Ally Blake's Blog, page 35

did you miss my first ever modern heat? if so, read on!

Mills and Boon are oh so fabulously re-releasing my first ever Modern Heat novel GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS!



The collection in which GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS will appear is called Boardroom Hot-Shots: Real Men Collection and has stories by the fabulous Jennie Lucas and Robyn Grady within its pages as well. How cool is that?



This here is Flynn Granger, a guy I once described as "dark, elegant, rumpled". A man so sexy he can get away with wearing a paperboy hat and a scarf. Boy is he one of my...

sold!

Soooo excited to announce that my twenty-first book, THE WEDDING DATE, will hit the shelves in the UK as a RIVA (Modern Heat's new incarnation come next year) release in March 2011!

This book was pure joy to write. Set in a chalet hotel deep in the wilds of wintry Tasmania, I had no choice but to let my characters do whatever they had to in order to keep warm ;). My PA heroine Hannah was just fun, with a great line in back-chat I simply couldn't rein in. As for Bradley the hero... The guy ...

moving on...

In the past couple of days I've officially moved, leaving behind elegant, cosmopolitan, wintry, wet Melbourne to land in bright, sunny, warm Brisbane. For any of you who've read my last three books, we've moved to the land of the Kelly family.

After weeks of packing landing with family, with nothing on my to do list but play with my gorgeous girls and sleep, I've been taking massive advantage of such luxury and done plenty of both! After staying behind to help the removalists, my husband is ...

pink heart society

I'm over at the Pink Heart Society for Must Watch Friday later today yabbering about one of my favourite romantic movies.

Being a mum of two girls two and a half and under I'm really lucky to have found a movei they love to watch every now and then that I can moon over at the same time!

Want to see the 30 second movie trailer that made me blubber at the cinema? Head on over to the PHS today!

dedications

Would it be wrong to dedicate a book to a food? 'Cause this is what got me through my latest book. Raspberry and white chocolate muffins from my favourite cafe.


Add to that gorgeous staff who don't even ask for my order any more, just bring me the warm, crumbly, mound of yum with melting white choc on top and a mound of cream to dip it in. Along with a fork so my fingers stay clean while I'm tapping on my laptop. And a hot decaf latte. And who even give me staff discount I'm there so often!


Oka...

bye bye bradley!

Sent off my revisions of THE LONG WEEKEND (w/t) my next Modern Heat/Harlequin Presents to my wonderfully patient editor last night. And boy did I have the best night's sleep I've had in AGES!
Of course today I awoke to no excuses for not helping pack up our house. We leave town in less than a week. Eek!
Anyhoo, I've now said goodbye to this hunky lad on thr right. Bradley Knight, mountaineer come adventure reality TV show producer extraordinaire, was an asbolute joy to right. Big, bad...

manga magic

After fabulous Australian Harlequin Presents author Trish Morey waxed lyrical on her blog about her latest Japanese Manga title I couldn't help but google madly to find if perhaps, now, finally I might be lucky enough to have one of my own.
Guess what? Well if you've been clever enough to notice the piccie to the right, then you've probably guessed right! My tenth book, BILLIONAIRE ON HER DOORSTEP has been translated into a Manga.

I can't wait to get my hands on one! To see the story...

nana nana nana nana etc.

[image error] Just realised today that while my 14 month old, heretofore known as Danger Mouse, adorably thinks cows say "boo" and cats say "woof", her verbal talents are actually even more adorable than that.

* Sing "nana nana nana etc", and at just the right time, out comes "Batman!"

* Every time she sees a Toy Story 3 ad, she says "Woody!"

* The Collingwood Magpies footy team kick a goal - which they did in blissful bulk this weekend! - and out fly her hands as she does a brilliant goal umpire...

revisions... yum!

Revisions arrived in my inbox today for my latest Modern Heat, working title THE LONG WEEKEND. I love revisions. Love 'em. Adooore them. The question is, Why?

* Is the feel of a red pen clasped in my hand as I slash and burn my way through an overly long, freshly printed manuscript a nod to my stationery addiction? Add to that a new bulldog clip, and highlighters, and sharpened pencils, and...okay, I'm starting to get flushed ;).

* Is it the "aha!" moment that comes from having a second...

the buzz of a new idea

Today - after a week off which went so quickly! - I'm in that blissful, now-what-will-my-next-book-be-about phase.

There's already hero and a heoine bubbling away quite nicely in my head which is always a comforting thing at this stage. Yet, today, just to be sure, I sat down to have a glance at the half dozen ideas I'd had for possible stories over the last couple of months to see which grabbed my fancy most.

One of the fun things about this job is that it's full of surprises. And I had a...