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A Mistake, A Prince and A Pregnancy…and cover copy!

I was thrilled when I got to see the cover blurb for A Mistake, A Prince and A Pregnancy at RWA…not so thrilled I didn’t write it down! But, I found it…online…and now I get to share it with you!

Mistake will be available www.millsandboon.co.uk on September first, and available in shops in the UK and from Amazon UK and Book Depository (free shipping worldwide) October 6th!

She’s given him a baby….

An IVF clinic mix-up means eternally single Alison Whitman is now carrying the child – no, the royal heir – of Maximo Rossi, Prince of Turan!

Now he’ll take her for his wife!

Maximo gave up on the hope of fatherhood a long time ago, but now the ruthless ruler will seize this surprise second chance.  However, tradition is high on the Prince’s agenda, and he’ll never stand for an illegitimate heir…

Alison is about to find out that royal marriage is a command, not a choice!

A MISTAKE, A PRINCE AND A PREGNANCY will be released in the UK in October 2010 (Harlequin Presents/Modern)

Skipping Starbucks and Changing Lives

No, this isn’t a joke. You just heard me advocate a day without Starbucks. And you know I wouldn’t skip my Starbucks without a very good reason.

Twitter friend and fellow writer C.J Redwine and her husband have been pursuing adoption a little girl from China for five years now. There have been a lot of hurdles to jump, times when the Chinese government has halted adoptions, followed by raising adoption costs etc.

But they’re in the homestretch now and getting very close to the moment when they will finally be united with their daughter, Johanna Faith.

They have funds saved for the adoption, but due to recent increases in fees they need a little boost. That’s why today, I will be skipping Starbucks, and donating to C.J’s paypal on her website to help bring her little girl home!

I love coffee, but this is bigger than that. Adoption is an issue that touches my heart, and I truly believe every child should have a family, and that’s why I’m blogging, and giving, today. If you feel led to skip your Starbucks today and put some cash toward giving a child a family!

There is a badge for your blog so you can let the world know you skipped Starbucks. (or don’t skip your Starbucks and donate anyway…I won’t tell.) You can read more of C.J’s story at her blog, donate, and get entered to win some REALLY COOL prizes!

Confidence….!

Elusive thing confidence. Oh, I have it sometimes when I get positive feedback, when I sell a book…but then…a not so good revision letter…a long time between good feedback…and I lose it.

And then it’s easy to sit there and question every word you write. Every. Word. And that makes things slow and heck-a painful when you’re trying to write.

That’s where I’m at now. Waiting about two weeks to hear back on a partial that was not well received way back before conference (conference sort of threw a wrench in the time frame of this book and it is now The Book That Never Ends).

I’ve been working on two proposals while I wait (You remember, the sekrit ones) and it’s been very hard to write them when I’m suffering (whimper) from a complete lack of…well, that confidence stuff!

(and do you hear me whining about waiting TWO WEEKS? Being published makes you a wuss.)

So what do we do when this happens, huh? Because it happens to all of us, I think, over big things, like rejections and major revisions, and over little things, like a snippy comment from a relative.

I’ve been thinking…and I’m hoping I’m right…that maybe it’s more about having some faith in ourselves and trusting our instincts, instead of feeling confident.

Today, when I sit down and write, I’m just going to do it. And I’m not going to question EVERY word. I’m just not. I’ll fix it later if I have to, but in my current frame of mind nothing is good enough with means I’m getting nothing done!

Sometimes we have to throw a little caution to the wind and throw the words on the paper. And maybe it will be crap. But maybe it wil be great, or maybe it will be crap that can be made great. Either way, it has to get done.

What do you do when your confidence goes AWOL?

The Land Stud

‘Memba him? Well, I got the title and release date for him today! Book #4…AKA The Land Stud will be released in April of 2011 in the UK with the title MARRIAGE MADE ON PAPER. Yay! *streamers*

And talking of release dates and titles…The Sheikh was titled forever ago, but I’m not sure I announced it! Bk #3 (yeah, I’m doing it backward. nyah) will be released in February of 2011 and it’s called THE INHERITED BRIDE.

So that’s my little bit of news…and…I wanted to share a couple of pics I stole..*ahem* that were **given** to me by Lynn Raye Harris.

There’s Susan Stephens, me, and Sandra Marton waiting to get into the RITAs ceremony.

And afterward at the Blue Zoo lounge…complete with our waitress’s thumb. Can’t be too hard on her though, she looked like she *really* needed a hamburger. *g*

Got any good news to share?

I have some more! Victoria Dahl is on the Sisters’ Blog today! Come get A Little Bit Wild! 🙂

Planes, Trains and Cluttering Up My Manuscript

I’ve done it again. And I don’t mean that in a triumphant sort of way. I mentioned that I was working on revisions for book five (of which the partial is now with my editor…hopefully fixed.) and now I would like to talk you through the mistakes I made, that you, dear readers, will not do the same. 🙂

First mistake? My setting became the star. I had this idea, you see. A private train car. *squee* So glamorous! And they were going to ride it through Switzerland and there would be diamonds!! *pants*

And what ended up happening? Well…my pacing was all kinds of off because I wanted them to get in that train and travel, baby!! Because the train was so important!!

