holidays and expanding waistlines

I've spent the past few days in Townsville for a few days with my mum, visiting my sister Suze and her man Luke. Suze is almost 30 weeks pregnant which is very exciting. We shopped up a storm, hitting every baby shop in town, which was a blast. Especially considering I am pregnant too!

Yep. I'm a little over 21 weeks and none of you noticed my expanding waistline, did ya? Or the fact my next to last book was 10 days late due my spending a good two months of writing time instead lying on my back with my feet on the arm of the couch stuffing my face with everything I could get my hands on (except for some strange reason coffee and M&Ms which interest me not one little bit) in order to not be sick. Or that I'm in track pants all the time, not because it is the uniform of the working writer but because I fit nothing else ;).

This is the Scamp a few weeks back. Look at that sweet little upturned nose! That pout. Cute huh?

Anyhoo, that's my news. And it's lovely. Feeling the Scamp kick everytime I clack at the keyboard, or mention the word steak. Borrowing a Baby Bjorn and copious amounts of advice from my sister-in-law Maria. Watching my latest ultrasound DVD, especially the part where my hubby tried to tell bub to be a good kiddlywink and roll over so we could see its face, and it reacted with such excitement you'd swear I'd just downed a bottle of red cordial. Being pregnant at the same time as my sister and my close friend Sheree. Buying white cotton Bonds socks so tiny and adorable its hard not to fill the shopping trolley with them. And choosing names - I thought that's what book writing was for!

I must be off to bed now. Am sleeping for two you know ;). And I promise not to dream of all the stuff I want from the current Toys R Us sale. Not too much anyway.

the end

Wow. I just typed those two little words and I tell ya, the delight never fades. Right now I look about as happy as my heroine Chelsea does in this pic, though my hair isn't done, and I'm in tracky daks and a frayed old cardigan ;).

My next hopeful Modern Extra, working title THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER, has been a pleasure to write (or maybe it's the bliss running through my veins making me remember it as such ;). It has taken me from April to now. From the hustle and bustle of Gotham like inner city Melbourne to the serenity of the beeeuatiful Yarra Valley, famous for its vineyards. From a dark haired glamazon heroine to a slip of a girl whose up to her armpits in wet dog suds more often than not. From a gooorgeous collage I loved to a book that has not one sinlge resemblance to the original feeling I had when I created it. And from one single tiny little slip of an idea that came to me while watching TV one night, to 58,000 words of a story I hope others will one day love to read. (Funnily enough the "seeding" of ideas is what Trish Wylie is nattering about on her blog today)

So now I can relax and prepare for two weeks holidays up to warm and sunny Townsville, where the termperature gets down to about 15 degrees while here in Melbourne our top is 11. Mmmm... I plan to have lunch with fellow Harlequin Romance author Barbara Hannay and her gorgeous husband, as well as play shopaholic with my sister and mum.

So what do I do now to celebrate THE END? I kind of feel at a loose end. Pack? Eat copious amounts of chocolate? Watch a mushy rom com movie while snuggled under a blanket with a hot chocolate? Finish Trish Wylie's fabulous MX "Breathless!" which I had to stop reading halfway so I could finish my own damn book and not become depressed by how good hers was?

All of the above I think!!!

ebook

My first ebook is available now!!! So if you in North America and can't be bothered getting to a shop, which is pretty much me on any given day, you can pick up a copy of BILLIONAIRE ON HER DOORSTEP right here at eharlequin as an ebook!

Adobe eBook

Microsoft eBook

Mobipocket eBook

For more inside goss on the hero, heroine and location of this book, click on the BILLIONAIRE ON HER DOORSTEP label at the bottom of this post...

nose to the grindstone

Euri asked how I could blog so often and still find time to write. She makes a good point, no? Truth is the two covers in two days, plus a box full of the Australian version of my current release BILLIONAIRE ON HER DOORSTEP, have made for too much fun for me not to blather and spread the news.

But since I am off on holidays in less than a week, and I have a book due before then - eek! - unless some other fantabulous book news comes through, or I win the lotto, or aliens land in my backyard, then I will be head down, fingers clacking away on keyboard to get the book done!

THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER is coming along very nicely thank-you since Chelsea popped her head up and said, "Hey this man is mine!!!" I have just sent Damien and her to Chelsea's sister's cottage in the Yarra Valley east of Melbourne. After heading out there a few weeks back to go to the zoo, I couldn't resist. Think mile upon mile of of rolling fields of wheat-yellow grape vines looked over by beautifiul estate homes. Beeeeautiful!

They drove there by way of Damien's car. Nice huh?

I've just made a fun discovery about Chelsea's father, which she doesn't think is fun but I'm sure I can play with plenty. And then I will go back a few chapters and give Chelsea food poisoning. The poor girl is truly going to wish she never appeared in my subconcious ;).

See you soon!

Ally

and another one!

I can't believe it. Two new covers in two days. What fun!!! (For a look at my next Romance cover check out yesterday's post.)

This is the Australian and New Zealand cover for my first ever Sexy Sensation novel GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS which comes out Down Under this August. It's my first ever "red cover" book which is tres exciting!!!

To the right was the cover of the UK version. All legs as well! Hmmmm, I see a pattern forming here...

How about I give you the first few lines of the book and maybe you can tell me why these two covers were chosen ;).

* * *

Flynn Granger was a leg man.

‘You’ve got legs of your own so what’s the big deal?’ his best friend George would ask when the subject arose. Needless to say George was a breast man.

During such conversations Flynn would lift a trouser leg, showing off his favoured argyle socks and an unequivocally masculine calf covered in dark hair, with its scarred knee from a horse-riding accident, and shaped by years of bike riding and what amounted to an addiction to his rowing machine.

Then he’d say, ‘George, buddy, I may have two very fine legs of my own, but there is simply no comparison. The sight of a woman’s calf muscles working as she passes by in a pair of high heels does it for me every time. I love the slight criss-cross of the feet, I adore the soft indent behind the knee, and I am putty in the presence of a sway that starts at the floor and goes all the way up. Then there is the sensation of running my hand along a smooth, lean, warm, willing woman’s thigh. That is quite simply the stairway to heaven.’

It wasn’t surprising then, as Flynn did the last of his morning reps on his rowing machine that Wednesday morning in April, that when the nearby security monitor flickered to life showcasing the sight of a pair of divine, smooth, creamy, stocking-free legs wandering into his outer office in a pencil skirt and black high heels, his attention was ensnared.

why so early?

A car pulled up in our street this morning. The bang of the side door woke the dog, she barked and woke the rest of us, then the beep beep beep noise of a van backing up gave us pause. That sound always heralds a delivery on the front door! Lovely hubby got up so I could stay under the covers and beg the gods it wasn't proof edits for my last romance. With a book due in ~ a week, and two weeks holidays after that, that would have just made me cry ;).

But no, it was a lovely box of goodies! The hardcovers of my next Romance novel, MILLIONAIRE TO THE RESCUE out in North America and the UK in October. And isn't it too pretty? I looove the close up faces, he's very chiseled and handsome and certainly has Danny's intractable jaw. And she is sweet and has the right colour hair as Brooke ;), and its growing on me more and more. Check out the behind the scenes page on my website to read a quick blurb, devour a juicy excerpt, or check out the collage on which the book was based....

Now I only wish our delivery guy would come at like, say two in the afternoon rather than pre-dawn. Too much to ask?

chook news!

The new chooks have started to lay!

I can't believe its been almost six months since they were born, but we went out to their hutch last night and found two eggs! Not sure if it was two eggs from one Pekin (the little orange ones) or one egg from each. But either way it looks like Rollergirl and Captain Janeway are now all grown up.

They are little so their eggs are little too. Little and lovely! This is one compared with Laverne's first egg, Mork, (the white one at the top) and a regular egg from the supermarket. Omlette for dinner tonight. Or maybe a snack.

Also, on today's Pink Heart Society column I have given a rindown of some fabulous examples of heroine inspiration in the form of Brunette Beauties. So if you're looking for a new gal, check it out!

phew...

Thank-you all for your lovely words of support - both here and via email - as I endeavour to dismantle my book a week and a half before its due date. The gorgeous Fiona Lowe even sent me a cyber bunch of flowers. My initial angst must have reverberated far and wide ;).

