RNA Anthology Blog

Anna Jacobs' terrific post is now up on the RNA anthology blog. Please stop by and have a look RNA Anthology Blog

My Trusty Office Companion by Kate Hardy

Lots of romantic novelists will admit to having an office companion – sometimes more than one. No, not the invisible person we talk to. (That’s usually the hero or the heroine.) This is the one who keeps us to a schedule and also keeps us in the real world: the one with four legs, fur and a tail.

This is Byron, my English Springer spaniel.

He reminds me when it’s time for lunch, or time for a break (aka walkies) because I’ve been sitting staring at the screen for too long. He also lets me know when there’s someone at the door because I’m deep in book world, have my hearing aid switched off and don’t realise that the doorbell’s just gone.

He’s very sweet-natured and kind – but he’s also a bit of a character, so he’s had a walk-on part in several of my books. Occasionally I turn him into a Labrador (as I did in my RNA Romance Prize shortlisted novel, Sold to the Highest Bidder – but the teddy-carrying habit is definitely his. Usually one he’s stolen from my daughter), but most of the time he’s just himself. In my current US release, Playboy Boss, Pregnancy of Passion, he’s one of the heroine’s family dogs – doing exactly what he does best. Stealing shoes. Only one from each pair, but there will be one from every person in the house piled up on his bed; and he doesn’t chew them, just cuddles them.

Nosey minds (well – mine, at least) would love to know: who’s your office companion?


Kate Hardy
http://www.katehardy.com/
http://katehardy.blogspot.com/

Here's a link to an great article from the Dumfries & Galloway Standard on Gillian Stewart (Gillian Villiers). You can read her post on why she writes here.

Why Do I Write by Gillian Stewart (Gillian Villiers)

Why do we write? Is it just to get published? If so, I should be very happy, as my first novella ‘Rachel’s Coming Home’ has just been published by People’s Friend Pocket Novels. And I have to admit it is exciting, seeing this piece of work actually in print. Holding it was thrilling! And telling friends and family was both exciting and embarrassing, as I’m not very good at self-publicising.

But to get back to my first question, why do we – or I – write? And I’ve come to the conclusion that wonderful as publication is it is not the reason I do it. I write because I love it and I can’t stop.

I write at a very messy desk in the corner of the sitting room in our farmhouse in southern Scotland. I used to share an office with my husband Dave until he evicted me for being too untidy. It seems piles of books and papers are more acceptable in the sitting room than in his (immaculate) office. And I love the sitting room because from here I have a view across farmland to the Forest of Ae. Even in today’s rain it’s beautiful. This may be one reason all my stories so far have been set in the Scottish countryside. I don’t think there is any better place to be and nor do my characters!

So sitting here, alternately admiring the view and losing myself in the lives of people who engross me every bit as much as my family, is something that I hope to do for years to come. Of course I wouldn’t say no to being snapped up by a major publisher, but the here and now is pretty good.

RNA Anthology - LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT

While the rest of us eagerly await the release of the RNA's anthology of short stories to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the RNA in 2010, LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT, several lucky authors received their contributor copies at the RNA Cambridge Chapter meeting this month.

LtoR Sue Moorcroft, Jan Jones and Louise Allen

Imogen Howson - A Holiday TBR Pile

I don’t normally have a TBR pile—everything lives on my Amazon wish list until I buy it, and then it doesn’t wait to be read long enough to live in a pile. But for once I really, genuinely do have one. We’re going away on holiday for a week in a few days, so when this order from Amazon came I put it aside to read only once we’re on holiday.

I have an eleven-year-old and a thirteen-year-old, so this pile is a mix of books for all of us. I love young adult books—and write them myself—so my thirteen-year-old and I do a lot of sharing. And, in her case, very useful beta-reading of my stuff!

Wings is a young adult fantasy, the debut release from Aprilynne Pike, about a girl who (I think) discovers she’s a fairy. The publisher had the good sense to put a whole lump of the book up to read online on their website. I read, I got hooked, I put the book straight on my wish list.

The Prophet from Ephesus is for my thirteen-year-old. She’s been reading this series, The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence, for several years now, and swears she’s learned more about Ancient Rome from them than she could ever learn from school.

The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman is also for her. It’s the fourth in his Victorian mystery books. I’ve read and enjoyed these as well.