(what would Freud say about a train starring in my manuscript? Just wondering…)

:-/

What don’t I have in this new draft that’s sitting on my editor’s desk?

*cries*

The train.

Turns out I didn’t need it. It was a gimmick. And I was relying on it to bring sparkle to my story. What I needed was for my characters to sparkle and…meh…they didn’t either.

Which brings us to my next mistake: The heroine.

Poor girl. Her brother had shipped her off to Switzerland until a sex scandal with her name attached was forgotten about by the press and public. But while she’s there…the hero finds her…and voila! We have a woman at the mercy of all the powerful men in her life.

*headdesk*

Of course, I didn’t see it that way. Nope. But that doesn’t change the fact that that’s what I had.

And then of course…I had also take my handy-dandy manuscript bedazzler to the poor thing.

Private train? Check. Jewels? Heckyeah! The heroine modeling for the jewels?? Bring it, baby!!

*pick* *pick* *pick*

I had to say bye to my bedazzlement.

I believe it was Coco Chanel who said you should look in the mirror before you leave the house and take off one accessory. And I believe it’s Maisey Yates who should look at her manuscripts before she sends them off to her editor and remove a ‘thing’.

Because when the things are gone…you have characters. A man and a woman. The train wasn’t their conflict. Her being a model wasn’t the conflict. Her being involved in a scandal wasn’t even the conflict.

So where was the conflict?

Buried.

But without all the stuff…that’s when you start seeing what you really have to work with. And then, a little sparkle is okay.

But don’t forget what the story is really about.

*hint* It’s NOT the train.

A Book Release, New Ideas, and A Stubborn Heroine

Yes, yes, it is true, His Virgin Acquisition is officially, officially released in the UK and India! Then in September it will be out in Australia and NZ, followed by the North American release in October! (and then we’ll have the UK release of A Mistake, A Prince, and A Pregnancy in the UK in October…yikes!)

Thanks to everyone who’s bought to book, or is thinking about buying the book, for giving a newbie a chance. 🙂 I appreciate it so very much!

And before this starts sounding like an Oscar’s speech again, onto the new ideas.

I have two of them. One of which appeared to me, fully formed, as I was bringing groceries in from the car. The other idea isn’ a fully formed book…it’s just a hero. But an unbearable suave and sexy hero that I can’t *wait* to start torturing. I mean…writing about. Not torturing. I don’t do that. That would be mean. *ahem*

Sadly, I can’t get to those ideas just yet, which brings me to, A Stubborn Heroine. The heroine in my current WIP is a tough nut to crack. She has secrets and she doesn’t want the hero to know them, but even more, she doesn’t seem to want ME to know them!

This has required me to take drastic action. Knowing vaguely who she was in the past simply isn’t enough, not for this heroine. I’ve really had to go back to her past and sort of write what happened to her then, in an attempt to understand her better now. This isn’t something I’ve done before, and since her past is a little bit tragic, it’s a very sad place to have to go with her! But I’m going. And I think I understand her better, and, more importantly, I understand what happened. More or less. She’s still being cagey about a few details. (Who says writers are crazy? We’re totally normal!)

Ultimately though, I’m going to go with the thing that will provide me with more conflict. Because we loves conflict. We loves it, preciousss. (so not crazy. nope)

Figuring out what’s going to give me more conflict, however, is requiring an exploration of my heroine’s past, present and future. And is forcing me to go about approaching this MS in a different way than I normally do.

So what about you guys? Got any prickly characters who like their secrets? And do you find one method fits all when it comes to MSs, or does your approach change?

Party Time!

Tomorrow is the *official* release date of His Virgin Acquisition…although…it’s been available on the shelves for a while, and on Amazon for two weeks….but still! *dancing*

And speaking of dancing…

I had the great and glorious honor of attending the Harlequin party at RWA this year! It was fabulous!

First of all, the company was fantastic. There were the amazong Presents authors: Sandra Marton, Susan Stephens, Carol Mortimer, Janette Kenny, Jennie Lucas, Lynn Raye Harris, Kate Hewitt, Jane Porter and Caitline Crews. Mod Heat author Kimberly Lang (who has the most fantastic accent, ya’ll, and also won Reader’s Choice for Best First Book!) Then the fab Historical authors Michelles Willingham and Styles, Elizabeth Rolls, Amanda McCabe and more. The UK editors, of course, who looked amazing as always. And, of course (haha…) Nora Roberts was in attendence. Can’t tell you how strange it was to be in a room with these people! And to be invited to be in the room with these people!

There were lists at the front and people checking them, making sure we didn’t have party crashers. (pseudonyms made this tricky…although, I don’t have one so that was one less step for me!)

