Want to win a Kindle from Decadent Publishing?

Coffeetime Romance is hosting Decadent Publishing and its authors tomorrow - the 1st Feb. There's a chance to win a Kindle with 6 Decadent books already loaded. Not mine - Chosen is still in edits!! But it's going to be a lot of fun with many authors participating.

http://www.coffeeti meromance. com/board/ showthread. php?t=16787& goto=newpost

The power of love

I'm not a fan of films that I know will make me cry. I used to love disaster stories but now I worry too much it might happen to me or my family. I might be one of the few people in the world who hasn't watched Titanic. I've seen clips but never the whole thing.
But last night - husband off skiing so I was on my own, I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Wow. And I have to confess here that unlike most people in the world, I'm not a fan of Brad Pitt. Now I am. What a film. It was just lovely. Long but lovely. Of course I cried and cried at the end.
It reminded me of The Time Traveller's Wife in many ways. I cried at the end of that too. But both films were also uplifting. The power and joy of love shone through.
I want that sort of love in my books. Love that makes people sit up and sigh - maybe sometimes cry, but at the end of the story - they have to smile. I like to leave people happy. (Though crying with happiness is okay!)

A marketing ploy

HOW TO BE HAPPY?
The secret? Make someone else happy.
One thing I really don't like is selfishness. I know we only get one life (well unless reincarnation is a reality - in which case I'm probably down to come back as a cockroach) - but so does everyone around us, get one life I mean.
It's so easy to smile at people when they serve you in a shop or restaurant. It's easy to pass the time of day with an old lady if she strikes up a conversation. We'll all be old one day - assuming I'm not a cockroach sooner than I think.
Think of others as well as yourself. If your action will upset someone, should you do it? If your words will hurt, should you speak them? Think twice and think of the consequences of what you choose to do.
And above all SMILE!! It makes you feel better, I promise.
If all that fails - read one of my books.
I feel happy now I've said that.

Mind like a sieve

I have a terrible memory. For facts and faces and names. Truely terrible. When I was at school, I coped by rote learning over long periods and did quite well until the amount of information became too much to learn off by heart. I make lists all the time to cope now and because I don't HAVE to remember stuff, it's not such a problem. Though it's costing me money. I can't tell you how many books I've bought, read, passed on and then bought again because a quick read of the blurb convinced me I hadn't read it. I wish, wish, wish, I'd started a list of books 'wot I have red' when I was younger. Of course it would be a huge list by now and I'd probably have forgotten where I put it.

Coming soon

I'm pleased to announce that I now have three books all under edits and hopefully to be released soon.

Catch a Falling Star - an MF contemporary erotic romance = Ellora's Cave
Rock Hard - an MFM paranormal erotic romance = Loose-ID
Chosen - a contemporary suspense thriller = Decadent Publishing.

I'm working on a story called - An Ordinary Girl - an MF erotic romance set in present day London.

Reading habits

I'm curious to know to what extent writers read in the same genre that they write. When I first started to write - as an adult - I wrote thrillers. I didn't read romances at all at that point, partly because I found them insipid. I didn't like the long family sagas, nor the lovey-dovey Mills and Boon type books. I read thrillers and mysteries and horror.
So what changed? I think it was the addition of romance into the thrillers. I found myself more interested in relationships between characters than the actual plot and one day I tried romances again and found a few authors I liked.
So do I read romances now - or erotic romances? Not many. I have authors I love that I'd buy without reading the blurb but I'm picky. I still love thrillers. Not so keen on horror. I adore humor. That's the big change for me - books that make me laugh. Not all the way through but just that witty dialogue that brings a smile to my face. I hope I manage that sometimes in my own stories.