Partial done!! But not dusted...

It's been EXCRUTIATING but I've finally finished the partial of RHRT!!

The plan now is to let it sit for a few days... bug my crit partners to read it... and then do any re-writing and polishing that I'm sure it'll need. In the meantime I'm rewriting the synopsis I sent to Lucy as I've since brainstormed this story with some fabulous writer-type-friends and planned what I hope will be a much stronger ending.

So, I'll rewrite the synopsis, polish the partial and send it to Lucy. Hopefully she isn't annoyed that I'm doing so before she's responded on the proposals. Hopefully she sees it as enthusiasm instead :)

Announcing 'Becca J. Heath'

One of my dear writing friends - I'm sure you've heard me mention Bec before - has just started a blog, so I thought I'd tell you all in the hope that you'll go visit her new page!

She's one very talented lady who has three kids under four and still manages to write 1000s of brilliant words a week. She's just participated in the Silhouette Special Edition pitch, resulting in a full request and is a wealth of knowledge of where all things writing are concerned, so I'm sure her blog will be a-maz-ing!!

Welcome to Blog Land Becca!!

What I've been up to... or not!

Would like to say my posts have been few and far between because my fingers have been busy at the keyboard. Truth is I spent the last week away with my man and three boys and didn't get one word written!! Thought lots about writing though and am hanging out to get back into it.

I've almost written the partial of one of the proposals I subbed to M&B. Don't know if I should have done this or not, but I got some advice from a published friend who said it was better to write something than sit around waiting... so I did. I rewrote the second chap today on the advice of a couple of wise writer friends, so hopefully this week, I'll be able to get back to the actual writing. My goal is to have the partial polished and emailed by mid May!! 

Then I'll be NTAI (the new buzz acronym created by Jackie Ashenden) - Not Thinking About It! She's gone out and bought herself a NTAI brand-spanking-new pair of black F-Me boots!! I'd like to splurge on a new pair of shoes but have already spent WAY too much this week... perhaps if I actually get The Call, I'll buy a nice pair of pink stillettos 

- my fantasy shoe - but where would I wear them???

So got me thinking... what do YOU plan on doing to celebrate when YOU get The Call or if you're already published, what did YOU DO???

While you ponder, I'll leave you with a photo from my wedding!! Since we're talking shoes... it's the boots, I want you to look at!!

Feeling like the one locked outside during a party!!

Am peeved because I CAN'T get into the fabulous new community at Mills and Boon!! My log-in refuses to work and I've even had emails from the tech guys there and it still doesn't work. I can read what's going on though and it looks like such a fabulous new resource!

Right... baby calling so gotta go!

Why M&B rejected WWMM - Part 2.

It's been a while between rejection posts but I did promise, so here's the second half of why WWMM didn't make the Modern Heat cut. 

Those of you who read my chapter on iheartpresents will know it begins with my heroine, Libby in the hero's rubbish bin. She's there (literally) digging up dirt on the hero who she needs to write a biography about. 

The editors thought this was a rather desperate way to behave and made Libby appear a tad unlikeable. They believed the external conflict made her appear unsympathetic to readers as she didn't behave like a professional young woman and went on to do terribly devious things in an aim to find the truth out about Matt. She goes behinds his back to get information during the novel and although she doesn't end up using this material, she's still decieved him. The editors believed her obsession to write a good article overruled her love for the hero and in a romance, this is of course, a no-no!

Basically there are things in Libby's character that make her unworthy of a Modern Heat hero and therefore she and the story didn't make the grade.

I guess what I've learnt from this little part of the rejection is that our heroine's really do need to be outstandingly special. They may have a little self doubt, they may have had bad luck in the past, but they need to be morally upstanding and likeable!! 

So... it twas actually the hero!

As you may have guessed, I'm still in chapter one of current wip, so I'm feeling my way about so to speak.

Anyway I read all your lovely comments on my ferret issue this morning then went about the usual morning chores - you know, picking up after three little boys, scraping Weetbix off the kitchen floor tiles, putting on hundreds of loads of washing - and a lightbulb flashed inside my head.

It isn't the heroine after all who has a pet in this little baby! It's the tough, hard-core, aloof, almost unlikeable hero and he's got a BIG ONE!! Dog that is! My hero is the proud owner of a Napoleon Mastiff OR a Napoleon Moutain Dog... can't quite make up my mind. See pics below and let me know which one you like best!!

Napoleon Mastiff:

Napoleon Mountain Dog:

Pets in MH?

I'm writing again! Yay! In the last week, I've written about 1500 words, which is good considering I'd been a writing desert for a long period before that. I think I'm SLOWLY finding my voice again. And, I'm having fun.

I've started writing the mss of one of the proposals I sent to M&B cos I have to do something!!

But... I've come to a dilemma. My heroine has suddenly told me she has a ferret (one of my other heroine's has one too and this new one came as a bit of a surprise) and she's just nipped back inside to grab it, but hang on... are Modern Heat heroines allowed to have pets? I'm trying to rack my brain for an animal in Modern Heat and I'm coming up short. So I'm throwing it over to you guys?

Anyone read of a pet in Modern Heat? Which one?? What was the animal? Was it a vital/big part of the story? Or... any other category lines?? 

Can't wait to hear!