Off off and away!

I just hit send and pushed my revisions for Addicted to Love off to my editor!

It's always such a wonderful free feeling...for about fifteen minutes before panic sets in and I start wondering what I missed, if my editor got the email, if I did enough to ramp up tension, heat up the romance, make sure the reader finds the characters as lovable as I do.

Will miss them both terribly.  Caitlyn was the most fun heroine to write.  While Dax...Dax was  smooth, and dry, and rich, and delectable and...  Okay, now I'm just getting the worst craving for dark chocolate ;).


No which of the stories I've been dabbling with to write next?  The one about the wedding dress? Or the one about the dancing?  What the heck, they can wait til tomorrow!

revisions = bliss!

I'm one of those strange writers who stalk my inbox in the hopes of getting revisions.  I just love 'em.  I'm nearly done with the revisions on my latest RIVA/Harlequin Presents and I've been having a ball. (Helps that I get to revisit this guy a plenty :))

I love the second opinion.  (I know I can't see the forest for the trees.)  I love when themes and through lines I hadn't even noticed I'd put in a book are pointed out to me.  (I'm just that clever, only I don't realise it.)  I always write long and I relish the chance to tighten the book with the good riddance to even the smallest extraneous words.  And I love that final chance to have at the story with a red pen, sweeping away repetition, and great swathes of prose I slaved over cause in the end it just ain't necessary.

One thing I do struggle with wiping away are the flirty bits that are flirty just for the fun of being flirty.  Those bits when the hero and heroine spark like crazy, but don't really talk about anything of much importance.  Between you and me, if I can get my word count back down to a sensible level, I might even keep one or two of them.  Maybe the bit about the Volvo.  Or the joke about the Prime Minister.  Or maybe...

Okay, so I have to cut 5000 words this week.  Then we'll see ;).

Ten years ago today...

...I was washing my hair, getting ready to head to bed as I had an early work thing on in the city the next day.

My hubby came in and told me I had to come check out the TV.  A plane had apparently flown into the World Trade Center.  I huffed and puffed and whinged that I wanted to get to bed.  Then stomped out to the lounge, figuring it was all a hoax and I'd give the news five minutes to tell me otherwise.

Several hours later I was still sitting there, perched on the edge of the chair, hair wet in its towel turban, eyes gritty from having no more tears left to cry.


I love New York city like it's a second home.  I'd been there exactly a year before 9/11 on my honeymoon.  My husband and I went back three years after and the difference was keenly felt.   My Mum, the fab woman, ran the New York Marathon a month after 9/11, for her first and only time, at the age of 53.


My heart goes out to all for whom it feels like it happened yesterday.


xXx

Out now in Australia & New Zealand...

"HEART OF THE OUTBACK"

Collection featuring WANTED: OUTBACK WIFE

"Fresh, vibrant and written with plenty of sassiness and style, Ally Blake’s feel good romances are among the best in the business." ...CataRomance

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