On Fire!

Friiiiiiiiday! Phew, I can barely believe it's here. Hope everyone had a good week.

I have finally put the finishing touches on The Pollyanna Plan! I'll be posting more about it on Monday, but in the meantime, if anyone would like a review copy, please let me know in the comments below or email me: talliroland AT gmail.com. It'd be my pleasure to send one over (it will be electronic).

And as I trot off to find my longed for carrot cake, I'm turning the blog over to Sally Clements, a fellow RNA member and writer extraordinaire.

Take it away, Sally!

The thing I like best about being a romance writer is the camaraderie and support of like-minded souls. I’ve been blessed with a great critique group, The Minxes of Romance, and over the past few years as well as critting each other’s work, we’ve become an international group of great friends. We’ve wanted to write an anthology for a long time –we all have a passion for fire fighters, so an anthology featuring strong, wide-chested heros was definitely something we all wanted to do, and BLAZE is the result!

The stories are all set in the Lake District in England, in Coombethwaite, the lakeside town where passions run deep.

Here’s a bit about it:

BLAZE - 8 scorching tales from The Minxes of Romance.

Romance is in the air for Coombethwaite’s retained firefighters, and none of them will escape its heat unscorched!

Memory’s Flame by Maya Blake

A fiery reunion – when Ellie returns after twelve long years to bury her grandfather, the last person she expects to see is her first love, Jake Spencer. One look, one touch and they know memory's flame is as sizzling as ever!

The Fire Inside by Romy Sommer

Fire fighter Sam Redfern is used to being seen as just one of the boys. Until TV talent scout and celebrity Ryan Morgan shows up in Coombethwaite and starts to make her feel very much like a woman. A woman with needs.

A Smouldering Attraction by Suzanna Ross

Shelley Fox is finished with all things romantic. So is Harrison Reid - until he meets Shelley and realises he might easily be persuaded otherwise.

Locked Into Love by Catherine Coles

Journalist Cassie Parker returns to Coombethwaite with her dream in tatters—the last thing she needs is to rely on her ex for anything but on her second day back she needs hunky fireman Ben Spencer to release her from handcuffs!

Hot, Bothered and Bewitched by Jodie James

All alone on her birthday, Wiccan vet Seraphine conjures up more than she bargained for when she casts a Halloween love spell. Five minutes later a knock on the door heralds the arrival of handsome fireman Isaac Quinn, complete with a stray black cat. Is it just coincidence, or has Mother Nature answered Seraphine's request with lightening speed?

Lighting Love’s Spark by Sally Clements

Primary school teacher Annabel Jackson knows flirting with the parents is a no-no, but when single father Daniel Walker arrives at Coombethwaite Primary in full fire fighter garb clutching an axe, how can she resist?

Worth the Risk by Tara Pammi

Baker Annie Bennett has always stood on the sidelines while life passed her by. And it has brought Annie nothing but loneliness. With the New Year coming in, Annie decides it's time to come back home, risk her heart with the man she's always loved. Will her risk pay off or will Marcus never see her as anything but his best friend?

A Kindling Romance by Lorraine Wilson

Stressed out lawyer Polly Minton felt trapped in her city job and now she's trapped again, this time in a Lake District chimney; hunky fire fighter and local landowner Drew Reynolds has problems of his own but will he be the one to set her free in more ways than one?

Blaze is available now from Amazon UK/US.

For more about the minxes, visit our blog : http://minxesofromance.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for having us, Talli!

Blaze is right, I say! Have a great weekend, everyone. 

The Ninety-Minute Sweet Spot

Happy Monday! I hope everyone celebrating the event had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The weekend passed here in a blur of rain, wind and editing as light at the end of tunnel looms ever-nearer for the release of The Pollyanna Plan! I'm hoping to hit that 'publish' button this Friday, after which I plan to collapse in a heap beside a carrot cake until Baby TR arrives.

I don't talk much about the mechanics of writing here - mainly because I believe it's different for every writer. However, today I came across something that made me nod in agreement. Over on Rachelle Gardner's blog, she talks about using three 90-minute increments to maximise productivity. After trying many different ways of working throughout the day, I've found 90 minutes to be my sweet spot. A typical day will see me working from 7 to 8:30 a.m, 9 to 10:30 a.m., then 1 to 2:30 pm... after which I'll delve into social media and emails. If I linger at my desk longer than 90 minutes, I often find the work I produce isn't up to scratch. Taking a bit of a breather is invaluable!

What's your ideal working increment (and please don't put me to shame by saying five hours in one go!)?

PS - Angela Brown is helping to organise a Cyber Monday sale with lots of great YA books! head over to have a peek. 

Five Ways to Write When You Really Don’t Want To

Happy Friday! I hope all my American friend had a great Thanksgiving and are lolling about, fully sated and doped up on turkey. I'm buried in edits in preparation for releasing The Pollyanna Plan next week (yay!), so I'm delighted to welcome Evie Hunter, author of The Pleasures of Winter, to the blog with some great tips on how to write when you just don't want to. 

Over to Evie!

If you’ve decided to start writing your novel in November, you should be more than a quarter way through it by now. Eeek. I can hear the screams of struggling novelists.

I meant to, but  didn’t have time

The cat was sick

My story ran out of steam and now I’m lumbering into middle muddle

I’m stuck on one part and can’t seem to move beyond it.

I’m still staring at a blank screen

As writers who have faced a crazy deadlines (104k in five and a half weeks)  we’d like to share a few tips and tricks to help you get your NaNoMo project up and running again. 

