Victoria James's Blog, page 9

USA TODAY HEA BOOK BLOG!

What an exciting week this has been!  Yesterday I was on the USA TODAY HEA Book Blog!!  Drop by and check out the post:  USATODAYHEA

And Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

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The Billionaire’s Christmas Baby!!!!!!! It’s here, it’s here, it’s here!!!!!!

Can you tell I’m just a *little* excited?!!  I’m so pleased to finally share my cover with you!!!  I have been staring at it all weekend…I think Entangled did a gorgeous job with it, don’t you?

Jackson Pierce didn’t make his fortune entertaining every half-cocked idea, especially one involving diaper changes. Running a software company takes dedication, and not even a cute brunette who seems to think he has something to do with the baby in her arms can crack the band of ice around his heart.

A baby on the doorstep is the least of Hannah Woods’s problems—she has to find the baby’s uncle and convince him to adopt her. If she doesn’t, the baby will end up in foster care, and she can’t let that happen. Armed with formula and a tin of cookies, she sleuths her way to the reclusive CEO’s doorstep only to find six feet of holiday sexy—and a door slammed in her face. But when Jackson comes around and urges they marry for little Emily’s sake, Hannah finds herself falling for the jaded billionaire and wishing for a holiday miracle of their own…Available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Thank you so much, writers and friends who have shared this journey with me.  You’ve all had so many kind and wise words to share with me and I know I couldn’t have made it without all your support.  And, I know this isn’t an Oscar speech, but I do have to give a huge thanks to the awesome people at Entangled.  I had no idea how much work went into preparing a publishable book.  The editors I worked with were just unbelievably talented and generous, and I’ve learned SO much.  All right, cue the music, my speech is done…and now I’m so excited to share this book with you!!!  This book is close to my heart-and those of you who followed my journey, know how special it is to me.

Victoria, xo

 

 

Tags:Baby,Christmas,Entangled,Hannah Woods,Indulgence,Jackson Pierce,The Billionaire's Christmas Baby

The “Next Big Thing” Blog Stop…

Welcome to the “Next Big Thing” Blog Tour – I was thrilled when fellow romance writer, Rachel Lyndhurst tagged me to continue the chain – be sure to read to the end of my post to check out the three great authors I’ve tagged next!

Okay, so the idea is we talk about our current or next release…which means I get to talk about my very first Indulgence release-which comes out next week!!!!

• What is the title of your latest book?

The Billionaire’s Christmas Baby

• Where did the idea come from for the book?

This is a hard question for me because my ideas truly come from everywhere.  My friends and family know that I am a complete Christmas-nut.  November 1st all the Halloween/fall stuff gets taken down and I start with the Christmas decorating.  It’s never too early as far as I’m concerned!  Living in Canada makes it a little easier to go all-out Christmas in November since Thanksgiving is long gone (October).  Every year, I see the magic of Christmas, so it’s very special for me to have a Christmas book be my first release ever.

• What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary romance.

• What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Hannah Woods would be played by Ann Hathaway and Jackson Pierce would be played by Christian Bale.  I’ll keep you posted on how that goes

• What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Yikes!  One sentence?  OK, here goes:  A Marriage of Convenience story that catapults two unlikely people and an abandoned baby together during a blizzard, forcing them to overcome their past to fight for the promise of the most powerful love.

• Is your book self-published or represented by an agency?

This book is published by Indulgence, an Entangled Publishing imprint. It’s represented by Nalini Akolekar of Spencerhill Literary Agents.

• How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I wrote the first draft of this book in about two months.  But it underwent a major overhaul-a few times over!

• What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Ack!  This is a tough one!  I find it hard to compare books to each other since every author puts their own spin in their own voice.  Hmmm okay if I had to guess…marriage of convenience with lots of funny banter so maybe The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst, and the family theme and setting in Shirley Jump’s Family Christmas in Riverbend…

• Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Christmas and snowstorms!  I love a good snowstorm in the winter, so the idea of trapping a man who hates everything-Christmas with a woman who loves everything Christmas seemed like fun.  Throw in an abandoned baby and that marriage of convenience, and it sounded like the perfect recipe for a Christmas miracle.

• What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It is a story about second chances and people overcoming traumatic pasts in order to truly move forward and embrace love.  It stars an alpha, a strong, smart heroine and a baby that desperately needs a family. Humor is also really important to me-especially when dealing with some heavy topics.  So hopefully this book will provide you with some laughs too!

