treasure hunt reminder

Current work: research day at library
Listening to: Corelli’s concerti grossi
Reading: too tired to read last night (hmm – getting to be a bad habit, this)

Last clue in the Modern Heat authors’ Valentine’s treasure hunt went up yesterday. Just in case you missed any, nip over to Sensational Romance where you’ll find links to all the clues. Send ALL the answers to win@allyblake.com and you’ll be entered in the draw to win all the books, including two from me: Sold to the Highest Bidder and the award-winning In Bed With Her Italian Boss (aka Breakfast at Giovanni’s).

Plan for today: school run, library, meet David Dane to discuss painting, back to library, school run, pick up Madam after guitar lesson, write up library notes.

Your clue in the Modern Heat Treasure Hunt

Assuming you visited Anne Oliver before me (and if you didn’t, go back now!), I’m the next stop on the MH Authors’ Valentine’s Treasure Hunt.

I’m giving away a copy of In Bed with Her Italian Boss (my April US release - you can get an early copy from the eharlequin website next month – click on the link in the sidebar to the left). This book was known as Breakfast at Giovanni’s in the UK and Australia, and, um, caused a rather nice splash. (I should add, I haven’t had my US copies yet so I’ll be sending a UK cover – the contents are the same but the cover is a little different.)

What you do is have a look over here to find out about the book (and you can read the first bit too, if you like), make a note of the answer to the question below, then head over to the next author’s blog to collect their clue. At the end of the month, send ALL the answers to win@allyblake.com and you’ll be entered in the draw to win all the books.

My question is: which award did this book win on 4 February 2008?

Next stop from me is lovely Heidi Rice, who met me for coffee before the awards do and made sure I didn’t spill it over myself (trust me… I do that sort of thing) - and if you want to reminds yourself of the 12 fabulous books up for grabs, have a look at Sensational Romance. Happy hunting :o)

be my valentine?

Still being thoroughly spoiled: my dear friend Michelle sent me a beautiful orchid yesterday (thank you again, Michelle), and my best local friend came over with, ahem, special chocolate and a treasure pot marked 'handbag fund' (and yes, it's pink... I'm just surprised she didn't customise it and write 'Radley' on it, too).

Today I’m off to London to see the Tutankhamun exhibition, but meanwhile nip over to Nicola Marsh’s blog to be my valentine, and you’ll get the chance to win a signed copy of my new book, Sold to the Highest Bidder.

And remember the Modern Heat Valentine’s Treasure Hunt is still going! I’m back again later in the month – with a chance to win ‘In Bed with Her Italian Boss’, aka Breakfast at Giovanni’s, my award-winning book. (And how fantastic it feels to be able to write that!)
Now for something a little less nice. UK authors: you may have read that the government is considering reducing PLR. This money is an important source of income for many authors (note that, as with the music biz, big advances and authors who need to become tax exiles are news precisely because they’re rare), so please go and sign the petition asking the government to keep the funding as it is.

Son has decided he can't wait for his birthday to get a Digiblue camera and is using the family DVD camera instead. Discovered he has recorded the same scene over and over and over again today. Why? ‘I had keep going until my sister got her lines right.’ Uh-huh. Actors of the future, start trembling now. If he switches from animation to movies, he’s going to be a very, very pernickety director...

Your clue in the Modern Heat authors’ Valentine’s Treasure Hunt

Current work: TCVB
Listening to: various cello pieces
Reading: will decide my train book when I've packed…

Assuming you visited Nat yesterday (and if you didn’t, go back now!), I’m the next stop on the MH Authors’ Valentine’s Treasure Hunt.


I’m giving away a copy of Sold to the Highest Bidder (my March UK release, but you can get an early copy from the M&B website right now – click on the link in the sidebar to the left).

What you do is have a look over here to find out about the book (and you can read the first bit too, if you like), make a note of the answer to the question below, then head over to the next author’s blog to collect their clue. At the end of the month, send ALL the answers to win@allyblake.com and you’ll be entered in the draw to win all the books.

My question: in which part of England is Sold to the Highest Bidder set? (I’ll accept either the county or the city as the answer.)

Next stop from me is the lovely Ally Blake - and if you want to reminds yourself of the 12 fabulous books up for grabs, have a look at Sensational Romance. Happy hunting :o)

I will be back from London on Tuesday with a full report of the RNA awards lunch and LOTS of pics.

new month, and it will DEFINITELY be better than January…

Current work: TCVB
Listening to: Mischa Maisky, Cellissimo
Reading: errr… got caught up with the outline of the book
Steps yesterday: about 9k (must try harder but not today)

New month: and as January was dreadful, I know that February will be a lot better. (And not just because I have lots of lovely things lined up for the next two and a bit weeks - London on Monday, lunch out with Jo and Sarah on Tuesday, family up on Sunday, out to dinner on Monday, Tutankhamun on Weds, Madam's godmothers up for the weekend... oh, and have I mentioned my new furniture is due and I have some wonderful books on my TBR pile, including a signed copy of my friend Jane Jackson's new book Devil's Prize?)