The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder is for my younger daughter. I loved these books as a child, and enjoy reading them to her now. Like the Roman Mysteries, you learn an astonishing amount of history from them—in this case about Frontier America.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a young adult futuristic, set in a scary-sounding dystopia. I read a great review of this at http://dearauthor.com and have been waiting for it to come out in the UK so I could buy it. I’d have got it as an ebook (instant gratification!) but for some reason the publisher didn’t release it as one so I had to wait.

False Colors is a historical gay romance by Alex Beecroft. I read another book by her, Captain’s Surrender, and loved it. There’s a lot of m/m romance in the epublishing world in particular, but a lot of it is more erotic than I really like, whereas Alex Beecroft’s writing is much more about the emotions and developing relationship—and she only includes the sex scenes that, after lots of sexual tension, you really want to see!

Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr is another young adult fantasy, the third in a series that began with Wicked Lovely and continued with Ink Exchange (the titles are as beautiful as the covers!). These have dark, scary, sexy fairies, emotion deep enough to drown in, and stunningly beautiful writing.

I can’t wait to get on holiday and start reading. The only trouble will be which to choose first!

Imogen writes romantic fantasy and science fiction for young adults and adults. Her next book is Heart of the Volcano, releasing as an ebook on September 15^th from Samhain Publishing. To find out more about her work visit her website – www.imogenhowson.com.

An American View of the RNA Penrith Conference 09

At the Penrith conference this year the attendees were lucky enough to have the pleasure of US author Jodi Thomas in their midst. She presented two sessions which were brilliant and those lucky enough to be there will have taken away valuable tips from a pro. We asked her to share her experience of attending and RNA conference. Her thoughts follow:

Once in a while it’s good to step out of your comfort zone. I’ve been writing and selling since 1987. I’m in the RWA Hall of Fame (in twenty years there has only been twelve admitted). I’m the Writer-in-Residence at one of the biggest universities in Texas and I rarely walk into a group of writers where I’m not recognized. Two years ago, that happened in England . What fun! I felt like I was just beginning.

Then, this year something even better happened. I returned and was greeted like an old friend. Tom and I had been wandering around for almost a month and when I walked into RNA I felt like I was home. All of you do have an accent I have to listen closely to understand sometimes, but you are writers and that makes us sisters. I find the longer I write the harder it seems to be for me to talk to people who are not writers---and I’ve decided people who do not read are lower life forms entirely.

I wish I’d had time to visit longer with so many of you and if you ever want to come to Texas, we have a Writing Academy June 14-18, 2010, that will change your writing life. If you’re interested e-mail me at jthomas at mail dot wtamu dot edu.

Oh, I almost forgot, while I was on the way home my editor flew from New York to Washington DC and picked up National Readers Choice Awards on both my books last year. She said she thought I as the only writer, ever, to win in two categories. TWISTED CREEK won best Main Stream with romantic element and TALL, DARK AND TEXAN won best Historical Romance.

Happy Trails to you all and thanks for the wonderful welcome.

Jodi Thomas

Breaking News - Linda Gillard's Novel, STAR GAZING, has been Shortlisted for Inaugural Robin Jenkins Literary Award

Linda Gillard's novel STAR GAZING has been shortlisted for the inaugural Robin Jenkins Literary Award for new writing about the Scottish environment. See http://tinyurl.com/58gnth

The award is sponsored by the Forestry Commission Scotland. The winner will be announced at the Edinburgh Book Festival on 24th August at a ticketed event where the shortlisted books will be discussed.

Linda says... "It's long been an ambition of mine to be involved in an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival. I never expected my first appearance would be as a shortlisted author! I must say I'm very chuffed - and a little amused - that STAR GAZING has been shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year and a literary award for environmental writing. Not bad for a love story about a grumpy, middle-aged blind woman. "

August Releases

Amanda Grange - MR DARCY, VAMPYRE
Sourcebooks
11th August (US) 1st September (UK)
An immortal sequel to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

http://mrdarcyvampyre.blogspot.com/

Kate Hardy - PLAYBOY BOSS, PREGNANCY OF PASSION
Harlequin Presents
1st August $5.25
PA teaches workaholic to smell the roses
http://www.katehardy.com/
http://katehardy.blogspot.com/

Liz Fielding - SECRET BABY, SURPRISE PARENTS
Mills & Boon LP
Library Edition£13.50
Grace and Josh are worlds apart until they are brought together by a very special baby.
http://lizfielding.blogspot.com/

Mary Nichols - THE SUMMER HOUSE
Allison and Busby
August 24th, price £7.99
This is the story of a mother's love and a secret kept for twenty-two years, and two people caught up in the conflict of WWII with conflicts of their own to deal with.

http://www.marynichols.co.uk/

Gill Stewart writing as Gillian Villers - 'Rachel's Coming Home'
People's Friend Pocket Novel No. 633
13th August 2009
£1.75
Rachel returns home to help her parents run the family dog kennels, where brother Anthony is being less than helpful and tv celebrity neighbour Philip may or may not be the cause of their many problems.

