Amazon 99 Romances Sale!

US Marketplace only . . .  An Agreeable Arrangement and . . .

. . . all 5 books of the Gentlemen of Worth series are on sale for 99 cents each!

Gentlemen of Worth series . . . digital!

October 2012: I learn both A Grand Deception and Perfectly Flawed are released in paperback and Kindle format. 

I’m doing the happy dance!

New Cover!

End of July 2011: I’ve just received the cover for Perfectly Flawed

Homestretch and Status

Late November  2010:  I’ve written past the gap I had earlier and I’m sailing toward the end of the story. 

I’ve updated my website since the library release on The Suitor List was October.  I gave it a “citrus” flavor.  I’m still undecided if I should commit myself to a Blog.

The Thanksgiving holiday stalls my writing progress.  I dive right back into the book after the kids leave.

Perfectly Flawed, Book 2: I still have no word whether the revised manuscript has been accepted.

The Suitor List, Book 1: I’ve decided to print some “series” stickers and apply them myself.  Not much else I can do about it now. 

No use stressing about it. Might as well sit back and have a cuppa . . .

Book 2 Complete

July 2010 – Book 2 is finished and mailed. Now I’m packing for the RWA Conference in Orlando, Florida.

The conference was to be in Nashville, Tennessee until they had that horrible flood. Now it's being held at the Swan and Dolphin Disney Resorts. What could be nicer?

I met with a dozen or so Avalon authors, met the new Editor Lia Brown, met her wonderful hubby—they make the most adorable couple—Romance novel worthy… but Gina Ardito has dibs on writing that story.

While I’m in Orlando why not hop over to the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

I meandered down Diagon Alley, marveled at all the paintings and statues in Hogwart's Castle, tasted Butterbeer, regular and frozen, had some pumpkin juice, shopped in Zonko’s, HoneyDukes, Filch’s Emporium, Dervish and Bangs, sent Owl posts.

I went on the Forbidden Journey THREE times, Flight of the Hippogriff, stood in line to see Olivander’s Wand Shop show.

Now I have regrets about sending in my last manuscript. I realize now I should have used owl post.

Book 2 Revisions Continue

July 2010 – Finished with the book. I’m printing it out and giving it a last look, making sure it reads well. But I keep tweaking it, changing words, phrases . . . adding lines here and there.

I can’t seem to stop myself from changing it. I’m hoping to finish and send it to my editor by next week. With the small changes I keep adding . . . well, it’s going to take longer than I expected.

I do know that I WILL finish by the end of this month!

Back to Book 2 . . . revisions

Late June 2010 - When it rains it pours. I’m still working on the end of the book I wasn’t pleased with in the first place. My critique group says one thing and I can’t help but think it is too simplistic. It needs more. I’m determined to find the right ending for Charlotte’s story.

I rework the scene, rearranging elements and adding a few new pieces, and I finally end up with something I’m happy with. I’ve read it to my critique group members and when I saw the smile on their faces as I approached the final paragraphs, I think I have done it.

Now I’m going back to write a couple of new scenes. I should be finished with this in another week. I’ll need to reread the entire book, just to make sure, before mailing it to New York.

November Break

I'm taking a break at the Citrus Parlor blog while I head off for vacation for a few weeks.

Here's the cover for my latest release book 2 of the Gentlemen of Worth series Perfectly Flawed which can be ordered at:

You can follow this year's island adventures at:

Aloha!

Book 3 Comes to a Stop

May 2010 - That was faster turnaround than I expected. I slide Book 3 aside to work on Book 2.

Charlotte’s story is back on my desk with a few suggestions from my new editor. What changes is she asking for? Let’s see less of Muriel and more of the hero.

I can’t say I disagree . . . and it is supposed to be a Romance novel. Perhaps my editor could speak directly to Charlotte’s sister and ask her to move into the background.

Book 2 - The Sagging Middle

January 2010 -

Charlotte’s suitors are on the run.

Of course Muriel has helped her come up with ideas to reconsider their affection for her, making Charlotte not as perfect as they’d first thought.

By February I’m nearing the finish of the second book.

The end is in sight.

The Name Game

September 2009 - Charlotte’s suitors come and go very quickly. It’s a chore coming up with names, non-repetitive names, names that don’t sound similar—names I haven’t previously used.

I’m glad I spent the time making a list of characters back when working on the first book.

It's Real Now

August 2009 - The contracts arrive in the mail. I sign and send them off. The revisions for Book 1 are minor and the revised manuscript goes in early. I want to get back to work on Charlotte’s book. Oh, the hero is too fun. Again, Muriel’s trying to take over the book.

I’m working really hard to make sure Charlotte stands out but she’s just not a strong character. Kind and sweet but not strong.

Then I realize we see the hero through Muriel’s eyes. And there’s more foreshadowing for Book 3 than I thought might be there.

I’ve got to admit that the hero does not look good when seen through Muriel’s eyes. He likes to tease her. He has to win her approval, it seems that Charlotte can’t help herself but fall for him the instant she meets him.

Back to the Keyboard

End of July 2009 - After I return from the conference I figured if my editor liked Book 1, I best go forward with Book 2. I pulled out the notes and chapters I'd written.

I reread the chapters, browsed through the notes to reacquaint myself with the characters and the story. Charlotte, Muriel, Aunt Penny, and Edward the duke. Some of the suitors from Book 1 return, and then there are Charlotte's suitors . . . they make themselves known to me at once.

