Tag Team

My fellow Riva writer and all round romance goddess, Nicola Marsh, has a short story up on Amazon. It's called Tag Team and here's the blurb...

A Victorian Police Special Ops team leader joins forces with an Australian Defence Force Tactical Assault Group expert who specializes in biological warfare to stop an imminent chemical threat.

When the threat becomes personal and the body count mounts, they find themselves locked in a safe room, where they discover their sizzling history takes little to ignite.

How fab does that sound??? I've downloaded it to my Kindle and as soon as I've finished my wordcount for the day I'll be tucking in (if I can hold out that long). You can get it here if you're in the UK and here in the US. Enjoy!

New Voices

Only two weeks to go now to the launch of the new M&B New Voices competition, and how exciting is that! Visit romanceisnotdead.com for all the deets, but in the meantime, here's a list of all the workshops being held around the UK by M&B authors and editors. What a treat! If only I could go...

• Wednesday 31st August, 11.00am-1.00pm
  Event Leader: KATE WALKER
  ASHBY LIBRARY AND LOCAL LINK, Ashby High Street, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN16 2RY
  Tickets cost £5, including refreshments. For more information please call Emma Prideaux on 01724 860161 or email library.enquiries@northlincs.gov.uk.

• Wednesday 31st August, 2.00pm-3.30pm
  Event Leader: LIZ FIELDING
  PONTARDAWE LIBRARY, Holly Street, Pontardawe, Swansea, SA8 4ET
  Please call 01792 862261 to book your place.

• Friday 2nd September, 2.30pm-4.00pm
  Event Leader: MILLS & BOON EDITORS - Megan Haslam and Carly Corcoran
  CHIPPING BARNET LIBRARY, 3 Stapylton Road, Barnet, Herts. EN5 4QT
  To book your FREE place on this writing workshop, please call 020 8359 4040.

• Thursday 8th September 6.30-8.00pm
  Event Leader: LOUISE ALLEN
  BECCLES LIBRARY, Blybur Gate, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 9TB
  To book your FREE place on this writing workshop, please call 01502 714073 to book your place.

• Saturday 10th September, 10.00am-12.30pm
  Event Leader: JOANNA FULFORD
  ALFRETON LIBRARY, Severn Square, Alfreton, Derbyshire, DE55 7BQ
  Tickets are £5 and include refreshments. TO BOOK YOUR PLACE, please email Alison.betteridge@derbyshire.gov.uk or call 01773 831359.

• Tuesday 13th September 10.30am-12noon
  Event Leader: KATE HARDY
  ATTLEBOROUGH LIBRARY, 31 Connaught Road, Attleborough, Norfolk, NR17 2BW
  To book your FREE place on the writing workshop, please call 01953 452319 or e-mail attleborough.lib@norfolk.gov.uk or myra.browne@norfolk.gov.uk.

• Wednesday 14th September 6.30-8.00pm
  Event Leader: FIONA HARPER
  BRIXTON LIBRARY, Brixton Oval, London, SW2 1JQ
  Tickets from: Caroline Mackie at cmackie@lambeth.gov.uk

• Saturday 17th September 2.30-4.00pm
  Event Leader: ANNE FRASER
  SHETTLESTON LIBRARY, 154 Wellshot Road, Glasgow G32 7AX
  To book your FREE place on the writing workshop, please call 0141 276 1643 .

• Monday 19th September 2.00-3.30pm
  Event Leader: SHARON KENDRICK
  BASINGSTOKE DISCOVERY CENTRE, 19/20 Westminster House, Festival Place, Basingstoke, RG21 7LS
  Tickets are £5 and can be purchased from Basingstoke Discovery Centre information desk or over the phone on 01256 478670.

• Tuesday 20th September 6.00-7.30pm
  Event Leader: MARGUERITE KAYE
  WHITEINCH LIBRARY, 14 Victoria Park Drive South, Glasgow G14 9RL
  Places are limited so booking is essential. To book your FREE place on the writing workshop, please call 0141 276 0695 .

• Tuesday 20th September 6.30-8.00pm
  Event Leader: HEIDI RICE
  MAYFAIR LIBRARY, 25 South Audley Street, London W1K 2PB
  Places are limited so booking is essential. Tickets are £3. To book your place on the writing workshop, please call 020 7641 4905/4916 or email mayfairlibrary@westminster.gov.uk.