No Time

You need to set aside at least two hours every day for writing. Think about your lifestyle.  Are you an early bird or late bird? How much time do you spend in front of the TV or on the phone?  You can make time, if you really want to.

The cat was sick

I love cats but I am so not listening…

My story ran out of steam and now I’m lumbering into middle muddle

You have a problem with plot or insufficiently developed characters. Get yourself a large sheet of paper and a packet of post it notes.  Draw a nice big tree.  The trunk represents your main plot line and the branches represent your sub plots. Is it strong enough to carry you through.  Are there enough twists and turns to make it interesting?

Take a post-it note for each character. Briefly describe them, their goals, motivations and conflicts.  Put the post-its on the tree.  Is your main character driving the plot or do things just happen to them?

. 

I’m stuck on one part and can’t seem to move beyond it.

 If research is bogging you down – put a note in the margin and move on. You can drop your research in later.

If you have reached a wall and can’t seem to move beyond it, go think about the worst possible thing that could happen to your characters. Be nasty to them.  If your heroine is stuck up a tree, have someone come along and throw rocks at her.  Conflict is good. (laughs evily)

I’m still staring at a blank screen. 

All is not lost. Open a newspaper on a random page. Scan through the stories.  Is there a headline that grabs your attention?  A murder, a drama, something funny?  Imagine that you’re a character in that story.  How do you feel right now?  Inspiration is all around you – you only have to look.  

When reporter Abbie Marshall needs to escape Honduras, a private jet carrying a Hollywood A-lister is her only way out. She has a ride home with Irish actor Jack Winter - notorious womanizer and all round bad boy. Abbie is shaken to the core by Winter's blazing beauty and provocative mind.

After the plane's nose-dive into the remote rainforest forces them to fight for survival, Abbie catches tantalizing glimpses of the complicated man behind the image. And the more she sees of him, the more he touches some primal part of her that she is determined to suppress. But after a devastating encounter with Winter's shadow side, Abbie's detachment is shattered. On returning to normal life, Abbie cannot forget what happened, nor ignore the shocking rumours about the star's private life. Her struggle to make sense of her torment leads straight back to Winter, who is just as obsessed by her. But if they are to have a relationship, Abbie knows she must embrace his hidden desires ... and accept her own.

What are your strategies to get yourself in the chair when you don't want to?

Have a great weekend, everyone!

All Loved Up: The Festival of Romance

I'm back from the Festival of Romance, feeling all loved up. What a great weekend! Despite the fact I'm still in recovery mode, it was worth every second.

The event kicked off with an awards gala Friday night at the Bedford Corn Exchange, a wonderful venue in the heart of the town. Congrats to all the winners! Here's me and author Rachel Lyndhurst, bathed in an appropriately pink glow.

(Photo courtesy of Phillipa Ashley)

Saturday morning dawned slightly gloomy, but watching rowers on the river (pwoar!) raised our spirits ever so slightly. Suitably in the mood, we toddled across the bridge for Meet the Author coffee and cake morning, where I proceeded to devour a huge piece of carrot cake before reading an excerpt from The Pollyanna Plan.

No, that belly isn't just from carrot cake...
(Photo courtesy of Liz Fenwick)

From there, I dashed to the Readathon at the Harpur Shopping Centre, where I tortured bemused passers-by reading from my novel. I only wish I had a photo to capture some of the shoppers' expressions!

In the meantime, men in dishy Regency attire were wandering about town.

Author Phillipa Ashley with Dan the Regency Man.
(Photo courtesy of Phillipa!)

Awash in romance, I headed back to London, feeling warm and fuzzy from great author chats, meeting loads of Twitter friends in the real world, and a fabulous weekend overall!

Have a great week, everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Getting Myth-y With It

(Yeah, sorry for the lame post title.)

As you read this, I will be winging my way north of London to Bedford, a town that will be overrun with romantic novelists this weekend! Oh lucky place!

Instead, Paul Anthony Shortt is taking over my blog for the day. Paul's just released his first novel, Locked Within. Without further ado... over to him!

The Underworld

I want to thank Talli for having me on her blog. While I’ve been busy writing and finding my place in the blogosphere, Talli has been something of a role model, both in terms of her success as an author and as a member of the online community. I am deeply grateful to her for taking part in this blog tour.

Mythology forms the most basic roots of our society. The moment the first humans tried to understand where fire came from or why the wind blew, they were setting humanity on a path that would see us branching out into countless distinct cultures with wide-ranging belief systems.

As we have progressed, we’ve put aside mythology and superstition. Dismissed as children’s stories or just attempts by primitive man to understand the world, myth often misses out on the respect it deserves for shaping us.

The study of mythology profoundly shaped my writing and played an enormous part of Locked Within’s development. There was a specific element which called to me as I thought of the book and what it would be about. The Underworld. The place souls are sent after death. The afterlife, where we finally learn the great mysteries of what our lives have meant. To the ancient Greeks, this required the departed to pay the ferryman, Charon, in order to be taken safely across the River Styx. If they could not pay, due to not receiving proper burial, they were thrown overboard to join the lost souls below.

Ancient Egyptians believed that their soul was made up of five parts, which each served a different purpose and had a different fate after the body had died.

The Norse believed that if they died in battle, they would be taken to Valhalla, where they would fight and feast to prepare for Ragnarok, the end of the world.

