Perfect Partners

Yes, writing can be a lonely business, sitting in a silent room all by yourself, tapping away on a keyboard, wondering if anyone is ever going to read what you write, let alone say anything nice about it. But writing isn't team work, is it?

Or is it?

I recently heard of two novelists who work in partnership and I couldn't wait to ask them how they do it. Or rather, how they do it successfully, because Liv Thomas and Valerie Olteanu will soon become the artist known as Isabella Connor and will see their debut novel published by multi-award-winning independent Choc Lit.

Hello, Valerie...

Hello, Liv...

They told me a few things which astonished me.  I'd imagined them working in the same room and bouncing ideas off each other, but it turns out they've never met face to face. Liv lives in the UK and Valerie lives in Canada, so they're not only half a world away from each other, they're a whole time zone away, too.They're clearly very good at co-operating, which bodes well for the editorial process soon to be coming their way.

There's an interview with Liv and Valerie in December 2012 Writing Magazine, out now.

I'm really looking forward to reading their novel, and in the meantime I can follow its and their progress  on their dedicated website at www.hartswoodhill.com.

Strictly fun - 2

So we got in.

We had a wonderful evening. It started with the recording of some links for future shows, and this was totally fabulous because I had a chance to listen to one of my absolute heroes performing live. We were told that if we revealed who it was we would be hunted down and executed, so I can't tell you. But he was just amazing, and I was so glad I'd had the chance to see and hear him perform. Then there was the dancing and that was fabulous, too. The judges were mean to Victoria. She wasn't as bad as they said.

We weren't permitted to take photographs during the show, but I nipped around with my camera when I was allowed and here's me with my new cuddly friend -

and DD2 with Bruno, her new cuddly friend. We didn't catch Craig on his way out. We think he was avoiding us!

We had such a great time we're going to apply for tickets for the next series. Apparently, a million people applied this time around. So we're going to have to be very, very, very lucky to go again. We'll make sure we arrive early next time.

Strictly fun - 1

A fortnight ago my lovely daughter rang to say she'd got two tickets for the first live show in the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, and would I like to go? Ooh, I said, you bet I would! So off we went to London to have a snoop around the BBC Television Centre and check out Studio One, which is a great big cavern full of lights, cameras, cranes, auto-cues, monitors - and of course a cast of glamorous people who didn't look as if they really belonged in this world.  They were far too gorgeous - sigh.

It took forever to be admitted to this electronic paradise. When we arrived we nearly fainted at the sight of the queue of people who'd got there before us. We didn't realise it was necessary to arrive at crack of dawn to be sure of gaining admittance. We joined the queue. It poured with rain. The BBC people with scanners and lists moved slowly towards us. The two people in front of us got the last two confirmed tickets, and DD2 and I became Standby 1 and Standby 2. 

But DD 2 prayed hard:

Book of the Month - October 2012

My Book of the Month for October is Kate Hardy's Mills and Boon Modern Romance The Hidden Heart of Rico Rossi.

This is a very special novel. Why? Well, because it's an exciting contemporary romance in the best Mills and Boon Modern tradition. It's sexy, it's exciting, it's dramatic and it's fun. It introduces the reader to Ella Chandler, a lovely heroine with whom the reader can easily identify (okay, she's more glamorous than most of us, but she's real and she's believable - she's what we could be if only our genes had been shuffled a little bit differently) and a hero with whom we can all fall in love.

Rico is Italian, which gives him a head start in the gorgeousness stakes. But he's also vulnerable, and this makes him irresistible. At one point he lies to the heroine - oh dear - and so he has a lot of work to do before she'll forgive him and admit she adores him, too.

This book is especially special because it's Kate's 50th title for Mills and Boon. Kate is celebrating this publishing milestone by having a party on her blog at www.katehardy.blogspot.co.uk, and there are lots of prizes to be won, so do head over and take a look.  She also has a website at www.katehardy.com.

Congratulations, Kate - you've already given enormous reading pleasure to thousands of readers, and here's to the next 50 titles from you!