• Wednesday 21st September 5.00-6.30pm
  Event Leader: MILLS & BOON EDITORS - Megan Haslam and Carly Corcoran
  BARKING LIBRARY, Barking Learning Centre, 2 Town Square, Barking, London IG11 7NB
  Places are limited so booking is essential. To book your FREE place on the writing workshop, please call 020 8724 8719 or email denise.lovelace@lbbd.gov.uk.

• Monday 26th September 6.00-7.30pm
  Event Leader: HEIDI RICE
  FULHAM LIBRARY, 598 Fulham Road, Fulham, London, SW6 5NX
  Places are limited so booking is essential. To book your FREE place on the writing workshop, please call 020 7753 3877 or email clare.edgson@lbhf.gov.uk or rob.symmons@lbhf.gov.uk.

As I only have a month or so to go til my deadline and still have a LONG way to go before being able to type The End, I'm tucked away in my study, knuckling down and getting to serious grips with my wip.

At the moment, my hero is taking my heroine back to his place. Originally I had him living in Mayfair, but while idly googling images of central London flats I decided to relocate him. To Knightsbridge, and a penthouse in the super swanky No 1 Hyde Park:

[image deleted]

Many moons ago I used to work at an oil company located in the building that previously occupied the site. It used to look like this:

[image deleted]

Now it looks like this:

[image deleted]

Externally I'm not sure it's much of an improvement, but I bet the views are spectacular!

Are books just for the middle class?

Hope not, but there's interesting article in the Guardian today asking why Waterstone's wasn't looted in the recent riots in England...

Minxes of Romance

I'm over at the fabulous Minxes of Romance blog today offering deep, thought-provoking insights into wittering on about my writing.

Piracy (sadly not of the Jack Sparrow kind)

Someone came to this blog looking for a free download of The Crown Affair. All I can say (that's printable, at least) is thanks for the heads-up.

First sign of madness?

I’ve spent the last few days trying to shoehorn my characters into bed. I’ve cajoled and rewritten the chapter a dozen times but unfortunately they’re not having any of it (quite literally). It’s infuriating and I feel like I’ve been writing my way into a brick wall.

The conversations I’ve been having in my head go something like this:

Me: Why don’t you want to go to bed with Jack? He’s gorgeous and charming and fancies the pants off you. And you could really do with a boost to your ego. So what’s wrong with you?
Imogen (eyebrows shoot up): Wrong with me? Jack might be gorgeous and charming, but he reminds me too much of my lousy ex. (Shudders) No way am I going there again.
Me: You didn’t seem all that fussed a couple of pages ago. In fact I distinctly recall you being extremely tempted to go exactly there again.
Imogen: Yes, well, that was before I found out who he was. Besides reminding me of everything I’ve sworn to avoid, the man’s a complete waste of space and has a terrible reputation. I’d have to be mad to ever contemplate going to bed with him. In fact I’d be perfectly happy if I never laid eyes on him again.
Me (depressed): Oh.

Me: Jack, help me here. You’re supposed to be great with women. Heaven knows you’ve had enough practice. Can’t you switch on the charm and seduce Imogen into bed?
Jack (jaw drops in horror): Why on earth would I want to do something like that?
Me: For a start, you spent a large part of the evening flirting with her. Then you invited her out to dinner.
Jack (glowering): And then she went all weird on me. Sorry, but the woman is shallow and pointless and has some SERIOUS issues.
Me: You know she didn’t really mean to insult you like that, don’t you?
Jack (muttering): Whether she did or not she’s still bonkers. So thanks, but no thanks.

See what I have to put up with? Anyway, today I gave up trying to make them what I want them to do, and am letting them do what they want to do. Not entirely surprisingly, the brick wall has disappeared and things have become a whole lot easier. Harrumph. You’d have thought by now I’d have learnt to avoid this basic mistake, but apparently not...

Out and about

It's 1st August and that means The Crown Affair is out in a variety of places!

Firstly in the UK it should be hitting the shelves any day now. Secondly it's downloadable to Kindle and ibooks. And in the US it's available on harlequin.com.

Here's what RT Book Reviews thinks of it...

THE CROWN AFFAIR (4) by Lucy King: She wouldn’t be human if the shirtless man toiling in her neighbor’s backyard didn’t bring out her inner voyeur, but architect Laura Mackenzie doesn’t expect to be caught in the act. And it isn’t long before Laura agrees to a one-night, no-strings affair under his roof. After all, what are the chances Matt will end up her boss on his isolated Mediterranean island kingdom? With an abundance of humor and sizzle, this story charms from start to finish.

Thank you, Sandra!