The fate of the soul in the afterlife is a core part of every belief. When creating the world of Locked Within, I needed to decide how the inhabitants of the supernatural society felt about death. Two dominant ideologies formed in my mind. One, represented by groups called Conclaves, believed that the soul returned in another incarnation, and so the true essence of the person carried on forever. The other rejected this belief, insisting that while people did have memories from other lives, these were only echoes, imprints, and not the true person. They believed that when a person dies, nothing of that person truly remains, and so they banded together in their fear of death, forming the Council of Chains, which strives to find ways for its members to live forever. Vampirism, body-stealing, the magical preservation of the body, and pacts with powerful otherworldly beings are the Council’s tools. In discarding their mortality, they become predators, driven to live forever while innocents suffer as their prey.

Has mythology ever inspired your writing? Or have you read stories from myth that resonated with you as strongly as the best novel or movie?

A child at heart who turned to writing and roleplaying games when there simply weren't enough action figures to play out the stories he wanted, Paul Anthony Shortt has been writing all his life. Growing up surrounded by music, film and theatre gave him a deep love of all forms of storytelling, each teaching him something new he could use. When not playing with the people in his head, he enjoys cooking and regular meet-ups with his gaming group.He lives in Ireland with his wife Jen and their dogs, Pepper and Jasper. Their first child, Conor William Henry Shortt, was born on July 11th, 2011. He passed away three days later, but brought love and joy into their lives and those of their friends. Jen is pregnant again and is expecting twins.
Website: http://paulanthonyshortt.blogspot.com

Thank you for the kind words, Paul! So... tell me. Has myth inspired your writing? Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll be back Monday with a full report on my weekend of lurve. 

Nuts, Romance, Baby

Happy Monday, all! After a beautiful crisp day yesterday with clear blue skies, it's now raining in London. Ah, well. Perfect day to stay inside and edit.

I've got a busy week ahead, because on Friday I'm heading to Bedford for the Festival of Romance. There will be coffee, there will be cake,and there will be plenty of booky romance! Not only am I taking part in a read-aloud session at the local mall (gulp!), I'm also up for an award at the Gala, as well as taking a turn manning the RNA's booth. Should be fun, although I may need to be peeled off the floor by the end of it. These days, a stroll to the corner shop seems taxing.

My Christmas novella Mistletoe in Manhattan got its first blog review last weekend. Huge thanks to everyone who has taken the time to download and read!

In other news, Jessica Bell has released a write guide called Show and Tell in a Nutshell.

Click to add me to Goodreads!

Inside, you will find sixteen real scenes depicting a variety of situations, emotions, and characteristics which clearly demonstrate how to turn telling into showing. Dispersed throughout, and at the back of the book, are blank pages to take notes as you read. A few short writing prompts are also provided.

It's a practical, no-nonsense resource that will help new and experienced writers alike deal with that dreaded piece of advice: show, don’t tell. I wish Jess' book had been around when I started writing.

Paperback: $4.40 on Amazon US; £3.99 on Amazon UK
E-book: $1.99 on Amazon US; £1.99 on Amazon UK

And now, back to baby shopping... after a stellar effort from Mr TR yesterday, we managed to set up Baby TR's room. Now I only need to buy five gazillion other things!

Have a great week, everyone, and good luck to all those NaNo'ing.

Christmas Creche and Second Novels!

Look at that, it's Friday! No idea how that came about.

I've got Joanne Phillips here today, but first up, some exciting news: today is the launch of The Christmas Creche! What the heck is a creche? It's one of those strange words I never heard until I moved to the UK, and it a nutshell, it means nursery or daycare. Fellow chick-lit author Michele Gorman had the wonderful idea of creating a virtual creche, where authors with Christmas book babies could keep their little ones for safekeeping. I'm pleased to say there was space for my rather precocious Mistletoe in Manhattan, along with some other great reads by Michele, Carole Matthews, Scarlett Bailey, Belinda Jones... and the list goes on!

And now, over to Joanne!

Second Novel Syndrome

Like that difficult second album for musicians, second novels are tortuously hard work to write. A first novel has to do a lot, of course, but there is a wonderful unknown quality about it. Readers have no expectations – you are new, exciting, untried. But your second novel? Oh boy, do they have high expectations of that! And if there’s one thing even more pressured than writing your second novel, it has to be writing a second novel that is also a sequel ...

Of course, Talli knows all about sequels – Construct A Couple was a wonderful follow on to Build A Man, and she very cleverly managed to give her characters new challenges while keeping them true to all we had learned about them in the first book. Construct A Couple could easily be a standalone novel, and that is what I’m hoping for with my sequel to Can’t Live Without.

But ... it’s not easy. The trouble with being consistent is you can find your characters simply doing the same things over and over. Yawn! Finding enough challenges to keep two star-crossed lovers apart might be possible for one book, but two? Tricky. Creating conflict when you’ve already done the whole happy ending thing in the first book? Tough work. Here’s a list of must-dos for a second-novel-stroke-sequel:

·         Be better than the first book – more exciting, more emotionally powerful, more, more, more!

·         Carry on logically from the first book, without seeming contrived. You can’t, for example, spilt your couple up by sending one of them off climbing a mountain in Africa if you never mentioned an interest in climbing in book one!

·         Keep faith with the tone/style/language of the first book – for example, parts of Can’t Live Without are written in the first person, and as much as I would love to drop this technique for the sequel, I can’t.

·         Give enough background for new readers, without treading over old ground and boring returning readers. Can’t Live Without’s plot revolved around the aftermath of a house fire – I have to mention this in the sequel, but to what extent?

