hero song...and the winner is...

The moment you've all been waiting for! Okay, so it's the moment I've been waiting for, and I'm just trying to rope y'all into my excitement ;).

Last night I wrote the scene I’ve been itching to write for weeks - the scene in which my hero serenades my heroine, karaoke style. Yep, the scene YOU helped me write!

Those who so kindly jumped on the bandwagon and emailed me and Facebook’d me and Twittered at me, with your BRILLIANT suggestions about what Bradley ought to sing you’re absolute champs!!! You gave me so many ideas, inspiration,

I truly had no idea which he was going to sing til he got up there (which is one of the coolest things about this job!!!) And since it won’t be giving anything away to let you guys know before the fact the winning song is:

Hunters and Collectors' Throw Your Arms Around Me as sung by Neil Finn of Crowded House. I know, it's convoluted, but aren't love affairs as well? It goes a little something like this:

I will come for you at nighttime
I will raise you from your sleep
I will kiss you in four places
As I go running along your street

I will squeeze the life out of you
You will make me laugh and make me cry
And we will never forget it
You will make me call your name
And I'll shout it to the blue summer sky

And we may never meet again
So shed your skin and let's get started
And you will throw your arms around me
Yeah, you will throw your arms around me

I dreamed of you at nighttime
And I watched you in your sleep
I met you in high places
I touched your head and touched your feet

So if you disappear out of view
You know I will never say goodbye
And though I try to forget it
You will make me call your name
And I'll shout it to the blue summer sky...

And we may never meet again...
So shed your skin and let's get started
And you will throw your arms around me
Yeah, you will throw your arms around me

Oh...yeah...
Ohhh yeah...
You will throw your arms around me...
Yeah, you will throw your arms around me....

Here it is on YouTube. If I'm getting goosebumps and tears hearing the first few notes. How can Hannah resist!?!?!?

The winner of the signed backlist book is Terese for her plethora of suggestions which I can so see Bradley humming later in the book. Email me Terese to organise a book!

I’m soooo coming to all of you for advice again. This has been brilliant fun!

their song...

I'm about to launch into the scene I've been itching to write! The scene you guys helped me plan.

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The scene in which we discover HANNAH AND BRADLEY'S SONG.

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I have all of your ideas printed out beside me, my MP3 player playing in my ears, and an open mind! Will one of you be on the money? Will some old favourite come up trumps? Or will Bradley surprise the heck out of both Hannah and me as he begins to sing?

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Watch this space!!!!

writer in residence

I've been so inspired writing at my local library, I've decided to Tweet about the daily pitfalls and lightbulbs that occur when writing a book in a series I'm calling Writer in Residence (or Writer n Residenz cause that's all the letters that'll fit on a twitter account name!!!)

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It will be an honest look at how a writer writes. At the moments that make a book happen and the moments that threaten to stall a story forever. When the words flow, when life gets in the way. Those blissful moments when something completely surprising happens. When a character comes into their own, when another refuses to play ball. When the muse takes flight, and when procrastination simply must win the day, I'll be tweeting about it! Raw, honest, unedited, every writing day, sometimes more, @ 140 characters a pop.

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So anyone who's ever wanted to write a book and wasn't sure where to begin, or for those of you who ever wondered how a writer does it (write a book that is ;), follow me at http://twitter.com/writernresidenz.

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Hopefully you'll learn something, even if what not to do ;).

my next hero

Ideas are bubbling beautifully away about my next story.

In my head it's called CRUSH. In my head it's gonna be brilliant. Hopefully it will be entertaining at the very least when it actually hits the page!

So of course I've had to google pics for my next hero.

Need I say more.

I blame my muse

Every book is different. But I wonder if every writer has a certain set of parameters that define the "world" in which all their stories exist the way that I know I do.

Dive into any Dick Francis novel and you know they all exist in the same space. And by that I don't mean Britain. I mean the same, feel, tone, moral boundaries. Love one, you'll love them all. I sure do! Jenny Cruisie's the same. Her manic characters and fabulously loopy set-ups place you right smack bang in the middle of a delightfully off-kilter world.

It has a lot to do with voice, I'm sure. But I also attribute the parameters of my "world" to the vagaries of my muse. He - yes it's a he, not sure how I know, I just do – would be absolutely happy if in writing every one of my books I had:

Christian Bale as the hero inspiration – I could cast him as every one of my heroes. Not him exactly mind you, but a version of him that exists inside my head. One that has been struck in there for years, pre-mega-fame. And nothing he does or says in real life has altered it a jot 'cause that version of him IS the epitome of an Ally Blake hero.

George Michael music as the soundtrack – so many of my books have been written to his smooth sounds. Something about my eighties upbringing, and his fabulous musicality, and heart-breakingly romantic toons just do it for me. A Different Corner and Kissing a Fool especially. They take me away to another place.

Headwear on my head – right now it's a red NY Yankees cap. Yep. As we speak it's atop my head! Ostensibly to keep the glare from my eyes as I write, but deep down I've always felt like headwear somehow connects me to my muse. For my first book I wore a fake floral garland. Worked a charm! And if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? My muse is odd, okay. Deal with it ;).

A bowl of M&Ms at my fingertips – chocolate of any sort is fine with me, by something about M&Ms the instant satisfaction, the fact that I can collate them into even coloured rows seems to give me time to clear my head. And time for him to send me more story while I zone out.

Any authors you know and love who really give you that sense of familiarity and comfort and exactly the experience you're looking for every time you snuggle up on the couch and open one of their books? Whose "world" do you love?

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope tonight your beloved

makes dinner, washes the dishes,

takes out the garbage,

lets you be in charge of the remote,

gives you the last double coat Tim Tam,

rubs your feet, and kisses you goodnight.

