~ September 2007
The main excitement recently has been my trip to Sydney for the Australian conference and then Auckland the following weekend for the New Zealand conference.
The Sydney conference was fabulous as usual and everyone turned out in style for the Carnevale Cocktail party. We were all completely blown away by Jennifer Crusie’s all day workshop on the Friday. Sydney turned on glorious weather which was totally wasted on most of us as we remained glued to our seats so as not to miss anything Jenny and Anne Stuart had to impart. It was wonderful to meet both of them and those of us going to both conferences were doubly fortunate.
In Sydney I was on a discussion panel of historical authors with Anne Stuart, Anne Gracie and Anna Campbell. Christine Wells was our moderator and we had a fabulous time discussing the ins and outs of writing historicals.
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I’m finishing off my next book. Julian, Lord Braybrook first appeared in His Lady Mistress. He has a much bigger role in A Compromised Lady and he has finally insisted on his own book. Having had several light bulb moments in Sydney and New Zealand, mostly due to Jenny Crusie, the book is now moving along at a good rate of knots.
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~ September 2006
What am I doing now? Well, I’m feeling ridiculously pleased to have got this website happening at last. Finally I have caught up with the end of the 20th century<g>. And I’ve been teaching the puppy –Pippa’s not really a puppy anymore to be honest – to shake hands. My neighbour and I took our kids for a long walk the other day and my youngest fell waaaaay behind. In the end I sent Ally and the other kids on and waited for Piers with the dog. Since Pippa’s a bit new to the concept of a leash and walking to heel, I’d armed myself with a pocket full of dog treats. We sheltered from the rain behind a tree and I spent the time teaching her to shake paws. She now shakes paws the moment she sees a dog treat and walks to heel beautifully. I’ve decided that I am much better at bringing up puppies than children.
Writing wise, I’m revising the sequel to His Lady Mistress that I sent off to my editor a while ago, and have another one that I was working at on and off about two thirds complete.
Going home in between seemed like a terrible waste of time and money so Tessa Radley, one of New Zealand’s newest Desire authors, very bravely invited me to stay and chauffeured me all over the place for a couple of days. New Zealand has hit the top of my list as one of the most civilised nations on the planet. On ordering a café latte at lunch with Tessa and Frances Housden, I was asked if I wanted it in a glass or a bowl! Naturally I opted for the bowl . . . this is a custom I am definitely keen to see make its way to this side of the Tasman. Those Kiwis take their coffee seriously!
I gave a workshop with HQN’s Helen Kirkman (Vikings and Saxons) at the NZ conference on making historical characters live and breathe for a contemporary audience. The two of us were also on a historical panel with Kalen Hughes (think historical underwear and Lord Sin), and Sheila Hodgson – a senior editor from Harlequin, Mills & Boon’s London office. It was moderated by one of my favourite Harlequin Presents authors, Robyn Donald, who asked just enough questions to stop us getting completely off the subject. The subject? Historicals Are So Not Dead! Not that we ever thought they were to start with, but we had a good time.
Tessa Radley in the wilds of New Zealand