Ahem. Getting ahead of myself.

Played with both books yesterday. Drove me crackers in the morning - because the Modern Heat was the one in my head, and the Medical is the one with the first deadline. However, managed to switch books in the evening after a small epiphany: my gorgeous Welsh doctor plays the cello. And he plays my favourite piano music to the heroine… on the cello. (I switch between piano and classical guitar all the time, so I’m very comfortable with having my hero write his own arrangements on the cello.)

Obviously I’m having a ball making my soundtrack for the book. However, I can’t find a version of my favourite Beethoven piano sonata played on the cello (it’s the Pathetique, so if anyone knows a source, particularly for the second movement, please let me know). I did find a lovely cello version of my favourite Chopin piano nocturne on YouTube; this is one that my mum used to play when she was pregnant with me and I still have the actual vinyl. (I sometimes wonder if she learned to play it on the piano herself, as I know we had one when I was very small. However, everyone I could ask is too young to remember, has an unreliable memory, or is no longer with us.) While I was messing about on YouTube, discovered a new-to-me cellist – Maurice Gendron. Really emotive stuff (I think even more so than Casals) so I, ahem, went shopping.

And why am I making an issue about music in a Med? My heroine shares my… disability isn’t the right word, because I refuse to be treated like a second-class citizen. I can do just about anything a 'normal' person does. But she has moderate-to-severe hearing loss. Same cause as mine. So in some respects this is going to be one of the most personal books I’ve ever written. Unlike me, she isn’t a music junkie. But my hero introduces her to the sheer joy of music… and the scene I have in mind is utterly sizzling. (It’s probably going to make me cry. Music – especially when it’s given back to you after you thought you’d have to live without it – is… Words fail me. Just a wonderful, wonderful feeling.)

All righty. Go and win some books before I get soppy. The Modern Heat Authors’ Valentine's treasure hunt starts today. Because I’m nice, I’ll tell you where to start – with Natalie Anderson. (And after Nat, it’s me. I will actually be posting on Sunday this week.) There’s also a chance to win books over at Nicola Marsh’s blog in her ‘Be My Valentine’ competition (first up is by one of my absolute favourite authors). Enjoy!

As for me... I'm off to write. Joy, joy, joy. I love the beginning of a book.

win lots of stuff

Current work: website coding, book outlines
Listening to: Corelli
Reading: Sarah Morgan, The Sheikh’s Virgin Princess (I really enjoyed this and it isn’t just because she’s one of my mates – fast pace, good plot, gorgeous hero, and I thoroughly enjoyed the heroine)
Steps yesterday: 14,214 (and apparently I walk fast… so how how HOW is the flab not melting? oh, yeah, the biscuits that made me buy them in M&S yesterday)

Dog is very pleased that I’m home and life is back to normal (ish). He is currently lying on his back in my office, snoring, in a state of doggy bliss. He’s going to be disappointed at lunch, though, as I’m having ravioli and salad rather than chicken…

I have two books in my head at the moment – the one I’m supposed to be writing and the one I was originally going to write this month (given that the former should have been written by now). The latter is currently winning – especially as I’d like the heroine’s job and I like even more what she really wanted to do as a career but couldn’t due to circumstances… I might have to give in and scribble down the bits in my head (would be a shame to forget them and waste the time). However, I need to get back to my lovely Welsh doctor as I want Med Duo #2 (working title TCVB) in a state where I can work on it on the PDA on Sunday/Monday morning before the lunch.

Blimey. I’m sounding like me again. (And it’s so lovely not to wake up every day worried sick, going to hospital after the school run, and then being too drained to work in the evening and getting miserable about it.) (The worries are still there, but not quite the same, and I’m not blogging about it because it’s not fixable stuff and moaning about it will achieve nothing – I’d rather stick to making lemonade and being my usual Pollyanna self.)

Anyway. The point of this was to talk about all the exciting things coming up in February.

Apart from the RNA awards lunch on Monday (where, just in case you didn’t know, I’ve been shortlisted for the Romance Prize 2008 with Breakfast at Giovanni’s, which will be released as In Bed With Her Italian Boss in the US in April), there are some exciting competitions where you can win stuff – including books by me.

First off, there’s the Modern Heat Authors’ Treasure Hunt.

Follow the trail, answer ALL the questions, and send in your answer at the end of the month and you’ll be in with the chance of winning a stack of fabulous books! Mine include an advance copy of my March UK release, Sold To the Highest Bidder, and a copy of my US April release, In Bed With Her Italian Boss (though you’ll be getting the UK version, Breakfast at Giovanni’s – everything’s the same except the cover!). Want a sneak preview? Nip over here…

Secondly, Nicola Marsh is running a ‘Be My Valentine’ competition from February 1 to February 14.

And again you have a chance to win books by lots of authors (including mine) as well as a grand prize on February 14. Go over to Nic's blog to find out more about the rules and how to enter.

I will be reminding you about these exciting events throughout February...