To see what some of my writer friends are doing, I’m going to tag:

Olivia Miles and Natalie Charles and Lyndsay J. Pryor

Two awesome and talented ladies, check ‘em out!

Tags:Christmas,Entangled,Indulgence,Marriage of Convenience,The Billionaire's Christmas Baby

Revisions: The Good, The Bad, and The Surprising

That’s what I’m blogging about over at The Hot Pink Typewriter today!  Stop over and say hi!

Tags:editing,revisions,The Hot Pink Typewriter

Revisions, Pizza, and More Revisions

The last few weeks have been a crazy blur of family commitments, kids, revisions, proposals, more proposals, COOKATHON, and more revisions!  Here’s a quick rundown of where I’ve been…I think I need more coffee…

-finished my first set of revisions-but I had an extension b/c as I was plugging away at the revisions that my editors suggested (they were really great suggestions, by the way!) I had another idea.  So of course I ran it by her (am I the only one who still breaks out in a cold sweat when speaking to an editor, no matter how nice they are??) and she liked it, told me to go ahead with it and take a few extra days.  Did it.  Done.  Hit send (at 11:30pm on the night they were due).  I’m torn between hiding and refreshing my inbox.

-During that time I had to work on my share of a project that I’m so super excited about but don’t really think I can share yet.  I still can’t believe I’ve been given this opportunity, and I’ve had many fan-girl moments while doing this.  I had to get over my intimidation and just work on it-these people were so awesome and so much fun to work with.  That’s all I’m going to say, because I’m sure if I keep blabbing I’ll end up saying too much!

-The revisions and the secret project wrapped up at about the same time, which was perfect, because Monday was COOKATHON!!!  What is Cookathon,  you ask?  It started three years ago when I was in severe nesting mode and eight months pregnant with dd.  My bff who is just as crazy as I am, decided that we were going to make a bunch of homemade food and freeze it.  Big deal, right?  Well, we’re not just talking one or two items.  We made…40 homemade Pizzas (my nonna’s recipe) and 12 portions of homemade Bolognese sauce!  In one day.  Of course, we split the bounty.  It was such a success we’ve kept up the tradition and this was our third year.  The day always starts out with a mixture of giddy panic, gossip, and coffee.  Then it turns to panic.  We’re running around the kitchen, wondering why we ever came up with such a stupid idea, cursing ourselves.  The low point of the day was when at 12:30pm I counted the remaining pizza doughs that still needed to cook and there were 27 left.  I think we almost cried.  But as usual, we persevered, and at the end of it all, we each had 20 pizzas and a bunch of sauce.  Phew.  Takes a day to recover, but so worth it.  Now I know I have a bunch of ready-made dinners in the freezer!

-Then I had to open up the manuscript I’d had to push aside when the revisions came in and get back to it.  I need this proposal done and gone, like yesterday.  No problem, right?  It wouldn’t have been had I not received another set of revisions for my January book!  Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!

-So my plan is to finish up this proposal this week.  Then take the next three weeks to do the revisions…

Things have been nuts, but I have to admit, I’m  loving it…loving the fact that I’m busy doing what I love. I don’t even care (most of the time) how messy my house is.

A year ago I never would have imagined any of this…

 

Tags:cookathon,proposal,revisions,secret project

My first set of edits and revisions…gulp

This last year has been filled with writing up proposals and completing manuscripts.  I’ve been so fortunate that Entangled Publishing has bought my books-and has had so much faith in me as a new author.  My editor there is so awesome, and a fellow Canadian gal too

Last week, my first round of edits arrived in my inbox.  Being the stalker that I am, I’ve read about this inevitable day on other published author’s sites-how they dread them, how hard they are, how nervous they make you feel.  Well, they were all right.  I had an overwhelming urge to eat bad food, LOL.  Seriously.  Or drink wine.  I did resist (how long I’ll manage to hold out, I have no idea)…I printed out the revision list and really read it (not just skim for the horribly difficult changes) and agreed with all of them.  There wasn’t even one item on that list that I questioned-a lot of them were like, “why didn’t I think of that?”  So, I guess that’s good!  Now to actually tackle these things…I’ve got 1 week left.  Tick, tick, tick.

Lucky for me, super author and friend-and also one of my HPT gals-Olivia Miles wrote an awesome post on how she tackles revisions so I’m definitely going to take her advice.  I also think I’m going to need a big chunk of time to do this-it’s hard to concentrate on the changes with only an hour here and there.  Oh, and I’m going to need lots of Tim Horton’s coffee.  Or Starbucks.  Lots.  Seriously, if I’m not snacking, that’s the least I should get!

