Jane Porter's Blog, page 32

Tuscany!!

By the time you read this, I will be in Tuscany!

I left Seattle on Thursday and flew into Pisa by way of Paris and am now settling in at The Watermill where I’ll be writing for the next week.   While I work during the day, Ty Gurney is going to be off riding his rented Triumph Bonneville motorcycle around the countryside, and then returning to join us for dinner at night.

It’s a trip but not a holiday as I must get some serious writing done.  I’ve got just a little over a week to  finish my book and there is still chapters and chapters to go!   However, if I have to be putting in long hours, why not do it somewhere gorgeous?   I haven’t been to Tuscany since I was thirteen and lived in Europe with my family, and while I don’t remember Tuscany per se, I do remember Siena and Pisa so this will be a great refresher trip since I adore all things Italian.

But why specifically Tuscany, and why now?  Because I got it into my brain last February that I needed to improve my craft!  And so here I am, taking the Creative Writing Course at The Watermill led by the wonderful, absolutely delightful Sharon Kendrick. Sharon is a bestselling Harlequin Presents author from the UK and I find her zest and energy so inspiring and I can’t wait to see what Sharon has to share with us!

At the last minute my pal Megan Crane /Caitlin Crews was able to sign up for the course and so she’s also here, having flown in from Los Angeles, and then she’ll head over to London for a few days after to see friends and meet up with her Harlequin Mills & Boon editor.   And as happy as I am to see Megan, I don’t think there will be much lolly-gagging around as Megan and I both have that same May 15th deadline.

To celebrate my trip to Tuscany and my talented author friends Caitlin and Sharon that also write for Harlequin Presents, I’m giving away two prizes consisting of the not yet released UK anthology, Infamous, featuring my book Hollywood Husband, Contract Wife and Caitlin Crews’ Pure Princess, Bartered Bride, and a copy of Sharon Kendrick’s Monarch of the Sands, along with lots more fun goodies.   For a chance to win, tell me about your Mother’s Day plans, or how things are going in general.  I love hearing from you even when I’m far away, so bring me up to speed and you’ll have a chance to win! This Infamous contest ends Friday night and I’ll announce the two winners names sometime on Saturday.  Ciao!

 

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Many Many Stories Later

Still recovering from Mac’s fun party while writing fast and furious on Dragon’s Bride, my latest Harlequin Presents, that is due May 15th, and while packing for Tuscany (yes, I leave Thursday for Sharon Kendrick’s course at The Watermill!) and organizing the packing of Bellevue house and the move into the hotel on the 20th….yes.  Am feeling a little frantic.  Okay, more than a little frantic, but hey, that seems to be the Jane Porter way.

But in celebration of Sharon Kendrick’s fantastic looking course and my current Harlequin manuscript which I am loving writing, I wanted to do a special contest where I’m giving away the 1st Harlequin Presents I ever wrote, The Italian Groom, and the very last one I wrote, the 2nd book in my royalty duo, His Majesty’s Mistake, and you’ll have a chance to see how I’ve grown or changed as a storyteller over the years.  There will be 10 winners and along with the books you’ll get fun gift cards and pens and notepads and nail files and other JP reader goodies.

Want a chance to win?  Tell me 5 things that bring you happiness–and it can’t be people this time!  If you mention a person or family member you will be disqualified!    I want to know what you do when you need a pick me up, or what makes you smile, or what you cherish…

I’ll share my 5 happy things now:

1)  fresh flowers

2)  dancing like a mad woman to Adele’s Rolling In The Deep (playing it very loud)

3)  that first cup of coffee every morning

4)  remembering my travels and trips over the years

5)  the joy I find in books….particularly my beloved Georgette Heyer!

Your turn, now!  Contest runs through Thursday night, and the 10 winners will be announced Friday morning!  Good luck and have a wonderful week!

xoxox

Jane

 

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Happy 3rd Birthday, Mac!

It was my littlest guy’s 3rd birthday yesterday…can you believe it?  So many of you have been reading my blog and chatting with me since before I was even pregnant with him and now he’s a boy…playing Viking and knights and pirates.  He loves to dress up and wield a sword…and has quite an impressive sword collection at this point.  I’d be worried if I hadn’t had two other boys before him and realize this is just a boy loving being a boy!

For his pirate party we invited his preschool class and his friends from soccer and five were able to come.  Every time a little boy or girl arrived he’d beam and say, “I have a friend here!”  We had a bounce house in the back yard and a pirate theme table with pirate loot….hats and swords and boxes of treasure, plus a treasure chest pinata.

