Penny Jordan's Weblog

I don't know where to begin!
 
The Romantic Novelists Conference in Leicester was excellent.  There was a terrifice sense of purpose and unity at the conference, a really great feeling of all of us working together toward a common goal - and that goal was so aptly named RESPECT.
 
I came away feeling recharged and enthusiastic.
 
I then spent the following week working on my mainstream title for MIRA books, the plan being that Iwould have it ready to send to my editor before I left on Monday of this week to stay wth a writing friend.
 
However......The  Nantwich Bookshop launch of my second harpercollins book 'Connie's Courage' and the Writers Group I am hoping to set up in my home town of nantwich are planned for Friday 6th August.  My writing friends and colleages and others have been invited to both the launch and a small get together I am planning to hold at home the following day so that we can talk about how best we can promote the writers' group.  Needless to say organising this bit into my 'working' time.
 
Then there was the barbecue I attended last - Sunday and the unfortunate effect on my nervous system (not to mention my bank balance) of  me letting my car  run into the back of another parked vehicle whilst I was trying to park it pre party. 
 
Oh, and I almost forgot, I then managed to somehow hide the whole file on the computer and couldn't find it for over an hour!  Major trauma!   
 
So........I submitted the manuscript with the final 100 pages unchecked.
 
My stay with my friend was wonderful though.  Apart from the fact that she is a fabulous cook and I have returned home seven pounds heavier!
 
Sheba gave me her usual loving welcome, but I have returned to the depressing news, that Harlequin, - one of the two publishers for whom I write, are cutting back on and even closing down some of their lines.
 
I write for their 'Presents' line which is not affected by the planned changes, at the moment, but many of my friends will  be.  I am upset that one  friend in particular who had almost reached publication with her first book  will now have to start looking for another publisher.
We all know that this is the nature of the publishing world, but that does not stop it hurting like hell when it happens.
 
In this profession no matter how 'good' you are, luck is hugely important - or at least that is what I believe. 
 
I also returned home to find a postcard from an author I met at the Romantic Times Awards Ceremony in New York earlier this year.  This author was one of the first 'big' Mills & Boon authors - I was thrilled to meet her and I am hoping to meet up with her whilst she is over in the UK.
 
Must admit to feeling rather down and lonely this evening.  I do miss Steve so very much. When I went to the barbecue last week I was the only person on their own and I did feel self conscious and uncomfortable being there.   I try not to dwell on the fact that the reality is that I shall probably live the rest of my live as a single person - (I'm so damned fussy man-wise, and so bloody difficult to live with - I need a cross between Mr. Darcy, and a  Saint, ).  
 
 
 
 

Am in mad rush mode this evening as I leave for the RNA conference in Leicester tomorrow morning. As those of you who do not go to conferences have always suspected this really is just an excuse to eat and drink and talk far too much with people who are definitely much too much fun to be with!

No seriously, the RNA does a magnifient job of helping its authors in a wide variety of different ways.

I have actually had a miserable couple of days one way or another - I am still working flat out to finish my mainstream relationship book, having found a major flaw right in the middle.

One of the things writers of 'women's fiction' learn to get used pretty early on in their writing careers is that they do not exist, at least not in public. Society insists that our readers should feel ashamed of reading our books. 'love stories = rubbish' and you shouldn't be caught dead reading them!

But why there is this antipathy toward books about people resolving problems in their emotional lives and then making a commitment to one another, I really do not know. Nor why they should be derided as "rubbish"

Love and the way if affects every facet of our lives is surely something we can all relate to?

But everyone in the country is apparently desperate to read 'lite literature' which is why increasingly you will not find our books prominently displayed on bookshop bookshelves, - we are the read whose name dare not be spoken!

So how come so many of us earn the maximum PLR payment beause of the number of times our books are borrowed from public libararies?

I'm thinking of starting an underground subversive movement - a Society for the Readers of Romance and Proud to Say So.

Scarecrows

Thanks to a fellow member of the RNA,who emailed me, and my next door neighbour I now know that Wrenbury has a website for its scarecrows, and that the annual Scarecrow weekend walk is this coming weekend. The money raised by buying a £1 programme from Wrenbury Post Office goes to support the village school.

Sheepdog Jack

Sheba disappeared last night and I was worried sick - she never goes anywhere without me. I searched the house twice, checked the big garden gates, - nothing. This was at ten in the evening - I couldn't believe it when I went into the garden and saw her sitting by the gate to the paddock.

Harold and Jack had arrived and Sheba obviously didn't want to miss out on the floor show (or sheep dog show)

Harold is a real 'story teller' When training was finished he leaned on his crook and I asked how Jack was coming along
"Well I think I can see signs of something there.....Mind you he's got a hell of a lot to learn..." he answered me.
So it looks as though Jack is staying!

Ah love! Personally I'd rather celebrate it than denigrate it!