So, my advice to a new novelist about to embark on their tricky second novel – don’t make it a sequel. Wait until you have a bit more experience under your belt, like Talli, before you take on this particular challenge. Writing is hard enough as it is! But I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

 Joanne Phillips lives in rural Shropshire, England, with her husband and daughter. Since leaving school she’s had an eclectic career, working as a hairdresser, an air hostess and a librarian. She now writes full time. Find out more about Joanne’s writing and books at http://www.joannephillips.co.uk; Twitter: @joannegphillips; Facebook; and check out her novel Can't Live Without here.  

Thank you for the kind words, Joanne! 

Have you ever written a sequel or experienced second-novel syndrome?

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Bonfires and Book Babies

Happy Bonfire Night! Here in London, the fireworks have been going off like mad all weekend. On Saturday, it sounded like World War III. I could barely hear the TV!

Today, I'm pleased to announce my Christmas novella, Mistletoe in Manhattan, is now up on Amazon! (UK, .com) for 77p/ 99 cents. I wasn't planning to get it up so early, but with a gap while The Pollyanna Plan was read by my betas, I had time to focus on it! Now, I can turn back to my novel and work on getting that out for the end of November.

In the meantime...

As Little Missington's first Christmas baby in fifty years and the daughter of Christmas When You Like It party-planners, Holly West has been surrounded by the holiday spirit since birth. Trouble is, she's not exactly filled with festive cheer. In fact, Holly can't wait to ditch the tinsel and Santa suits for champagne and celebs, and become a party-planner to the stars.

When British TV star Dean Layton hires her parents' company to throw his holiday bash in Manhattan, Holly jumps at the chance to help, confident she can handle a little Christmas in exchange for access to Dean's exclusive world.

But New York and Dean's over-the-top demands are more than Holly bargained for. Can Holly deck the halls and make it a party to be proud of, or will this Christmas be one she'll never forget . . . even if she wants to?

And now I need a little nap! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Watt's Up?

Okay, lame joke, I know. But given it's Friday, my brainpower has been sapped from six hours of editing my Christmas novella, and I'm on the Wattpad blog today, it seemed appropriate! Pop by and say hi if you get the chance.

If you haven't heard of Wattpad, well . . . where have you been? It's a great way to share content and find new readers. I'm one of their featured authors, and along with my novella Miracle at the Museum of Broken Hearts, I've also posted a short story and I plan to post others.

In other news, I just found out Build A Man has been short-listed for an award at the UK's Festival of Romance. Last year, The Hating Game was also short-listed, so I'm delighted to make it two years running.

And finally, thank you for all your encouraging wishes and words for my TV interview last Tuesday! I'm pleased to say it went well (I think, anyway), and it'll air the first or second week of December. I'll post a link if there's one available.

Here I am with the presenter (yes, she's got legs!) on the set.

No, I was not drinking wine. Yes, my bust looks huge! Blame that on Baby TR.

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a great weekend. 

TV, Hair and Labels

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine passed quickly, filled with an RNA London Chapter Meeting where the wonderful novelist Carole Matthews shared her journey to success, and then an emergency hair appointment on Sunday where my horrendous roots were turned back to blonde. Yay!

Why the emergency hair appointment, you may be asking (if you've nothing more interesting to contemplate, ha!)? Well, tomorrow, I'm going to be on TV! Wheeee! Okay, so I might not be broadcast on Tuesday, but I have been invited to a studio to discuss my books for a new Sky channel launching shortly. Wish me luck, everyone. With my expanding belly and rapidly diminishing wardrobe choices, let's just hope the camera stays focused on my head and shoulders.

Today, I'm also over at the advice blog of the Independent Alliance of Authors, talking about why I don't want to labelled as an indie author. Pop over if you get the chance!

And now I must go pluck my eyebrows... Random eyebrow hair never looks good on-screen, does it?

Have a great week, everyone!

Nicking Other People’s Stories

Look at that, it's somehow Friday! I've no idea how this week passed so quickly, but today I'm happy to have author Phillipa Ashley on the blog, talking about her latest novel and fan fiction. So without further ado, here's Phillipa!


The World of Fanfic

In November 2004, few people had heard of ‘fanfic.’ Hell, I hadn’t heard of fanfic and I certainly wouldn’t have dreamed of ever writing any. In fact, if you’d told me that within six months I was going to a -write fanfic and b- then write a novel, and that it would be a –published; b - win an RNA award and c - get made into a movie, I’d have thought you were stark raving bonkers.

As the name suggests, fanfic is when a writer takes inspiration from a favourite novel, TV series or film and creates their own stories around the incidents and characters in the original. Back in 2004,I think it’s’ fair to say that fanfic was largely a niche area of fiction writing, considered by some to be at the bottom rung of the literary ladder. Back then fanfic authors struggled to break free of their genre and achieve credibility and to a degree, I can understand why.

In its purest form, fanfic is essentially the plunder of other writers’ work – if not of their actual phrases and words, then of concepts and characters. For that reason, much if it is confined to fan forums, and can’t be published for commercial gain. The writers of the originals – if they are alive – would rightly be outraged to have their work ‘stolen’ in this way.

However, the online world has moved on very rapidly and a growing number of fanfic writers have found new ways to reach a mainstream audience, with their own works

The most famous, of course, is EL James, whose Fifty Shades of Grey novels had their roots in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Not having read the Twilight books and only seen the movies, I can’t really judge how strong the relationships between the two series are. But it seems to me that an obsessive relationship between a young ingénue and a sophisticated dominant male is the core of the story - and that’s a theme that’s common to countless romance novels.

My very first story was inspired by a BBC costume drama called North & South, that was aired in late November 2004 and starred Richard Armitage as another ‘Alpha male John Thornton. I also read the book but I have to say the TV series captured my imagination more.