And then we got to stand to the side and have our photos taken…photos which were then displayed on the massive screens in the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria. I had mixed feelings about that. It was great when it was other people…not great when it was me.

And I have to mention…there was an open bar. I’m not an alcohol girl, so I was left out of the signature drink, which was bright pink with Hybiscus syrup and a flower floating on top…but….I have NEVER *ever* seen a coffee bar to beat the one at that party. And, those of you who know me know that coffee is the way to my heart.

Turbinado sugar lumps, white sugar lumps, rock candy to stir into the hot coffee, white chocolate shavings, dark chocolate shavings and a big bowl of whipped cream. 🙂 Happy Maisey. And this was all by the massive chocolate log that…indeed looked like a log and had candy butterflies on it that were both lovely and tasty. That was what I had for dinner that night…chocolate log and coffee. Don’t judge me.

We all danced…a lot…and eventually all fabulous shoes were kicked off and tossed under tables. And of course, they played It’s Raining Men. And now the song is still stuck in my head. 🙂

I didn’t get back to the hotel room until about one am, and it was more than worth it!

It can’t all be about workshops…. 🙂

I also want to offer up a very humble thanks to all those who have reviewed His Virgin Acquisition. Thank you for taking the time to do that! Means a lot to an unknown author from a tiny town in Oregon.

And finally…I’ve gone Minxy for the day! Come visit me!

Bad Blogger!

Bad blogger! Bad!

Seriously though, this is the very first moment since my plane touched down in Orlando that I’ve had some time to sit…well, sit without yakking. Because there has been a lot of yakking!

I arrived on Tuesday and immediately went to The Dinner, where I got to meet some of the most lovely women I have ever met! All of the Harlequin ladies, and everyone else for that matter, is so lovely!

I spent Wednesday at Disney with lots of lovely writers and some of the M&B editors. We had a blast, we got soaked on Splash Mountain, and I can’t imagine that anyone has more cooler editors than we do. 🙂

Thursday I had lunch with my editor, Jenny Hutton, who is as lovely in person as she is online or over the phone. It’s so valuable to get that face to face conversation time. l learned more in five days than I have in seven months.

I think I tend to look on The Publishing Business as being mysterious and unknown. It was nice to hear that there are no secrets, we just need to ask questions. So that’s my early New Year’s Resolution.

One thing I so love and appreciate about Harlequin is the feeling of family. Everyone was so welcoming and sweet to me. Above and beyond what I had expected.

Oh, and the Harlequin Party was amazing!

In closing, I spent a while last night talking to the wonderful Sandra Marton. To hear her speak of writing now after she’s completed eighty books, with as much enthusiasm as I have after four, is an amazing thing. I hope to always love it so much.

Stay tuned for a more detailed break down of the conference…now, I have to get ready to catch my plane!

Countdown!

And no, this countdown isn’t even for His Virgin Acquisition, which is available in shops in the UK, on Amazon UK and on Amazon.com in Kindle form (but only for those who live in the UK!).

And, I have to mention again, the book has gotten mad awesome reviews on M&B UK. I’m so thrilled that so many readers have connected with Marco and Elaine as I have!

Now I need to make sure I’m finding a good connection with Madeline and Aleksei…prickly beasts, both of them…but, they’ll have to sit around and stew until after…

RWA NATIONALS 2010!! *dances*

That’s the countdown I was talking about! I will be leavig *very* early Tuesday morning and arriving in the afternoon. Soon after my arrival I will be meeting some VERY incredible people for dinner…including (and don’t hate me if I forget you…just smack me when you see me!) Michelle Willingham, Susan Stephens, Sandra Marton, Lynn Raye Harris, Jane Porter, Caitlin Cruise, Kate Hewitt, Janette Kenny, Carole Mortimer and Jennie Lucas! (Will let you know if I go absolutely fangirl all over anyone…the odds are high)

Next day is Disneryworld with a list of people just as prestigious. (I’m concerned about the Enlish girls melting…)

But this is all before conference even starts!

Of course, before all of this can happen I have to get on the plane. I will get on the plane. I will. I promise. I will be clutching my box of Starbucks Via for comfort, but I will be there. It’s times like this I wish a drank a little bit. 😉 Not a fan of the flying, my friends, not a fan. At least, I think I’m not.

Anyway, watch this space, and the Seven Sassy Sisters for conference updates, writing tips, and insider info. 🙂 Dearest Abbi and I will both be there (and meeting in person for the first time!) and we will both be blogging about our experiences.

And…I think this post had a point…Oh yes, pray for me as I get on the plane. And maybe send me a bottle of something strong. O_O

Prayers Please

One of my dear Sassy Sisters is going through a hard time. Her son is having some health problems at the moment, which are made worse by a chronic, genetic disease.

So, I, and she, and we, would so much appreciate your prayers and good wishes that Ben is well soon.

Thanks so much,

Maisey