I have to stay focused and prioritize my time as well-b/c I’ve got my secret project on the go-as well as that proposal I was halfway through writing.

Fall so far has started off with a bang!

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Not even two weeks-

It happens every year, so I’m not really sure why I’m so surprised.  Maybe because DS is in grade one now, I thought things might be different.  Well folks, we didn’t even last the full first week of school without DS getting a cold.  Yup, so back to 2 kids at home today.  Now it’s just a matter of getting through a pile of work, and trying to keep the toddler away from big brother…

Oh, and come say hi, please!  I’m blogging with my gals at The Hot Pink Typewriter today…and answering some tough interview questions!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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“Step away from the child please.”

So that’s not exactly how it went down, but you get the drift.

This is the first official full week of school for DS.  We are supposed to be dropping off our kids in the supervised (huge) playground every morning.  But for most of us this is a new concept.  At DS’s last school, where he attended Preschool, JK, and SK, I was able to walk him inside and hand him over to his teacher.  So waving goodbye and letting him run off into a playground filled with students as old as thirteen is a little, um, scary   Last week they allowed all of us overprotective parents to hover around the kids until the bell rang and their teachers came out to call them in.  I guess this week, we have to learn to let go.

As I was hovering about ten feet away from DS, as he maturely stood in his class line and engaged in a conversation with his new best friend, one of the cheerful playground supervisors came over, and gently told me this week, us parents have to stand at the edge of the playground.  Something about them becoming independent.  So as I rolled DD’s stroller away, all the while waiting for DS to notice I was leaving, I couldn’t help feeling anxious.  What if he didn’t go into class?  What if he panicked that I was leaving?  Had he heard me say goodbye?  Did he remember I gave him a hug?  I joined the other parents who’d been relegated to the sidelines and waited for the bell to ring.  Sure enough DS remained in line, chatting non-stop with his friends, Spider Man backpack perfectly resting on his shoulders…their teacher walked out, called them in and he walked away…he didn’t once look back for a reassuring smile or wave…and I guess, that’s what I wanted.  Because if he had looked back with tear-filled eyes, I would have been heartbroken.  Instead, I know he’s confident, he’s happy, and he’s adjusting better than I ever did in the first grade.

My little guy is growing up…:-)

Tags:back to school

My favourite time of year…

I’m so happy we made it to autumn.  This is my absolute favourite time of year.  Cool mornings and evenings, crisp air filled with the smell of freshly fallen leaves.  Oh, and kids back in school

DS started grade one at a new school last Wednesday.  This was huge for him (and me).  I think I may have been more nervous than he.  It took me an hour to pack his lunch (don’t ask) and all the while I kept thinking how fast everything flew by.  I could have sworn my little guy was just a baby a few months ago.  Now, he’s off to grade one.  He had a great first day, loved his class, and his ‘big kid’ school.  HUGE relief!  I still have the almost-two-year old at home with me, so the days are packed.

This wasn’t the best of summers, so I am happy to see it go.  Radiation for my dad ended the last week of August, and in December he will hopefully get the all-clear.  He’s looking good, so that’s a nice indicator that he should be fine.  We managed to squeeze in one last trip to the beach before school for the kids, so that makes me feel a little better that the boring summer for the kids ended on a high note.

As for my writing…well it’s been a challenge.  For the first time in a long, long time, I’ve really struggled with productivity.  The whole summer was filled with chaos, lack of routine, and those daily trips to the hospital.  And it’s taken it’s toll.  I feel like I’m finally getting back into the swing of things.  And boy do I need to…

I’m gearing up for a huge year-I’m working on a super secret project (I can’t believe I’m actually writing that), as well as finishing up a proposal that should have been done a while ago, and I’m waiting to hear on a proposal that was sent in during the summer.  My first book releases in November!  As soon as I have the title I’ll share…

Now that routine is back, I’m starting my 5am wake-ups again…and I do love them.  The trick to making them work though, is by being asleep by 11pm.  I know that this 5 am slot is my time, without any of the interruptions and unexpected duties that the day inevitably brings.  And it’s nice to know that some word count has been done by the time DD and I are walking DS to school.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, productive autumn….with plenty more blog posts!

Tags:autumn,back to school,fall,kids,school,secret project,writing

Two places at once?

Yes!  It’s my very first blog post at the Entangled Indulgence Author’s blog-so please come and visit me!

And I’m also blogging over at The Hot Pink Typewriter about bleeding and other things   Do come and say hi!

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