by the time you are having your third novel published, your family and 'real-life' friends simply take it for granted. No longer an enthusiastic ‘Wow, that’s fantastic’; instead, a somewhat muted ‘Oh, another novel. Well done.’ So there won’t be any of the ‘whoop-de-whoop’ which greeted my first novel last year. Release day will probably mean nothing to anyone except myself and some of my online friends.

Are you starting to understand my reason for lack of zest?

Then there’s the promotion aspect. I have worked hard during the last couple of years to network and establish an online ‘presence’. I’ve spent hours (hundreds of hours!) on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and in the yahoo loops, networking and getting to know/supporting other people in addition to promoting myself. I’ve lost count of how many guest posts and interviews I’ve done on other people’s blogs over the last two years. I appreciate the opportunity to do this, of course, and I’ve made a lot of very good online friends as a result.

But how many people buy my books because of my blogs, etc? Maybe a dozen or so, if I’m lucky! A couple of months ago, I wrote a post on my blog about an author who has 3 books on Amazon (published between April 2011 and Jan 2012. She says she doesn’t spend much time on promotion, apart from writing a few blogs or guest blogs. However, in the first half of March, she sold 8686 books! If I could sell half that number in half a month, I’d be ecstatic!

With another book coming out, I have to jump on the merry-go-round again and start another round of promotion, while asking myself whether it really has any effect on book sales. And we won’t even mention the even harder job of getting reviews on Amazon or Goodreads!

I guess I’ll just have to zap up my zest level and zoom into the promo zone!

Forgiveness

I had something else planned for the ‘F’ word today, but last night I received the final version of the cover of my February release from Whiskey Creek Press, 'Fragrance of Violets'. So I thought I'd let you have the first view of it.

I'm thrilled to bits with it. I think it's fantastic and fabulous!

The title comes from a quotation by Mark Twain: Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

‘Fragrance of Violets’ is a story of two people who need to forgive each other and deal with other issues in their lives where forgiveness is also necessary.

Abbey Seton distrusts men, especially Jack Tremayne who destroyed their friendship when they were teenagers.  Ten years later, they meet again.  Can they put the past behind them?

Abbey has to forgive not only Jack, but also her father who deserted his family when she was young.  Jack holds himself responsible for his fiancée’s death.  He’s also hiding another secret which threatens the fragile resumption of his relationship with Abbey.

Will Abbey ever forgive him when she finds out the truth?

It occurs to me that the theme of forgiveness, in one form or other, appears frequently in romance novels. So often our characters hurt (deliberately or unwittingly), misjudge, distrust or believe badly of each other. They then have to learn how to put things right, forgive each other, and in the process learn more about themselves and their faults and foibles, so that they don’t make the same mistakes again.

I wonder just how many romances have the words ‘I’m sorry, I was wrong’ somewhere in them? And, because all romances ended happily ever after, of course, all is eventually forgiven and forgotten.

A Great Read

I have only one thing I want people to connect with my name as an author – a great read.   

If my readers consider I’ve given them that, then I shall know I got it right.  A heroine with whom they can empathise, a hero they can fall for, plus enough twists and turns in the plot to keep them reading until the believable and satisfying happy ending. 

And that’s why I was delighted to receive this email last Saturday from one of my American ‘West Wing fan’ friends who has read my fan-fiction stories in the past.  I can rely on her to give an honest opinion and, bless her, she must have been one of the first to download a copy of ‘His Leading Lady’.  With her permission, I quote from her email to me:

“I had to stay home today while we were dealing with plumbing problems. So I finished reading your story. It was a great read. (hip hip hooray!) The deeper I got into the story, I was kind of hoping that I wouldn't be called to help with the plumbing (I wasn't much) because I wanted to see how things ended. I've not read any books in the romance genre before, but I was assuming that there'd be a happy ending :-) so I was just enjoying all the obstacles you were throwing in front our heroine and wondering how you were going to work things out.

So congratulations with this novel and I look forward to your next one. I can't believe I have to wait more than 6 months.”

My first 'review' – and I’m over the moon!  A great read – that’s exactly what I want people to say about me and my stories! J