Having never written any fiction before I felt compelled to write a modern version of the story. Back then, I was unaware that authors did this and I think that until then, there wasn’t any North & South fanfic of any kind, certainly not modern versions.

I posted my story on a Yahoo loop and got some encouraging feedback. Most of all, I realised that I had found what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: write romantic fiction. Other writers started posting their own N&S fanfics, both historical and modern and our chapters were devoured by readers desperate for their fix once the series has ended .

But I soon came up against a problem: which I now know was an opportunity.

For me, the desire to create my own characters was too just too powerful to ignore. I hadn’t got very far through my North & South story (imaginatively entitles N&S 2005) when I realised that ‘my’ John Thornton was not the one in the novel or TV series. He and the other characters had taken on lives of their own.

I took my fanfic off the net, feeling constrained by the need to fulfil reader expectations that I could never meet: I also was desperate to try my hand at an original romance. That story was Decent Exposure – which luckily for me, went on to get a book and movie deal.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a little bit of ‘Thornton’ or Mr Richard Armitage in all the heroes I've created. I’ll always thank my lucky stars I saw that programme and met so many inspiring women, both readers and writers, through the fanfic world.

Since then , many of the original N&S fanfic authors have gone on to create and publish their own novels, including Rosy Thornton, Juliet Archer , Hazel Osmond and Elizabeth Hanbury.

So what actually counts as a fanfic these days? The canon is wide and arouses much debate. I know dozens of authors who write Austen spin offs, everything from Mr Darcy Vampire by Amanda Grange to Pride; Prejudice and Zombies. Most recently, we’ve seen new the erotic new retellings of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

Does Jean Rhys’s literary classic Wide Sargasso Sea count as a fanfic because it features the young Bertha Mason? Is Anthony Horowitz’s new Sherlock Holmes story, House of Silk a fanfic?

There will always be a vast canon of ‘pure’ fanfic on the web. where writers try to stay as true to their source as possible. But there will also be those break out authors who use that first impetus as inspiration for new material – so I say may fanfic never die, in all its forms.

The debate will rage on but one thing is clear in my mind. Without fanfic, I would never have started writing and kept on writing and my own happy ending is that my sixth novel, Miranda’s Mount was published on October 4th by Piatkus Entice.

I'm curious to know, do any of you write fanfic?

Have a great weekend, everyone. See you Monday!

Should Novelists Blog?

Hey hey! It's Monday! *insert grimace here* Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. It was a damp and drizzly one in London Town, but I didn't move here for the weather.

This morning, I read a post by literary agent Rachelle Gardner called 'Should Authors Blog?'. It got me thinking, because her thoughts echo my own. I'm not going to join the cries of 'blogging is dead', but I know many of you ( like me) have cut down on the amount of time you spend blogging, turning to Facebook and Twitter. We still blog, though, because we enjoy it and we love the people we've met.

And that's pretty much what Rachelle's post boils down to. With the number of blogs increasing, it's become harder and harder to make an impact. And forget selling books through blogs... it's almost impossible.  Authors no longer need to have a blog;  it's a nice to have if they so desire.

And I do! I'll never abandon my blog because I love posting what I'm up do, both writing-wise and with my jaunts around town. But as the years go on, new social media pop up, and my time decreases, I may limit my posting to once a week. We shall see!

How are you feeling about blogging these days?

Mr Darcy? Yes, Please!

Happy Friday! TGIF, is all I can say. What a week!

Today, I'm delighted to host fellow Romantic Novelist Association member Victoria Connelly. I adore her novels -- if you're looking for a great romantic read, check them out -- and I can't wait to read her Christmas novella.

Take it away, Victoria!

I’ve always wanted to write a Christmas book. Whenever I see those pretty glittery book covers that start hitting the shelves in October, I tell myself, I must write one of those one day!

Last year, we were in the process of moving house and it was particularly stressful – one we liked was taken off the market, we got gazumped on another and then, when we finally found another, the paperwork took an absolute age. All this, together with two sick pet hens and a spaniel who underwent two major operations and nearly died both times, made it hard to concentrate on a long project like a novel. But I still needed to write something. I get pretty cranky when I’m not writing so I thought a shorter project would be fun and, as autumn approached, I kept thinking about Christmas and how we would be settled in our new home by Christmas. 

I’d recently finished writing my Jane Austen Addicts’ Trilogy and I’d been getting a lot of emails from readers wanting to know what happened next to the characters. Dan Harcourt – one of my heroes from A Weekend with Mr Darcy - seemed to be getting more than his fair share of fan mail too and I must admit that he’s the hero I’d be most likely to run away with if I could! 

Hmmmmm ... Jane Austen and Christmas, I thought. That sounds like a pretty irresistible partnership... 

And that’s how Christmas with Mr Darcy was born. I thought it would be fun to unite all the main characters from the trilogy and have then attend a special Jane Austen conference at Purley Hall at Christmas. Throw in a badly-behaved brother, a marriage proposal and a missing first edition of Pride and Prejudice and you have the ingredients for a fun-filled festive read! 

I can't tell you how much fun it was to write this novella. It was so lovely to see all my characters again and continue on their journey with them and it was so much fun to have a Christmas setting and really go to town decorating Purley Hall with evergreen garlands, candles and baubles. And Higgins the butler gets to wear some pretty fantastic waistcoats too! 

