Chocolate day -- recipe

Natasha Oakley has decided to tempt people with chocolate on the Pink Heart Society. Some might say that chocolate is not a temptation, but a necessity, one of the basic food groups.

She wants recipes. Did I mention that Natasha also has a book out this month -- Wanted: White Wedding

S'mores

(as made over a thousand campfires)

To make one s'more --

2 graham crackers (in the UK use 2 digestive biscuits)

half a bar of chocolate (your choice, Green & Blacks is great, but Hershey's is standard)

1 toasted marshmallow.

First toast your marshmallow. Try not to burn to a cinder. There are generally great debates how to do the perfect toasted marshmallow. Place marshmallow on chocolate, sandwich between cracker/digestive biscuit. Eat. Have another one. Try toasting the marshamllow a different way. Eventually feel slightly sick.

One of the best parts of camping.

I had a lovely post from Krista at Coffeetime Romance. Taken by the Viking has been awarded five cups. My favourite bit of the lovely review was: Very seldom do I come across a book that affects me as much as this one did. Ms. Styles delves into emotions of both main characters so that I felt like I knew them inside and out. The fact that I have Scandinavian heritage only made this book more appealing. I was also very impressed with how realistic everything came across, which is not an easy task. I applaud Ms. Styles for telling a story that enchants and tugs at your heart. This is an author who truly knows how to write. The book only got better and at no point did I feel disappointed or let down. History and passion mixed together is a combination that makes this particular story one that will not leave me for a while.

As I too have a Scandanavian heritage, I think it is great that she enjoyed the setting. Many thanks to Krista for making my day.

You can read the rest of the review here.

I learnt that Kimberley Lang of Writer's Playground has sold her first Modern Heat. Hooray for Kim. She is quite naturally having a blog party and you can join in the fun here.

Pleased about the Rita finalists

The Rita finalists are officially being announced today but he calls went out yesterday. Several of my friends have made the finals and this made me very happy indeed.
Cheryl St John is a finalist in the novella category for Christmas Day Family from A Western Winter Wonderland. It is an excellent story full of Christmas spirit. It proves why Cheryl is one of the top Western historical writers.
Natasha Oakley has made the contemporary series finals with her Niroli book. Her stories are so heart warming and I can remember Natasha being worried when it came out...
Hedi Rice also made the finals with her The Mile High Club. It is currently out now in the US with the title of The Millionaire's Blackmail Bargain. And is an excellent fun read. I loved the press conference bit. Heidi used to work for a tabloid and so certain bits rang true.
Sam Hunter is in the Contemporary Series Suspense finals for Untouched (which I haven't read) but will have to get a copy.
One of the great things about the Rita finals is that I generally get to do some Amazon shopping based on the books, but this year, I have read or have in my TBR pile a number of the books that made the cut. I must say that I preferred The Serpent Prince to The Leopard Prince (Elizabeth Hoyt's nominated one) but if you haven't read Elizabeth Hoyt, and you like Georgian romps, you should. She was my big find of last autumn.
Anyway congrats to all.

Finished and off to my editor

My current work in progress, entitled in my contract Regency Duet 1 has been delivered to my editors! Hooray! Hooray! I know it will be a really strong read once they have let me know their thoughts.

Now a scarred Richard Armitage/John Thornton type gets to be my next hero and I am seriously looking forward to it.

I listened to the BBC Radio 4 programme on M&B yesterday. A number of other bloggers including Trish Wylie, Kate Walker, Natasha Oakley and Teach Me Tonight have already commented on it. They basically gave a fair assessement.

I do think Joanne Carr's comment to the presenter as she was critquing the offering was really apt -- you did not pay very much attention to what we were saying in the workshop.

Sometimes, people are so blinded by their agendas that they don't pay much attention to what other people are saying. That was the big failing of the programme.

I do thank God that we are no longer considered to be authoresses but as writers or authors. An authoress sounds like someone who dines on ortolan and drinks pink champagne before writing purple prose with a pink quill. Authoress does found quite frankly patronizing. It belongs to another era.

And one of the other problems with the programme is that it attempted to do too much. Was it a history of M&B or was it an attempt to look at M&B today? If it was a history, why not mention Ida Cook, the M&B author who quite famously used the proceeds of her writing to save Jews from Nazi Germany?

I rather thought the How to book from the 1960s was a relic of the past. And issues and themes that are vexxing authors today are not the same ones that inspired authors in the past.

Right, my house is a tip. There is a ton of admin to catch up on and I have another book due before Christmas.

Magic knickers and me

My post about getting ready for the RNA lunch is up on the Pink Heart Society. Natasha Oakley has manged to decorate it quite nicely, including finding a picture of magic knickers. I believe they are called spandex in the US. All I can say is that they are totally hilarious to put on, and I do have a new found respect for celebrities like G Paltrow. But they do hold all the bits in....And she put a picture of my skirt on the post, and not hers...

Tomorrow should be fun, but I am also nervous. It is a big event in the world of commerical publishing. There will be lots of people there. The Savoy is rather posh. Luckily there will be friends and friendship is priceless. So seeing all of them will make my day.

I have my own prediction of who will win (and it isn't me). Kate Walker is accepting predictions and I think giving away a prize.

On Friday evening I will be seeing Wicked The Musical! I am not thinking about the return train journey.

Thewip has been going v slowly for a number of reasons. Thankfully my editor is not starting to crack her whip, although my cp will be. My middle was muttering about taking away books and forcing me to write on the train because she wants to know what happens next...Iwould like this one to be really good, but we shall have to see. Sometimes the crows flock.