Rosie Harris - THE QUALITY OF LOVE
Arrow Books
6th August 2009 £19.99
Would she always be unlucky in love?

Lynne Connolly - RED HEAT

Ellora's Cave
29th July Cost - $6.99 (electronic
Jillian thinks she's someone else - Chase has to use all his Sorcerer powers to seduce her and bring her back, or they're both dead.

Sarah Mallory -THE WICKED BARON
Harlequin Mills & Boon
7 August 2009 (Hardback)
Carlotta refuses to become the baron's next conquest - but what if he won't take no for an answer?

http://www.sarahmallory.com/

Portia Da Costa - KISS IT BETTER
Virgin Black Lace
4th August [USA] $12.95
Jay Bentley's fantasies are haunted by a beautiful woman he met briefly in his youth, while Sandy Jackson dreams of the handsome Prince Charming who once comforted her with a kiss. Will the magic still be there fifteen years later?
http://wendyportia.blogspot.com/

Kate Johnson w/a Cat Marsters - Empire: City of Lust
Changeling Press (ebook)
14th Aug $4.99 (approx £3)
In a harem in the steaming city of Carnalis, the Empress and the Revolutionary are about to turn the world upside down.
http://etaknosnhoj.blogspot.com/

On Monday the return of the Digital Debate - Thoughts on why it may be best to wait until Christmas to take the plunge into the world of e-readers if you haven't already.

The Digital Debate - Susan Rix Gives a Passionate Reader's View of the Sony E-Reader

Sony E-Reader For the Passionate Reader
by Susan Rix

For those of us passionate about reading, why a Sony E-Reader? That's a good question and one I've tried to answer time and again to my hubby and many of my friends who simply do not get it. First off, the benefits of using an E-reader in general.Storage - A Sony Reader is a fabulous storage solution, especially if you've downsized to a teeny tiny cottage like I have. Our spare bedroom is packed floor to ceiling with books of all kinds and space is a real issue, but not now I have my E-reader!Convenience - If, like me, you mostly read at bedtime (why is it the only place we get the peace we need sometimes?) you probably get earache from your partner wanting you to turn the pages quietly and/or turn the light out. Sound familiar? Trust me on this: my Sony Reader has helped to avert marital strife. I can now turn the pages of my book at the click of a button. There's another button that will also put a bookmark in, so there's no fumbling for these either when you're sleepy and wanting to put your book down. Yep, for me, it's another win-win situation.

Travel - The Reader is the perfect thing for avid book lovers when it's time to pack some reading material, whether it's for a vacation, long journey, or even an appointment waiting room. You can carry all your books in your handbag! This is great if you're never quite sure what mood you're going to be in as you literally have your own library with you at the touch of a button. Beats lugging around a suitcase full of books everywhere!

Variety - My reading taste's eclectic and changeable. Sometimes a romance might not give me what I'm looking for. Perhaps I need to read a thriller, historical or an autobiography/non fiction title, or a literary or classic book. With the Reader it's no problem. No more heavy sighing or cursing how I can't locate the book I want. And no, 'that' one won't do, it has to be the specific one!

Organisation - On my Reader, I can organise my books into collections. For my Harlequin Mills & Boons I have a separate 'shelf' for all the different series. At the click of a button I can choose a Modern, Romance, Medical, Historical, Spice, or wherever else my mood wants to takes me. Perfecto – and a lot easier than struggling to control or search through an overflowing bookcase...

