Spot the deliberate mistake!

Towards the end of last year I was finishing off Notorious, Book 4 in the Scandalous Women of the Ton series. As I got to towards the end of the book I felt totally consumed by it. The characters were more alive to me than real people, I worked from seven in the morning until eight in the evening – or later – and I resented any interruption that took me away from the story. When I did drag myself away I was wandering around in a daze, going to the shops but then forgetting what I actually needed to buy, taking so long to process and answer questions that people gave up asking, and then hurrying back to the writing like an addict. I am assured that this is perfectly normal behaviour for a writer but it is an uncomfortable place to be; intense, exciting and exhausting all at once. I felt like a runaway train hurtling towards the end of the book and when I finally hit the buffers I collapsed in a heap.

I loved writing Notorious. That doesn't mean that it won't need revisions but it does mean that after two books that were difficult to write and frequently felt as though I was dragging words from treacle, I have had a fun book that was a pleasure to write instead. For that I am hugely grateful. And I am hoping that the book I am starting now, Desired, (Scandalous Woman number 5!) will be as much fun. I didn't actually mean to take as long a break between books as I have done, but what with the Christmas and New Year holidays and a nasty bout of flu, I'm only now sitting down at my desk again. And it isn't easy. When I was first playing around with ideas for Desired I felt the same excitement and the urge to rush off and write as I did at the end of Notorious. Now that urgency has gone, banished by a headache that is left over from the flu, and all I can do is apply my bottom to my office chair and make myself write so that at least I get going and there are some words on the page.

Anyway, there will be much more on the website soon about my next two Scandalous Women books but in the meantime here is the cover for Notorious. I absolutely love it and I hope you like it as much as I do. Please tell me what you think! The dramatic black and scarlet suit my heroine, who is truly a scarlet woman! But the cover had to go back to be changed because it sports a very obvious mistake! Can you spot it?

A very happy new year and please wish me luck in writing Desired. I'll keep you posted on how it is going!

©2011 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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