Sounds like a perfect Valentines Day to me!

Inspiration = setting

This is the background picture on my laptop, the image I see every time I turn my computer on. As this is the imaginary place in which I have trapped my hero and heroine from THE LONG WEEKEND (w/t) for the interim. I give you The Gatehouse, Cradle Mountain Tasmania.

Just gorgeous huh? Helpful too, for my muse.

For it's hot in Melbourne at the mo. A stuffy, sweaty, sweltery, suffocating kind of heat. So writing a book set in the middle of winter in a really cold snowy place can be understandably tricky.

Looking at this pic I can imagine my breath forming in white puffs in front of my face. My toes feel cold, even as I picture myself in double socks. It's so cold in my head my poor characters need to up their body heat one way or another.

Mmm, I wonder how they will ever manage? ;)

into hot blondes? check this out ;)

Check out Nicola Marsh's fun and fabulous blog today to find out mor about one of my favourite heroes - besides Christian Bale of course, that was too easy! Yummy scrummy pics included. You may even be lucky enough to go home with a signed Ally Blake book.


And for those of you coming to my talk at the Dandenong Library this Thursday, see ya there. Bring lots of questions!!! And call (03) 9238 1489 for more info.

Help my hero find a song!

I need a song for my hero to sing a song. Karaoke style. I'm not yet sure if he's going to sing something upbeat and sexy. Or something torchy and sexy. Either way it's gonna be sexy! I have a dozen possibilities penciled at the top of the as yet unwritten scene, but none of them quite fit.

So, imagine yourself sitting in a dark bar, alone at a table, and this walks on stage. Dark, devlish, delicious. Women swoon, angels weep. And on top of all that the guy can sing. Like a rock god. From the moment he sings his first note, he sings his song to you.

So, with that in mind, here's your mission - find my hero the perfect song!

Pop your suggestion in the comments, twitter me, Facebook me, send me a Youtube clip, or email the title to ally@allyblake.com. If your song ends up being the song, consider yourself the proud owner of a signed Ally Blake book from my backlist!

"MILLIONAIRE DAD'S SOS" 25% off!

I can't believe it's so close, it feels like I only sold this book last month, but it's true! MILLIONAIRE DAD'S SOS is out in the UK and North America this April, but you can pre-order now at the Book Depository and get 25% off! And, as always there, FREE DELIVERY WORLDWIDE!

As a little taster I'll give you a sneak peek at Meg Kelly, society princess, and Zach Jones, hotelier. Funny, even writing their names for the first time in months gives me a little thrill. They were great fun to meet and actually a bit heart-breaking to get to know. Hope you enjoy!

‘Now that I know everything there is to know about you are finally going to give in and stop stalking me?’

Zach's dark brows rose. His voice, on the other hand, deepened. ‘Is that what I’ve been doing?’

Meg said, ‘Either that or fifty acres really isn’t quite as much room as it sounds.’

From nowhere his head rocked back and he laughed. The sexy sound reverberated deep in her stomach leaving it feeling hollow. As it faded to a smile in his eyes, it left a new kind of warmth in its place she wasn’t sure what to do with.

‘I like you better this way,’ she admitted.

‘What way?’

‘Not bossing me around. You should try that more.’

He gave the blanket and hat a tug. She shuffled forward a step before letting go and he threw them lazily onto the Esky.

He looked back at her. The earlier glints in his dark eyes had been mere imitations of the glints glinting at her now. The kind of glints she now wished she’d not wished for. They were dazzling, they were blistering, they were completely incapacitating.

His voice rumbled, low and deep. ‘By that logic if I continue that way you’ll only like me more.’

‘You can’t argue with logic,’ she said, trying to sound pithy, instead she sounded like she was flirting. Which of course she was.

How could she not? He was glinting, and smiling, and somehow, whether by her brilliant psychological tactics or by his choice alone, she’d been allowed to see a little of the man behind the mask.

What she saw there she liked.

And by the look in his eyes what he saw in front of him right then he liked right on back.

"MILLIONAIRE DAD'S SOS"

Harlequin Romance

April 2010 UK & North America

order now @ The Book Depository for free postage worldwide!

summer fruits

We are so lucky to have bought a house with a number of fruit trees in the back yard. And all of them have been bountiful since my hubby cleverly cut them right back a few years ago.

We get plums at Christmas, lemons in summer, mandarins in winter.

And today? Peaches. Glorious warm fat juicy peaches. The best crop we'ver ever had. This is them. Isn't your mouth watering just lookin' at 'em? Mine is.

Off to pick fruit!

valentines day means...hot heroes!

In the lead up to Valentines Day the lovely Nicola Marsh is hosting a heap of your very favourite romance authors and letting them go nuts about their favourite hot heroes!

I've posted a few of mine here today just to give you the general idea ;). The charming Nathan Fillion form Billionaire on Her Doorstep. The luscious Raoul Bova from A Mother For His Daughter. The heavenly Christian Bale from Steamy Surrender. The glinting Jeremy Northam from Getting Down to Business. Kind aren't I?

Since fabulous Nic and I both write for Modern Heat and Harlequin Romance, and sold our first books within months of one another, and cause she offered ;, I've been lucky enough to have a platform to wax lyrical about one of my fave heroes that I've written.

With 20 books under my belt I wonder which I'll choose! To find out, don't forget to visit Nic's blog on the 9^th. I promise the picture is a goody, the hero scrummy, and the inspiration one of the most gorgeous guys on the planet. Mmmm... Any ideas???

Head over to Nic's blog each and every day between now and Valentines Day for lovely pics of handsome men and the chance to pick up some exciting giveaway books.

You might be lucky enough to discover an author you've never read before and find yourself a new favourite. Is there anything better???