My sister, Kathy, sent balloons since she couldn’t join us and Mac loved them!  They were huge and colorful and he thought they needed some sword fighting.  I convinced him they were better off without swords and daggers but maybe he could gently punch them…

And then at 6 pm when Mac’s preschool friends left, I had a few close family friends come over and have an adult dinner.  He was in the middle of jumping in the bounce house with Jamette and my big boys when the pirates arrived looking for their lost treasure.

Armed with a map, the pirates had Mac help them “hunt” for their treasure hidden in our yard, collecting gold coins along the way.  Mac loved his pirate friends and I love Austin Hambling and his friends for making a three year old’s birthday dreams come true!

Thanks pirates, thank you friends and family, and thank you sweet fierce Mac for being such a fun little boy.  I love being your mommy!

PS  I’m giving away 3 prizes in honor of Mac’s 3rd birthday…bring me up to speed, what are you doing, what are you reading, how are things?  Three winners will be drawn from the comments below on Monday morning so you have all weekend to post.  Good luck and have a terrific weekend!

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Love my Harlequins!

I have officially started writing my new Harlequin Presents as I anticipate the late May 22nd release of my next Harlequin Presents, Not Fit for a King?, which has gotten a stellar 4 1/2 star Top Pick review from RT.  I try so hard not to get attached to reviews, good or bad, because I give each book my all, and pour my heart and soul into every manuscript, but it does feel good to know this one resonated with the reviewer.

I do hope you’ll love Not Fit for a King?, too.  It’s the first book of my royalty duo, (twin princesses separated at birth!) with the second one, Emmeline’s story, out in late June.  So even if you don’t ordinarily read Harlequins and prefer my women’s fiction, I think a lot of you would like this one.  The heroine, Hannah, is American…Texan…and the hero is a gorgeous king (former professional soccer player from a ‘kingdom’ on the Adriatic Sea) and Hannah is having to impersonate an European princess and she’s completely out of her element.  It’s a fun, romantic twist on The Parent Trap!

While readers wait for Not Fit For A King? to hit store shelves, I’m happily writing a new Harlequin, due May 15th, and this new story is set on the glorious Amalfi Coast with wonderful Positano and Sorrento and Pompeii all making appearances.  A year ago Ty Gurney, my sister Kathy Porter, and my older sons spent a week in Sicily and another week on the Amalfi Coast in an unforgettable vacation that is fueling this book and taking all the photos and pictures and memories in my head and turning them into something beautiful and passionate, something I am hoping my readers will love.

Must go to bed now as I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and get to writing.  I love my hero in this new story, Drakon (or Dragon in Greek).  Perhaps later in the week I can share some of the ‘pictures’ I’m using to inspire this story.  If Pinterest can throw up pics everywhere, why can’t I?

PS  Are you on Pinterest?  Should I be???  Fill me in and you could win one of 3 mystery prizes that feature cool Starbuck drink cards, hot, sexy heroes and glamorous international destinations…!  Contest runs through Saturday night and I’ll announce the winners Sunday morning.

 

 

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Easter Parade

This will be a very short post as I'm on a plane right now heading to Hawaii with Ty and Mac and we're going to lose our internet connection any moment.  I am so happy to be getting to Hawaii for Easter…but sorry I didn't get my book in before I left, so Hawaii is going to be all about writing for the first four or five days, and then hopefully I'll get it in mid week and have a few days to play with Mac on the beach

Sending you all love and wishes for a wonderful Easter and beautiful Spring.  I've been writing a lot and its been an intense book…I'll feel so much better when I hit the end and know if I've pulled this story off.

Much love and chat with me if you have a moment, fill me in on your plans.  I'll have a wonderful Hawaii prize for one of you.  Contest runs through next Thursday and I'll announce the winner Friday morning.  Aloha!

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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I Heart Elizabeth Boyle

Another love blog!

Hopefully you know me now, and hopefully you know that I really really love my family and friends and readers.  When I'm writing a lot, or feeling stressed from a deadline, I like to focus on the things that make me happy, like friends and family and books and travel, and so here's a new blog and this time, I heart the fabulous fun New York Times & USA Today bestselling author, Elizabeth Boyle.

Elizabeth and I go back a long, long way…to my first summer in Seattle in the summer of 1996!

I met Elizabeth at the RWA Conference in Dallas July 1996.  I remember the date exactly because it was my oldest son Jake's 1st birthday and I'd gone to the conference on the spur of the moment with hopes of learning how to get published.   At the conference I had the good fortune to meet Elizabeth who had just won the Dell Diamond Debut Award.  I was in awe of Elizabeth's win.  I'd never met published authors before, and suddenly I was at an RWA conference with all these authors, and sitting in a cocktail lounge lifting a glass of champagne to toast Elizabeth.