A common criticism against E-books and readers goes like this: "But, I love 'real' books. The smell, the print, the whole turning the page thing." This may come as a surprise, but so do I! Okay, not strictly true because I have an aversion to mouldy, dirty books from second-hand bookshops (and occasionally library books). I mean, there are times when you wonder where some of these books have been, don't you think? For me, the beauty of my Sony Reader is that it's gorgeous to look at and touch. It's true that the smell isn't there but for what the Reader gives you that's a small price to pay, even if you do love the smell of print books, right?
Some might argue that E-Readers are not a replacement for print books. As far as I'm concerned, they don’t have to be. My e-books complement my print books. They do not diminish or replace them. One example is when I first started reading an e-book on my laptop. I was enjoying the story so much that I wanted to continue reading at bedtime. Have you ever tried reading from your laptop in bed? It isn't comfortable.

Why choose Sony over another brand? I've been waiting for this question! For starters, it looks absolutely wonderful, beautiful in fact, but that’s not the main reason. I'm sure I'm not the only person whose eyes get fatigued - especially after sitting at a computer all day. Well, the Reader has the fantastic ability to increase (or decrease) the size of the font on the page! I have to admit I was dubious about this in the beginning, but once again, it's so quick and easy to do and it doesn't detract from the story either. It feels the same as a print book, only better! Other Readers might well offer this option but Sony have it all mapped out to perfection.

Sue is a member of the RNA's New Writers Scheme and blogs regularly here.

The Digital Debate - Reading Ebooks on a PDA by Imogen Howson

I meet lots of people who say they wouldn’t buy ebooks because they “hate reading on the computer”. And I don’t blame them. I spend my working day looking at a computer screen, I don’t want to do more looking at a computer screen in my leisure time.

The first ebooks I bought, in 2006, when I was first researching epublishing, I read on my desktop computer. And honestly, if I’d had to carry on doing that, I would have bought very, very few others. A couple of short stories I actually printed out before reading, because what’s the point of a book you can’t take to bed with you? I couldn’t stretch to a specifically designed ereader, though, so I did a little research and ended up with this, the Jornada 545 (£35, secondhand from Ebay).


The Jornada 545 is actually meant to do a lot more than just read ebooks—it’s designed as a PDA—but even in 2006 it had been superseded by lots of sleeker, shinier, faster gadgets, so I’ve only ever used it for ebooks.

It came with Microsoft Reader pre-installed, which reads ebooks in the Microsoft Reader (.lit) format. I downloaded and installed Mobipocket, which is my preferred reading software.

Loading books onto the Jornada is easy. It synchs with the desktop computer via its recharging cradle, and sending a book across takes a few seconds. I’ve stored up to about twenty books on it before.

It fits very comfortably in one hand, and the pages can be turned either by touching the edges of the screen (with your finger or with the provided stylus) or by using the scroll wheel on the side. If I’m reading lying down, I find it much more comfortable than holding a paperback.

The screen is backlit—like standard computer screens—so I can’t read it in direct sunlight. It is, however, fantastic for reading in bed without disturbing my partner. I’ve often been halfway through a print book but gone and bought an ebook specially so I have something to read in bed without waking him up. Despite the screen being basically a small computer screen, I don’t find it tiring to read, maybe because it’s smaller so my eyes have to move less. The reading experience is very little different from reading a print book—of the various books I’ve read I actually can’t remember which I’ve read in print or electronic version.

The battery life is okay, although nowhere near the length of the specifically designed ereaders. I’ve read a full length novel on it before (reading most of the day) before it needed recharging. Recharging is easy—I just put it back in its cradle—and takes about an hour.

Since I bought the Jornada, my daughter has acquired an iPod Touch, which, like my partner’s iPhone, can function as an ereader. The display is crystal clear, and the pages 'slide' when you turn one, which takes a little getting used to even though it looks very pretty. It’s like a whole entertainment unit, with books, movies, music, TV shows, games, the internet… So it’s not necessarily what you want if all you want to do is read books, but as a lightweight, totally portable, all-the-entertainment-you-want device, it takes some beating!

When the Jornada eventually dies, I know I’ll be tempted by the Sony, the Lbook and the Cooler. But I’m not sure I’ll be willing to forego the ease of reading in bed without using a book light, so my next ereader could well turn out to be an iPod. Or, of course, another secondhand PDA.

Imogen is epublished by Drollerie Press and her next ebook release, Heart of the Volcano, is coming in September from Samhain Publishing.

www.imogenhowson.com

The Digital Debate - Kindle Me, Baby! by Donna Poff

Kindle Me, Baby!

by Donna Poff

For a PC support technician, I am remarkably slow to jump on electronic bandwagons. Digital cameras, IPods, DVD and Blu-Ray players, high-definition televisions, BlackBerries—you name it, and I was one of the last people I knew who got one.
Which poses a question. If I am so reluctant about electronic doo-dads, why was I one of the first owners of the new Kindle DX from Amazon.com?

