my book's a tv star!

Thanks to the lovely Nina Harrington, a super fab new Harlequin Romance author extraordinaire, I just discovered that my current book DATING THE REBEL TYCOON was mentioned, shown and read out loud by a male telly presenter who was sitting on a "self-closing toilet" on UK's "The Gadget Show"!!!

Mmm, that sounded far more cool in my head than it looks written down ;). Anyhoo, you must, MUST, check it out here. A couple of quick sponsor ads later and there it is! Hilarious.

http://gadgetshow.five.tv/gadget-show/videos/news/news-toilet-gadgets

And as for Nina, her VERY FIRST BOOK, ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID is out now in Australia and New Zealand. Yay Nina!

the artist within

Okay, so this may be toddler girl's hand putting a blob of play-doh onto her table, and it may have been created according to her instructions, but I promise you the work of art before you is mine, all mine!

I give you Dorothy the Dinosaur on the beach, the Little Mermaid leaning on a rock in the ocean, the sun shining, Flounder the Fish swimming with our goldfish, and all of it created upside down as I sat on the opposite side of the table which surely adds another level of genius to the work of art.

I tell ya, if this writing gig ever falls through I'm thinkin' I have a fallback career all sorted out! Don't you?

beautiful one day, perfect the next

It's Travelling Tuesday over at the Pink Heart Society today!!! Mosey on over to find...

My ode to the city in which I grew up - and the setting of my latest series of books about the Kellys of Brisbane. Well, duh, that gives it away!!!

Homesick much after looking back at why I loved growing up there? Maybe a teeny tiny little bit ;).

* * *

Set in sunny Brisbane, DATING THE REBEL TYCOON is out now in Australia and New Zealand as a Sweet Romance and is still available as a eBook from eHarlequin.com. Check out my eBook page here, where eight of my backlist books are now available!

Modern Heat novel GETTING RED-HOT WITH THE ROGUE is out now across the UK and in November across North America through Harlequin Presents. Can't wait? Try an eBook!

Read more about the Kellys of Brisbane at my website today!

how one girl spends a gleeful spare hour...

It's lunchtime. The gorgeous girls are both asleep. The washing's up to date. I have a week before my lovely new/old editor gets back from holidays and we can discuss "what next?"

What is a girl to do? Surely, the possibilities are boundless!!!

Nevetheless the answer is... Tax.

Okay, so maybe that would be an unfortunate choice for most. But for this girl, a girl who thinks tax time - ie being able to sort out piles of paper, and tick off lists, and play with stockiple of fluoro pens and paper clips and staplers - it's pure heaven!!!

If you can't find me, check under the mammoth pile of receipts on the office floor ;).

If you're looking to fill a couple of spare hours, don't forget DATING THE REBEL TYCOON and GETTING RED-HOT WITH THE ROGUE, two books about two brothers from the gorgeous Kellys of Brisbane family, are out now!

Click on the titles to check out their website pages for more, or find Ally's full range of eBooks here.

the last laugh

They say a great opening to a book is crucial in selling that book, but the ending is what sells the next book. I believe it, and I have always thought the same goes for movies.

Take Dirty Dancing, Strictly Ballroom et al? End a movie with a dance number and you go away thiking it's the best movie ever. Then there's the Sixth Sense/Usual Suspects method - twist your final twist so spectactularly the audience can barely remember that the rest of the movie took a long time in getting there.

I've watched a couple of great romantic comedy movies over the past few days in my blissful post revision haze. Marley and Me and Ghost Town.

Marley and Me is a beautiful, poignant, funny, real story that grabs me right through the heart and doesn't let go. It's a dog owner thing. The editing is brilliant, the writing spot on, Jen and Owen absolutely crazy real. I love, love, love that movie.

But you know what, the very final line of voice over never feels like it ties things up exactly right and I'm left feeling like I'm waiting for more. That happens to me a lot with movies, I wish the writer had given the very last line just one more shot to get it right.

Then there's Ghost Town. Whoever thought of making a romantic comedy about a hateful, suicidal dentist and sticking Ricky Gervais in the lead is some kind of mad genius.

It took for my husband to practically chain me to the couch to get me to watch the thing, and boy am I glad he did. It's funny. FUNNY. And clever. And easy to watch. And Tea Leoni is, as always, a crack up. And somehow the depressing, people-phobic hero actually is redeemed, and in the end lovable.

As for the final line? I bawled. Bawled my eyes out. the entire film may well have been written from the last two lines back they were so PERFECT. Sad, romantic, clever and appropriate as all get out. Don't take my word for it - rent it. Expect nothing more than a nice couple of hours. See if it grabs you too.

As for me I suddenly have a pressing need to head over to my latest book and see if the final line is as good as it could possibly be!

# 20 sold!

I've just learned from my faaaabulous editor that I have sold my twentieth book.

Twenty. Wow. Saying that out loud makes it sound just crazy!

I can still remember writing my first book THE WEDDING WISH. Standing in line at the post office sweating and feeling sick to the stomach as I sent it away to Mills and Boon. Hoping that I might at least get an encouraging rejection letter. Answering the phone and hearing that beautiful English accent and knowing it was them. I remember the long chat before we got to the point which was that the lady with the beautiful English accent wanted to buy my book! Leaping so high I hit the ceiling with my hand. Champagne flowing. My first title - - how pretty right? My first release date. Finding my first box of hardvoer books with my name on them at the front door.

Now I'm up to number twenty. And you know what? As I sit here letting the news sink in it's truly just as exciting as the first.

MILLIONAIRE DAD'S SOS is my third book about the Kelly kids. Books one - DATING THE REBEL TYCOON - and two - GETTING RED-HOT WITH THE ROGUE - are both out now around the world!!!

MILLIONARE DAD'S SOS will be out in the UK and North America in April next year. Check out my website for more!

waterworks

I finished the revisions on my twentieth book last week, and you know what? I had a little tear.

It doesn't happen with every book. I wasn't even prepared for it to happen with this one. But since I hadn't read the story in a couple of months before I began this round of revisions, when the final line of the tenth chapter came out of nowhere with an emotional wallop... waterworks!

Those moments, the unexpected moments when my muse surprises me, or when I surprise myself, are why I love what I do. Oh, and the fact that I get to work in my pyjamas ;).