Two years later we roomed together at the RWA Conference in Anaheim and Elizabeth won the Rita for Best First Book (for Brazen Angel...see below) and I had just won the Golden Heart for best unpublished long contemp series manuscript.  I was in awe of her again and as happy as I was to have won the GH in my category, I wanted to be published, too!

Happily, I got my first sale in January 2000 and Elizabeth was one of the first to congratulate me on my sale to Harlequin Presents.  Over the years as I juggled writing and motherhood she always lended an ear, offered moral support, shared in a laugh.  Elizabeth is pure joy….loving, fun, loyal, smart, and one of the best plotters I have ever met.  When I'm writing a book and have a plot crisis I turn to Elizabeth and she has saved more than one story.

Elizabeth & Jane at Emerald City Conference Literacy Signing

Elizabeth writes smart, fun, sexy, witty historicals.  I am crazy about her, and her books, and so excited that her first three books–including Brazen Angel, that stunning Dell Diamond Debut Award winner–are finally available in ebook format.  You can find the Brazen Trilogy at Amazon and Barnes and Noble).  And I love the new covers…they're simply gorgeous:  Brazen Angel, Brazen Heiress, Brazen Temptress.  Do you have a favorite?

To celebrate my wonderful friend, I'm giving away 3 prizes and yes, they are a surprise, and yes, you will be happy you won.  :)  How do you enter?  Just talk to me!  It's that simple.  And if you have a chance to read one of Elizabeth's books let me know.  Or if you're already an Eliabeth Boyle fan, tell me which of her books have been your favorites.  Blog contest ends Wednesday night and I'll announce the 3 winners Thursday morning. Good luck!

 

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Almost Three

Mac is so much fun right now, and just a month shy of turning three.  He's full of stories, talks nonstop, and loves making us laugh. Mac's favorite words are (and in no particular order):  skeletons, zombies, pirates, cats, chocolate, adventure, ghosts, fighting, swords, brothers, gross, disgusting, and weird.

And with those as your vocabulary, you can imagine all the stories he tells.

I'm working hard on stories of my own, with Kit'd book due in less than two weeks.  It's an intriguing book and I lay awake at night thinking about Kit and the complexities of her world.  On the surface she's a simple woman–an English teacher at a Catholic high school in Oakland, California–but there are layers to her and strengths and secrets, fears and dreams and I really want her to have all the good things she deserves.

I've just finished reading A Discovery of Witches, which was really fresh and fantastic, and last night I read a bunch of chapters in Fifty Shades of Grey a big ebook out right now that's generating lots of press and sales as erotica or "mommy porn", but the book was making me sad (erotica should not make one said, right?) so I've put that aside and I'm not going to read much of anything now until Kit's book is finished.

But life is good.  Boys are good.  My gorgeous guy, Ty Gurney, is in Hawaii teaching surfing since its Spring Break.  Accupuncture helped my migraines, we're still showing our lovely house in Bellevue and hoping the right family will fall in love with it.  How are you?  Tell me about your life right now.  I've got a special prize for two of you!   (And yes, it's a surprise prize…the very best kind!)  Ths blog contest runs through Thursday, with the winner announced on Friday.  Now have a great week and bring me up to speed!

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Must Share Great Book!

My deadline is beginning to make me sweat a little so I'm starting to unplug and retreat from the world, but before I do, I had to share a new book out that is getting rave reviews and terrific press.  Let me also preface the introduction of this book by saying, yes, I know this author and adore her.  She's beautiful, smart, warm, fun, witty and everything wonderful.  If I could be her, I would, but since I can't be, I'll be her fan.  If you haven't read Kristina McMorris, now's the time.  Her new release, Bridge of Scarlet Leaves, is fascinating and compelling and a story you, and your bookclub, will love.

In this poignant and evocative novel, a country is plunged into conflict and suspicion—forcing a young woman to find her place in a volatile world.

Back cover blurb:  Los Angeles, 1941. Violinist Maddie Kern's life seemed destined to unfold with the predictable elegance of a Bach concerto. Then she fell in love with Lane Moritomo. Her brother's best friend, Lane is the handsome, ambitious son of Japanese immigrants. Maddie was prepared for disapproval from their families, but when Pearl Harbor is bombed the day after she and Lane elope, the full force of their decision becomes apparent. In the eyes of a fearful nation, Lane is no longer just an outsider, but an enemy.

When her husband is interned at a war relocation camp, Maddie follows, sacrificing her Juilliard ambitions. Behind barbed wire, tension simmers and the line between patriot and traitor blurs. As Maddie strives for the hard-won acceptance of her new family, Lane risks everything to prove his allegiance to America, at tremendous cost.