Well, for one thing, the Kindle DX is just about the niftiest thing I have seen in a long time.
No, the Kindle DX does not receive email or keep your calendar for you. It does not play games. It cannot accept telephone calls or let you view the latest movies. Instead, the Kindle DX is dedicated to one thing and one thing only—e-books. It stores them and lets you read them.

E-books have been around for a while, of course, and e-book readers have been around just as long, so what makes the Kindle DX so great?

The Good Stuff
The Kindle DX is an excellent size. Measuring 10 x 7.2 x .38 inches and weighing only 18.9 ounces, it is not too big and not too small. It has a nice 9.7-inch viewing screen, which means you can read more than a paragraph or two on a single page.
With 3.3GB of storage space for content, the Kindle DX can hold as many as 3,500 e-books. That is a lot of reading, and with Amazon.com’s selection of over 300,000 e-books, magazines and newspapers to choose from, you won’t run out of reading material any time soon.
It is easy to buy e-books for the Kindle DX, too. You order the e-book from Amazon.com, and as long as you have the device’s wireless service turned on, you will have your book delivered right to the device within a minute or so. You can even browse for and purchase books right on the Kindle DX, which may or may not be good news for those of us with low levels of will power when it comes to buying books.
What is good news, if you are a book fiend like me, is the price. Most Kindle e-books sell for $3 to $5, which is not much less than a paperback. The deal gets better if you are looking at hardbacks. For example, Linda Howard’s Burn: A Novel, which came out in July 2009, lists at $26. Amazon.com has it available in hardback for $16.56, but the Kindle edition is only $9.95.
How easy is the Kindle DX to use, though? Well, the setup for it consists of turning it on. That is it.
Reading e-books on the Kindle DX is just about as easy. You flip the 5-way controller, which looks like a tiny joystick, until you select the e-book you want. Then you press the controller down. Presto! Your e-book loads!
Once loaded, you can change the text size and rotate the text on the screen, which is handy when you are looking at maps, charts and other illustrations. You can adjust the words per line to your reading preference. If you want to go to another e-book—and what reader worth their salt doesn’t have two or more books going at once—the Kindle DX will remember where you left off and take you back there when you return to the book.
The Kindle DX has features that let you take notes and mark passages in your books, as well as a decent search feature to find those notes and passages. It comes with the New Oxford American Dictionary pre-loaded, and if you highlight a word in an e-book, it will give you the definition automatically.
One thing I am always suspicious of when it comes to electronic devices is the battery life, and I must say the Kindle DX’s battery life is excellent. With wireless turned on, the device can go about four days without recharging. If you turn the wireless off, however, a full battery charge lasts almost two weeks.

The Weird Stuff
The Kindle DX includes three features Amazon.com calls experimental.
The text-to-speed feature lets the Kindle DX read the e-book to you. That sounds cool and all, but I didn’t care for it. You can change the text-to-speech between a male and female voice, as well as speed it up or slow it down. Both voices are pleasant to the ear, but both definitely sound mechanical, especially the female voice. Like most text-to-speech features, the voices occasionally run words together and don’t seem to recognize punctuation very well. The feature is an excellent idea for the visually disabled, though.
Using Amazon.com’s WhisperNet wireless service, which the Kindle DX connects to automatically, you can browse the Internet. Still, the browser is very basic and only in black and white.
The Kindle DX has the ability to store and play MP3 music and audio books from Audible.com. I have not tried that feature yet, but I can see how it could be very nifty. The catch is that MP3 files and audio books tend to take considerable storage space, and filling your Kindle DX with music instead of books seems to rather defeat the purpose.

The Bad Stuff
The Kindle DX is not all sunshine and roses.
The button placement is along the right side of the device, and I have occasionally pressed a button I didn’t want while reading.
My biggest peeve with the Kindle DX, however, isn’t really the device’s fault. Too many of the e-books I’ve read on it have typos. These are mostly misplaced punctuation and words. For example, in the e-book I am reading right now, at a scene break, the first letter of the first word is on a line by itself, followed by the rest of the paragraph on the next line. Irritating, no?
Another peeve is that you cannot organize your e-books on the Kindle DX. You can sort your e-books by title or author name. That is it. It would be nice to sort them by genre. I would also like to organize them into folders so I don’t end up with a list a mile long to go through. Yes, I know I can search on a title or author name, but being able to create folders would be ever so nice.
One issue that some people might have is that the Kindle DX is electronic, so getting it wet is not a good idea. That means taking it to the pool or beach could be problematic.