Victoria Connelly has had eight novels published worldwide. Her first, Flights of Angels, was made into a film in Germany. All her books are available as ebooks along with two collections of short stories. She lives in rural Suffolk with her artist husband and an ever-expanding family of animals and can frequently be found on Facebook wittering on about her hens. www.victoriaconnelly.com ; Twitter: @VictoriaDarcy 

Thanks, Victoria!

Are you a Mr Darcy fan? Have a great weekend, everyone!

Back to the Desk!

Oh, it's good to be home. After spending last week battling the foggy effects of jet-lag (and I highly recommend NOT undertaking trans-Atlantic flights while six months' pregnant -- ugh!), I was eager to get back to work. A creature of routine, I love my wake-up coffee, burnt toast breaks, and Twitter check-ins . . . not to mention the growing pile of virtual paper on my desk.

It's going to be a busy autumn, but I like being busy! I've got the Festival of Romance to attend mid-November . . .

The Pollyanna Plan to get out by the end of that month . . .

And a Christmas novella to complete

Lots of writing ahead. Fingers crossed that Baby TR does not make an unexpected early appearance, please!

What's on your plate for the next few months?

Vacation... Done!

Well! After over two action-packed weeks, my vacation is coming to an end tonight as I wing my way back to London. What a spectacular trip we've had, from a beautiful Cape Breton wedding to seeing old friends to a real Canadian Thanksgiving. It's been wonderful.

I hope you're ready for pictures? Yes? Here we go!

The wedding ceremony location at Keltic Lodge, Cape Breton.
(Photo by Pash Photography)

The beautiful bride and I walking to the ceremony.
(Photo by Pash Photography)

I absolutely love this photo. The newly-weds on Ingonish Beach.
(Photo by Pash Photography)

I'm hair-obsessed, so you can imagine my joy that the photographer captured my 'do!
(Photo by Pash Photography)

During the ceremony...
(Photo by Pash Photography)

Me and my two friends from Ottawa, who flew down for a visit, at Peggy's Cove.

Peggy's Cove.

Prince Edward Island.

Wood Islands lighthouse, Prince Edward Island.

Phew! A great two weeks. Hope everyone has been faring well, too! I'll be recovering from jet-leg for the next few days, but I'll try to pop by and say hello.

What's new with you?

Off to the Other Side!

Happy Monday, everyone. Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

This is a very exciting week for me, because at the end of it, I'm off to my homeland . . . land of maple syrup,  lobster, moose (hm, any other clichés I can throw in there?) and my best friend's wedding! We met over an unfortunate crayfish in Grade 10 Biology, and even though we haven't lived in the same city for longer than three years since, we've remained firm friends. Who knew crayfish could be so powerful?

I'll be on official blog break until the second week of October, but I'll probably pop in from time to time with some photos of my exploits.

In the meantime, here's what I'll be up to:

Staring out at the Atlantic Ocean.

Taking in the fantastic views from the Keltic Lodge, Cape Breton - site of the wedding.

Walking the red sand of Prince Edward Island.

Chowing down on my lobster friends.

Have a great couple weeks, everyone!

Prince Charming, Etc.

Well, it's Friday. I've absolutely no idea how that happened, but somehow I have managed to finish the second draft of The Pollyanna Plan and complete the outline for my Christmas novella, which I'll start writing next week. Bring on the mistletoe!

Today, I'm pleased to welcome Laurey Buckland to the blog, talking about her new novel, A Girl's Guide to Fairy Tales. Great title, eh?

Over to Laurey!

Fairy tales seem to have saturated our media in the last few months in terms of films and television series , but that is not the reason I chose to base my first book on them. In fact, at the time I started writing, I thought I was on to something original. However, the fact the tales themselves have been around for centuries means that nothing that draws inspiration from them is truly original. So why bother?

Well…they were an appropriate theme for my story as fairy tales reflect universal themes of social class, love, money, appearance, the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between – otherwise known as real life. Reality is where I set my story. No magic, no Fairy Godmothers to put things right or handsome princes to rescue damsels in distress. Just blood sweat and tears in a bid to discover that elusive happily ever after, which I believe every person on this planet seeks, whether they realise it or not.

One of the hardest parts though is realising when we have attained that happily-ever-after. What really defines it? What really makes us happy? That is what I wanted to explore and show how different those endings are for different people.

Despite only being 26-years-old, I have still had a decade of listening to countless stories from my girlfriends regarding love, life, work, sex, bad dates and good relationships, as well as having a few of my own stories to share.

I wanted my characters to become ‘every women,’ with facets and traits readers could relate to. Therefore for daydreamer Maddie, obsessive compulsive Clare, over dramatic Isobel and happy-go-lucky Sophie, life is more a world of tragic than magic. For Maddie it’s a constant battle against the monotony of a job she hates while her heart aches to be somewhere else, for Clare it’s a perpetual struggle to vanquish her teenage insecurities and to see herself for the woman she really is, for Isobel it’s a refusal to reveal her true self for fear it’s not what everyone imagined her to be and for Sophie it’s a willingness to believe in a rumour that threatens to poison her perfect relationship.

But with the love and support of their friends and a little bit of luck, the girls soon realise that happy ever afters are not just reserved for fairy tale fiction – as long as they start believing in them.

If you decide to read A Girl’s Guide to Fairy Tales, I hope you enjoy and perhaps find fragments of yourself in the characters I have come to love over the last year.

Thank you, Laurey. 

Ladies, what was your favourite fairy tale growing up? And men, did you fancy yourself to be a prince, ready to sweep your princess off her feet?

Have a great weekend!

