VENICE, CELEBRATION & AN UNMISSABLE FILM

Last week I went to Richmond to have lunch with my editor, which is always a treat.  It's one of the few times when I feel like a "real" writer and a professional - instead of someone who just sits in a room in her PJs. making up stories.
At some point I must have mentioned (wistfully) to our editorial team that when I signed my first contract, there wasn't any kind of celebratory party - which has become a lovely tradition for today's new authors.  
So as I walked into the offices I was delighted to see this:

All the hard-working team gathered round for a toast!
(I am the one with the extended leg and my editor of many years - Bryony Green - is standing beside me).  


A close-up of the board shows a mock-up of my April, 2015 release CARRYING THE GREEK'S HEIR and it's a really gorgeous cover.

Look closely and feast your eyes on a photo of Ireland's finest actor David Wilmot (if you haven't already seen SHADOW DANCER, then go and watch it right now.  You won't find a better film).  There's also a photo of me on a dance floor in San Francisco but the less said about that - the better!

Oh, and to top it all I heard that my 94th title has been accepted.  Set in Venice and Cornwall, it features sexy, former bodyguard Loukas Sarantos a man who is now wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, and Jessica Cartwright - the only woman to ever reject him.  It will be released in October, 2015 - title to follow.

What was the last thing you celebrated?

I FLIP WHEN A FELLA SENDS ME FLOWERS....

Gotta love Rogers & Hammerstein, and this deliciously corny song

That this was a precursor to South Pacific is easy to see.  Shades of the fabulous (and very corny) Honey Bun

Sigh.  Don't you just love cheesy musicals?

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

You write a book.  You struggle and curse as you attempt to get the tortured emotions of your hero and heroine onto the page and help them work out the stuff which is keeping them apart.  But when you press *send* and deliver your manuscript to your editor - your story is pretty much out of your hands.

You can send in a detailed form, saying how you imagine your characters will look and what you'd like the setting of the cover to be, but it's very much the imaginative baby of the artwork team.  As it should be, because they're the experts.

I've just received the UK cover of CHRISTMAS IN DA CONTI'S BED - and I love it.  Niccolo is one of the Sultan of Qurhah's three great mates.  The other two are the deliciously naughty  Luis Martinez - and the Greek billionaire Alek Sarantos, whose story is coming out in April, 2015.

But back to Niccolo.
He's intense.
He's sexy.
And Alannah's expression tells us that she's knows what a lucky girl she is.
Or is she?

This is a picture which tells a story.
What does it tell you?