Wrap it Up … To Go
Even with the peeves I have about it, the Kindle DX is a nifty device. I love mine and take it with me almost everywhere I go.
At $489, it is a bit pricey, but if you love books, a Kindle DX makes an excellent investment.

Donna Poff

The Digital Debate - Ben Johncock's Thoughts

This morning, faced with kicking off the discussion of e-readers and digital books, I took the coward's option and decided not to weigh in with my views first (this will give me more time to poll the local population - here read trips to the pub). So, scanning the tweets of the morning, I stumbled across the wonderful Ben Johncock who describes himself as an unpublished author, freelance writer who blogs for The Bookseller. I think Ben's website does a far better job though. He made the mistake of tweeting a link about Apple's new tablet pc here. I shamelessly asked if he would share his thoughts which he did via tweets.... (I have edited out the @lizfenwick except at the start!)

@lizfenwick Hi Liz, glad to be of help! It's an interesting question you ask, as I'm both a book lover and Apple nut.

I think it's important to remember that digital is all about convenience and quality (more and better). Books are consumed in a totally different way to music. A novel you consume slowly over time, whereas a song is only a few mins.
Walkmans sucked because you could only carry 20 songs, tops, with you at any one time. Quality was an issue too, and access.
With music, you dip in and out, listen to many different songs (products) in a short space of time. No so with books.
Digital Books are trying to solve a problem that no one has.
I remember @ meandmybigmouth saying something like, you don't start your morning with a bit of Amis, then skip to McEwan, then onto Rushdie.
Watching the book trade trying to keep up with the digital age is like watching your dad dance at a wedding...they're having a go, but it's a bit embarrassing at times.
The success of the iPod was down to the software anyway, and no one I've seen re eBooks has even remotely addressed this.
And who can then? What electronics company does good software? I can only think of one.
Hardware, ok, even if it does look like the hideously deformed bastard child of a Spectrum & a microwave (Kindle), not software.
So that's what I think, at least for novels. Scott Pack has some interesting ideas re cook books, travel etc.

What are your thoughts? Thus far only 20 of you have voted in our poll. Come on and join the debate...

Anna Jacobs - TBR Pile Confession

Anna Jacobs, who these days divides her time between Australia and England, has always loved history - not the political stuff that she had to study at school and university, but social and economic history - how people lived, played, earned their daily bread. In Australia she has a wall of research books aimed at understanding the people of the past. She says "Otherwise, how could I write about them?" She writes historical romances, historical sagas and modern family relationships novels. Anna's 46th novel, a historical saga, FREEDOM'S LAND, was published at the beginning of this month. Below Anna gives us a glimpse into her TBR in England.

Other people buy jewellery or antiques, or go for lavish holidays – I spend my money on books. I have fancy glass-fronted bookcases in Australia for books I’ve written, and two bookcases full of TBRs, plus about 9 bookcases worth of shelving for ‘keepers’. But here in the UK, in our smaller holiday home, my own books have to fight for space in my one and only bookcase. In the photo, the top shelf contains some of the books I’ve written, the other two shelves are full of TBRs. There are three more shelves above them with similar contents – and I’ve got my eye on the space on top of the bookcase for later.

Heaven forbid that I should run out of reading material because I even read while I watch TV. I get through three books a week, so I have to keep topping up my supplies. (Thank goodness for on-line bookshops!) Yes, I confess, I’m totally addicted to reading. Fortunately for me, my husband is also a reader, though he only gets through about two books a week. I let him share some of mine, but our tastes don’t totally coincide so he too has a TBR shelf.

Anna will be speaking at the Honiton Library on the 29th of July at 7pm.

For more information about Anna and her books visit her website .

Phillipa Ashley's Decent Exposure, winner of the 2007 Joan Hessayon Award, becomes film

RNA member, Phillipa Ashley, has just returned from the Canadian Rockies where she was watching her debut novel, DECENT EXPOSURE, being filmed as the 12 Men of Christmas for FOX. For full details see Phillipa's Blog.