Friday, November 30, 2007

Life! Don't talk to me about life!

I love Douglas Adams' books!
This one has stayed with me for a long time. It's what my DH says a lot when he's just tired or doesn't want to go into details.
Sometimes I feel like that. At times in the recent Triskelion bankruptcy mess I've thought "I might as well just abandon those books" but there were twelve books, all of which I lived and wrote and loved, so I just couldn't.
Now, thanks to Siren Publishing, those books are free. Some of them I got back in June from a release letter but the owner of Triskelion asked me to leave the others to "tide them over a bad time" after Gail Northman left. I did.
So what has the whole experience taught me?
That there are a few people who can't see further than their own houses and their own concerns, that all their insistence of fair play and transparent dealing were about as fair and transparent as loaded dice. That there are other people who are truly honest and open. And that I find it very hard to see the difference.
Will that make me behave any differently? No. I won't assume that everybody I meet in the publishing business is after Number One and nobody else, or that they're out to fool me. That way lies madness and a way of life I really don't want to contemplate. I'll consider to write the best books I can and to offer them to publishers I think I can work with. I won't hold anything back, and I won't say anything I don't mean. If they want to trick me and fool me, that's their problem, not mine.
I write because I love it. There is no way I could write anything I didn't enjoy doing because of all the work involved. When I find someone who feels the same, or someone who feels they can work with me to present the work as a saleable commodity, I'll work as hard as I can to make it a goer. If they don't, I'm still going to write.
Oh yes, and that good can come out of bad. My reputation as a writer increased, I met some people I respect and like very much, and I'm in a different place now than I was when I went into the Triskelion venture.
So thanks for all the fish (another Adams quote!) but I ain't ready to go just yet.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Finished!

I finished Moonfire over the weekend, helped by a wonderful beta reader and friend. She saw straight to my problem, whereas I'd been reading it over and over again and knowing there was something not right and not knowing what it was.
Frustrating.
Beta readers are wonderful, they go through the book and immediately say - hey, you didn't explain why... or you forgot this bit....
So it's off to my editor now and on with the next book!

Finished!

I finished Moonfire over the weekend, helped by a wonderful beta reader and friend. She saw straight to my problem, whereas I'd been reading it over and over again and knowing there was something not right and not knowing what it was.
Frustrating.
Beta readers are wonderful, they go through the book and immediately say - hey, you didn't explain why... or you forgot this bit....
So it's off to my editor now and on with the next book!

Monday again

I rather like Mondays.
I know I'm a bit unusual in this, but weekends are my busy time, when the family's at home and the house is full of this and that. Nice, but it's lovely to get to the peace and quiet of Monday.
Just me and my laptop, and you.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Books out now

A Chance To Dream



A love too strong to disguise, a disgrace too deep to ignore.
The second book in the Triple Countess series.

Orlando Garland, Lord Blyth, has spent a lifetime restoring the family fortunes but now it’s time for him to think of himself for a change. When he hires a dowdy companion for his invalid sister, it doesn’t take him long to suspect “Charlotte” is more than she appears. Yet the lively young woman proves to be good for his sister. And Orlando can’t ignore the seductive beauty behind the disguise.

Violetta Palagio’s mask has never chafed before—until now. She longs for the freedom to love the handsome Orlando. Yet to reveal herself would be disastrou for them both. She is La Perla Perfetta, the daughter of London’s most successful courtesan. For most of her life, her mother has cleverly kept Violetta’s identity a secret. Will she risk all that, now the threat that kept them in disguise for so long is finally gone?

For the first time in her life, Violetta is in love. Can she find the courage to come out from behind the mask?

And if she does, will Orlando chance everything he has worked so hard to rebuild—for a courtesan’s daughter?

A love too strong to disguise, a disgrace too deep to ignore.
A Chance To Dream - the second Triple Countess book
ISBN: 1-59998-683-3
http://a-chance-to-dream.notlong.com