York Festival of Writing: Mulling It Over

Phew, what a weekend! After two wonderful days at the York Festival of Writing, lots of great conversations with writers, co-running a workshop along with being on a panel and giving a presentation, and  listening to some inspiring sessions . . . I'm exhausted. I arrived back to a hot and sweaty London late on Saturday night, and since then, I've been mulling over what I took away from the conference.

Writers are friendly people. Well, we already knew this, right? But the more I interact with writers in the real world, the more affirming it is. Since moving to London, rarely have I encountered strangers who smile and say hello! At this conference, that was the norm. And I loved it!

It's hard to get published - and it's hard once you are published - but failure can lead to success. Keynote speaker, best-selling author Jojo Moyes, detailed how her publishing journey has been full of highs and lows, and that the lows helped propel her towards the highs. Persistence really does make a difference.

More and more writers, traditionally published or not, are opening up to self-publishing. Two of my sessions focused on self-publishing, and I was pleased to see the attitude appears to be changing. It's no longer a last resort for the desperate, but a viable option alongside traditional publishing. Although the majority of conference participants were seeking the traditional route, it was nice that conference organisers didn't sideline the growing trend to self-publish.

It is possible to attend a writer's conference and not drink. Oh yes it is! Although I must admit, it's not by choice. :)

Above all, agents and editors are interested in the story. With all the worries about building a platform, writing the proper query, meeting submission guidelines, etc., it really does come down to the story.

And in other news, Sheri Larsen is celebrating! She's signed with Literary Agent Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary, and she's having a huge giveaway to celebrate -- including some of my books. The giveaway is open until September 27th. Winners will be announced on September 28th. Head over to take a look.

And in more news! Leigh T Moore has released a novel! Check out The Truth about Faking here. Congrats, Leigh.

Have a great week, everyone. I'll see you on Friday!

Kitties and Keyboards

Whoop! It's Friday! And as you read this, I am winging my way up north to York. So it's a good thing that I have the lovely, Montréalicious Cat Lavoie here today, covering for my absence.

Before turning the blog over to her, I want to say a huge apology to several bloggers whose comments I found trapped in my spam filter. I haven't been ignoring you -- I just didn't know you were there!

And now, without further ado, here's Cat:

Thanks for having me, Talli!

Today, I wanted to talk about the challenges of being a writer. But instead of focusing on how hard it can be to find time to write or how I have panic attacks when—after reading a draft for the twentieth time—I still find sneaky typos, I wanted to chat about the particular challenge of writing… with a cat on your keyboard.

I've been accused of being a crazy cat lady and I embrace that title with open arms. Besides, I think you need to have at least ten cats to qualify as a real crazy cat lady. And I only have one. Her name is Abbie and she does not support my writing career. In fact, I think she's actively trying to force me into early retirement. Since I spend most of the day at the office, I should give her all my attention when I get home, right? Sadly, that's not always the case.

When I adopted Abbie from a shelter ten years ago, she was already five years old and set in her kitty ways. I don't think she had a clue that she was being adopted by someone who spends most of her free time staring at a computer screen and having animated conversations with imaginary people who live inside her head. A crazy person, basically.

So what does Abbie do to get my attention? She takes my computer and my notes hostage.

When she eventually falls asleep, I scoop her up and whisk her over to her favourite chair before she even has time to open her eyes and realize that she has fallen asleep on the job. 

Sometimes she'll have a change of heart and try to reward me for all my hard work. Just the other day she caught a bird in our backyard and tried to bring it back inside the house. Thankfully, he was able to escape her grip. The bird was meant to be a present for me, surely, and not a warning of what will happen if I ignore her for too long.

Even though she sometimes makes it hard for me to focus on writing, Abbie is—by far—my favourite distraction. There's nothing better than days when she doesn't feel like fighting me and will fall asleep next to (and not on) my computer. The soft rumblings of a happy—or resigned—kitty is like music to my ears.

Just don't tell her that I'm working on a second novel.

When twenty-seven year old Roxy Rule’s best friend and roommate accepts a glamorous new job overseas, she expects their relationship to continue as it’s always been—carefree and easy—until they share a heart-stopping kiss moments before his departure. Overcome with mixed emotions, she fights the urge to over analyze the situation and resumes back to her normal life in New York City, working for an intolerable boss at a dead end job, creeping further and further away from her own dreams of becoming a professional chef. While things become more complicated between her and Ollie, Roxy is sure that nothing can come between two lifelong best friends—not even mild jealousy over a thriving career or a silly little kiss that meant nothing. In fact, it was such a meaningless and forgettable kiss that she convinces herself that it’s not even worth mentioning to her fiancé, although it is all she can think about. Roxy’s already topsy-turvy life only gets more complicated when her sisters Steffi and Izzie suddenly become her roommates. Steffi is six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss and Izzie is in the throes of a premature midlife crisis. Roxy tries to take control of her career, her love life and her sisters – but can she really handle it all? And can the Rule family keep it together – or break under the pressure?

Thank you, Cat! You can purchase Cat's novel on Amazon here. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Laboricious

Happy Monday, everyone! And happy Labor Day to everyone in North America. This is Back to School Week in London, otherwise known as the Traffic is Hell Week. I shall sit tight in my little office watching the packed street with glee.

This week is a busy one for me, too. Friday, I'm off to the York Festival of Writing where I'm giving a four-hour workshop (eep!), along with taking part in two other sessions. Wish me luck, everyone. I may actually get to see some of York, too, a city I've always wanted to visit.

I'm also feverishly working away on the second draft of The Pollyanna Plan, trying to get this round of edits done before jetting off to Canada in three weeks for my best friend's wedding. Yay! And in other news, I have returned from red to blonde after a mammoth session at the hairdressers. My arse is still sore from sitting for so long!