But you know what? My new heroine Chelsea London is behaving like a dream. So far she has spilled strawberry pancake sauce on her new top, has had to clean up after a Maltese terrier with a tummy bug, and has accidentally ended up half naked in front of a large employee named Phyllis.

And these are just the moments where she isn't accusing poor Damien of being a telemarketer, a stalker or a Luddite. La di dah!

Twelve days until deadline so I'd better head off to see what they get up to next...

I need a slap upside the head

Okay, so Trish Wylie is wahhhing on her blog that she is amidst a pineapple type book. Welllllll, Ms Trish, I think I have you beat. After a day's worth of deep brewing, I came to the absolute, dead set, not a doubt in my mind conclusion that I have in fact been writing the wrong heroine. 28,000 words in, two and a half weeks until deadline, and my lovely Monica is about to get the chop.

Why? Because everything is happening far too easily. My hero and heroine look like they belong on a book cover together. Their worlds are too similar that they could have collided on Melbourne's streets a dozen times before the start of the book. She's beautiful and successful, he's handsome and successful. Thus the tension just isn't there.

Thank goodness a girl called Chelsea popped into my head yesterday - fully formed, and a beautiful mess. She is a biscuit blonde waif to Monica's brunette glamazon. A dishevelled dog groomer to Monica the neat and tidy underwear designer. Here she is in the guise of Ellen Pompeo. All that sunshine makes me feel so much happier.

Now also the city girl best friend Jade will now become the sister with three kids. Her elegant sparse apartment will get a chintz and floral makeover. And poor suit and tie city boy Damien will seriously not have one clue what is about to hit him.

So if you don't hear from me for a few days, picture me up to my armpits in edits, attempting valiantly to unpick Monica's thread and sew in Chelsea's as seamlessly as possible. Keeping all the dialogue, replacing internal monologues, slapping Damien across the back of the head time and again to break him from his love at first sight stupor.

I see myself having a happy an ending as these two - visualisation works right? It sure worked for that "The Secret" chick.

its beginning to look a lot like winter

I'm currently working on my next Modern Extra book, whose working title I actually don't want to reveal as it kind of gives away a huge portion of the plot. Is that mean of me? Well, tough cookies ;). 'Cause I find the more I talk about stuff like plot, the more fuzzy it becomes in my head, rather than the other way around. So for the sake of keeping something up my sleeve, let's call this one Monica and Damien.

Monica and Damien's tale takes place in the hustle and bustle of city life in Melbourne in the heart of winter. It's really very nice as its winter here now too! As I write about my heroine wearing wollen scaves and knee high boots, and dressing my hero in the most beautiful long black coat, it feels real, it makes sense.

As I walk the city streets I see them, and their friends everywhere I look. For we are a winter city. We thrive on winter fashion, winter sport, the stark, grey gotham city architecture looks at its best when shrouded with fog and contrasted against the beauty of trees dropping their foliage.

So as I sit here in my PJs and ugh boots, central heater blasting away, I can pretend that I am surrounded by men in sharp suits, women in flashy clothes, warming their hands on hot takeaway lattes, twirling their scraves ever tighter around their neck as they traverse the urban jungle on their way to work.

So how amongst the throng, are Monica and Damien ever to find one another? Oooh, you'll just have to wait to find out!

new book out now!

Billionaire on Her Doorstep is out now in the UK! Halfway through June you’ll find it on bookshelves all across North America. Two weeks after that it hits Australian and New Zealand shores. Phew!

Cataromance gave it fours stars and said... "A truly remarkable story … this reader loved every moment of this story and its characters. This book had me teary and … Ms. Blake is a truly gifted author and this book only cements her place as one of my favorite authors."

Romantic Times also gave it four stars and said… "Ally Blake's Billionaire on Her Doorstep (4) has a wonderfully quirky heroine and a yummy hero -- and the payoff for their slowly developed relationship is sweet indeed."

Aren't they lovely? For more about this book, click on the Billionaire on her Doorstep label at the bottom of this post. Or just buy the thing and read it for yourself!!!