Skillfully capturing one of the most controversial episodes in recent American history, Kristina McMorris draws readers into a novel filled with triumphs and heartbreaking loss—an authentic, moving testament to love, forgiveness, and the enduring music of the human spirit.

What do you think?  Sounds good, doesn't it?  For more on Kristina check out Kristina's website.

Want a chance to win the book?  Share with me what you're reading right now, or what's in your TBR pile, and you're entered to win a copy of Bridge of Scarlet Leaves plus a signed copy of one of my books from my backlist, chocolate and fun JP reader goodies.   The contest runs through Sunday night and winner will be announced on Monday so share with me what you're reading and you're entered!

Have a wonderful week.  Thinking of you all and grateful to have readers and friends like you!

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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Playing the Harlequin Presents Heroine

Last August I had the pleasure to attend Romance Writers of Australia's annual conference in Melbourne.  I love attending the Australia conferences.  I love my Australia author friends.  Such good people.  Such good fun.  And last August I begged Megan Crane (aka Caitlin Crews) to go with me and she did, which made the four day whirlwind trip out of Honolulu even more special.

On one of the final days of conference Trish Morey, Yvonne Lindsay, Lilian Darcy, Megan and I (and someone else, I'm sure of it, why can't I remember??!) headed out for a little sight-seeing in Melbourne and we visited a very upscale jewelry shop and I tried on jewelry that cost thousands and thousands but oh, the pieces were gorgeous and I felt, for a very moment in time, like a Harlequin Presents heroine.

Have you ever tried on couture clothes, or extravagant jewelry just to try it on?  Until Melbourne, I never had, and it was fun.  But what made it the most fun was just being with great friends.

This last weekend I finally picked up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and why did I wait so long to read it?  It was brilliant…fascinating, heartbreaking, hopeful, compelling.  I devoured the book and jumped immediately into the second book in the trilogy, Catching Fire, and that was even better than the first.  And now I'm on the third and final book, Mockingjay, and I'm going to be sad when the story ends because this series will be over and I've loved Katniss and Peeta and Gale and all of them.  I love the courage of these characters.  I love their strength and their humanity.  I know these were written for the YA market but they are amazing reads for adults, too.

Have you been reading lately?  Have something special to recommend or a book you'd like to talk about?  Let's chat books in the comments below and you'll be entered for one of my fun prizes.  Contest runs through Saturday night and Sunday I'll announce three winners.  And now fill me in…on you, life, family, career and of course, books!

 

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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I Heart Lilian Darcy

I've had a strange couple of months with regards to blogging and social media.  I'm finding it hard to do.  Don't have a lot to say.  Find my thoughts (and me!) incredibly boring.  When I'm actively writing I don't have a sense of outward things…just my story, and my family.  And trying to continually find something meaningful to say feels false, as I don't always have meaningful things to say.  I'm a terrible reality TV junkie…love romance novels…love popcorn.  Love anything with sugar, butter and flour.  Love being lazy and disappearing from the world and being nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Not even air or space.  I know it sounds crazy.  I am crazy.  Hopefully in a good way.

And because its been hard to blog, I think I'm going to do some photo blogs and short blogs and I Heart blogs, where I just tell you about someone, or something, I love.

And I'm going to start right now by telling you I love love love Australian author, and my amazing Aussie pal, Lilian Darcy. I met Lilian years ago (can't even remember when!) and immediately was entranced.  She reminded me of my cousin Annarie Lyles and I grew up idolizing Annarie for being brilliant, clever, witty, insightful, decisive.  Lilian is all that and more as she's one of the best writers I've read, and her romance and fiction novels sweep me away.  Lilian writes with truth and passion, emotion and intelligence and I can't imagine my world without her.

So this blog is an ode to someone I don't get to see often–maybe once every couple of years–but she's one of the queens in my world, absolutely heroic in every sense, and she's so good at critiquing my work and pushing me to be a better writer.  And best of all, Lilian is someone who loves me back.  If you haven't read her, do.  If you're on Facebook, like her author page.  Here's to Lilian Darcy…my friend, and one of the keepers of my heart!

PS  And what is a new blog without a prize or two???  Tell me someone you love…a friend you cherish…and you're entered to win one of two I Heart Lilian Darcy prizes, which include a couple of my books, and Lilian's books, and chocolate and lots more fun stuff!   Contest runs through Sunday night and I'll announce the winners on Monday, and as I have several prizes that have gone unclaimed, I imagine I'll giveaway a couple bonus prizes, too!

 

©2012 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

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