Before I sign off, a small reminder today is the last day to get my novels for 99 cents, along with these other great books.

Have a fantastic week!

What's on your agenda this September? 

Finding Your Voice

Well, it's Friday. Thank goodness, is all I can say! What a week.

Before I hand the blog over to the wonderful Carol Kilgore, I want to give Sangu Mandanna a huge shout-out for the release of her debut novel, The Lost Girl. The cover is fabulous, and I can't wait to read it. Many congrats, Sangu! If you don't know Sangu, hop over and follow her blog. She's one of the friendliest, loveliest bloggers out there.

Secondly! This weekend, from today to Monday, all my novels (including The Hating Game and Watching Willow Watts) are 99p/ 99 cents as part of the Labor of Love promotion, with other great authors like Michele Gorman, Elle Lothlorien, Juliette Sobanet, Dina Silver, Beth Orsoff, Donna Fasano, Barbara Silkstone, and many more. It's our way of saying thank you to all the wonderful readers who have helped us in so many ways. Click the link above for more detail, or click here for my Amazon page: UK; .com. Happy reading!

Thirdly! I am a guest today over at Jera's Jamboree, talking about author superfoods. Drop by if you get the chance!

Phew. Okay, now over to Carol. 

Talli, thank you so much for hosting me. Your blog is the last stop on my blog tour to promote IN NAME ONLY.  I can't think of a better place to end what has been a fantastic summer. This my first visit to London, and I'm noticing the differences. Older buildings and much cooler weather, for starters! But I see a lot of smiles, like in Texas, so I feel right at home. (Talli says: Londoners smiling? In public? At strangers? Carol must be out clubbing after midnight....) Since your blog is my last stop before turning off the light, I suppose it's appropriate to tell a bedtime story.

Once upon a time, I lost my voice.My writer's voice.One day I had it, clear as a bell; the next, it went missing.

Voice is a terrible thing for a writer to lose. Mine was dark and twisted. It hung out with killers and sociopaths. Psychopaths and kidnappers. Thieves and scorned women. My voice was a lean, mean voice. It loved getting into the nitty-gritty of things, getting good and dirty, and getting out as soon as possible.

The day it went missing, I looked everywhere for it. I looked in the short stories I was writing, in essays, in travel articles, in personality profiles. Wasn't in any of those places. I searched through a couple of novels. Wasn't in those, either.

Then one day, when I'd grown tired of chasing after it, there it was! You'll never guess where I found it, so I'll tell you. I found my voice on my blog—Under the Tiki Hut—soaking up the salt air and listening to the surf roll in. Lazing in my hammock playing Words for Friends and drinking a Margarita.

I was ecstatic! We celebrated long into the night and professed our undying love for one another. Or something close to that…as best I remember. Did I mention I had a headache for a day or so? Ouch!

My new-found voice is different from the lean, mean one that vanished. While it was missing, it lost its love of looking at life through a dark lens. My new voice is lighter and has a hard time resisting a funny retort, but enough of its former self remains to get to the heart of what makes the villain tick.

Losing my voice happened a few years ago, but my memory of the horrible experience is still fresh. I don't ever want to lose my voice again, so I give it lots of exercise. I hope we live together happily ever after!

How about you? Have you ever lost your writer's voice? Or had a hard time finding it to begin with?

This post was inspired by Linda Grimes and the post she made on The Debutante Ball on August 10. Thank you, Linda!

No home. No family. No place to hide. For Summer Newcombe, that's only the beginning.

The night Summer escapes from a burning Padre Island eatery and discovers the arsonist is stalking her, is the same night she meets Fire Captain Gabriel Duran. As much as she's attracted to Gabe, five years in the Federal Witness Security Program because of her father’s testimony against a mob boss have taught her the importance of being alone and invisible.

No matter how much she yearns for a real home, Summer relinquished that option the night she killed the man who murdered her father. But Gabe breaks down her guard and places both of them in danger. Summer has vowed never to kill again, but she's frantic she'll cost Gabe his life unless she stops running and fights for the future she wants with the man she loves.

Thank you, Carol! You can learn more about Carol and follow her here: Blog; Website; Facebook; Twitter; Amazon; Amazon UK. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Getting Creative with Holidays

Happy Monday, everyone! Here in the UK, it's the August Bank Holiday Weekend, which entitles us to one day off before plunging headlong into back-to-school, the Paralympics, and general September goodness.

I have to say, calling long weekends 'Bank Holidays' cracks me up. Is there really not a better name to celebrate a day off? When I first moved here, I remember asking people, 'But why is it a holiday?' I'd get a shrug accompanied by the very unsatisfying answer: 'Because the banks are closed.'

But why are the banks closed, I wanted to scream (but didn't -- I was already getting the British equivalent of the evil eye: the poker face). I need a reason to party, damn it!

So I've come up with my own handy-dandy names for bank holidays throughout the year:

Official Name                                Official Talli Roland Name                         
Early May Bank Holiday                  The long weekend in early May when it rains; 

                                               OR: The Maypole Capering Holiday

                       
Spring Bank Holiday                        The long weekend in Spring when it rains;

                                               OR: The Drink Outside Without Freezing Holiday

Summer Bank Holiday                     The long weekend in Summer when it rains;

                                               OR: Get Off Yer Head Before Summer Ends Holiday

And while I may not be able to get off my head at the moment, with the Notting Hill Carnival on just down the street, at least I can now party with ample justification! 

What would you rename your favourite holiday?