My editor calls me two weeks later and she’s going to buy the series.

What does she mean by the series?

"How many books?" I asked her.

"The whole thing," she says.

"What?"

The W-H-O-L-E thing!

I am completely speechless.

A Third New Start

June/July 2009 - I’m just getting into Charlotte’s story and I have to stop and do it all over again for Muriel. I know what happens in the book but where does the book start? It’s sort of frustrating to have to go through this again, so soon. But I push forward.

I learn that Moo was precocious at 12, at 15 she’s developing a mean streak, now at 17 . . . I’ll have to say she’s downright devious.

The inciting incident I have in my head happens at the end of Chapter 1. How fun it is to get it down on paper. I can see the end of the book, how event will play themselves out.

A New Start . . . again

June 2009 - After finishing The Suitor List I need to work out what I think Book 2 is about. I know the basic story but where do I begin?

I know Charlotte even more lovely, with a sweeter disposition than her elder sister. I have to take care that she did not come across as weak. Worse than that, Muriel’s trying to take over the book. How could demure Char-Char possibly come to the forefront of her own book?

Some of the characters from The Suitor List will return. I make a list of their names.

I’m enjoying this book . . . it’s going to be such fun to write. I've reached the end of Chapter 2, Chapter 3 . . . and now I have to stop.

The Sagging Middle

February 2009 - There’s too much going on for the middle to sag. Here we are introduced to the Citrus Parlor at Faraday Hall. Charlotte plays a larger role in this book than I expected. It turns out that Muriel isn’t going to be ignored--even though she’s now 13. She’s had a birthday since the beginning of the book.

Interesting new characters, some, I believe, will be reoccurring throughout the series. And—Augusta has told me there is a younger brother . . . Frederick. Where did he come from?

Does this mean there are SIX books in this series?

My Ambitious Plan Continues

December 2008 - It took a little over a week to work out what would happen in the first three books. I still had the “how” to work out. The struggle with titles continued. I tried using the sister’s names: Augusta’s Anguish, Charlotte’s Charade, and Muriel’s Muddles.

No. No. No.

I kept the Gentlemen’s titles which kept me on track because it gave me some sense of those men. While I worked on Augusta’s book, learning about the people, the family members, the neighbors, the townspeople, it occurred to me that the premise of my idea, about limiting Augusta’s London Season exposure, came from Aunt Penny. She had grown up in a family of legendary beauties.

They were the Darling sisters: Mary, Sarah, and Penelope. Mary, the eldest, had married a baron , Sarah, the most beautiful sister, a duke, and Penny, the dutiful daughter had an arranged marriage. Her husband, who was much older than she, passed away a year or so after they wed—about the time her sister Sarah died. Penny then removed to Faraday Hall and helped raise her nieces.

I wonder . . . now that I’m marrying off the three sisters. What happens to Penny? Then it occurs to me . . . I have a duke whose daughters have gone off to marry, what happens to him?

I’m thinking this might be a FIVE book series?

Character Names

November 2008 - The name Muriel seemed to fit for the youngest sister. I like it. Moo. She was 12 years old. I wanted her young for the first book. By the time I reached her book, the third one, she’d be 17 or 18. Which, by the way, should have been Augusta’s age during the first book. If Muriel was 12 and August 18, it put Charlotte somewhere in between. I think I stuck her somewhere in the middle 15 or 16. I could narrow their ages down later when I knew more about them and the book.

I sat at the table every morning of my vacation with a mug of coffee in hand and worked out the plot of the first book. A young woman attending her first Season. How many ballroom scenes would I have to write? What would happen? How would her Season be any different than that of any other girl’s?

What if she didn’t attend as she should? What if it was known she’d have a target on her? Fortune hunters and social climbers would be seeking her out—or gentlemen who waited for just the right lady to come along. What if “someone” had had a similar experience and knew most of the pitfalls a young, beautiful, wealthy heiress to expect?

What type of a gentleman would win her heart?

Titles

Still November 2008 - I thought that each book Gentlemen of Worth series would have a Gentleman title. Gentleman of Standing, Gentleman of Determination, Gentleman of Circumstance. Then I realized there were too many Gentlemen and it would confuse everyone, including me.

It would work for a working title because I didn’t know what the books were going to be about. I didn’t even know who the characters were . . . I didn’t even know the names of all the main characters.

So it was time I began, or tried to. I need to learn about these people. Besides marrying off each daughter what are the books about? What makes each story unique?

Not until I placed the three girls in the Breakfast Parlor and allowed them to move and speak for themselves did I become acquainted with them. Book 1, Chapter 1, scene 1 resulted. Augusta, the eldest, scolded her youngest sister Moo, short for Muriel.

What's in a Name

Still November 2008 - I realized the Duke could not have raised his daughters on his own. Yes, they had nannies and governesses, a houseful of servants but they needed more . . . another family member, female perhaps, to guide them to young adulthood. The middle daughter Charlotte called out to her . . . Aunt Penny.

Penny . . . Penelope Parker. Mrs. Penelope Parker, their mother’s sister. Younger sister, just as Whatshername was the younger sister of Augusta and Charlotte. And I knew that Mrs. Parker, Aunt Penny, was a young widow.

Then I wondered if the Duchess and Aunt Penny, two sisters, might have been three, mimicking my three young heroines.

I still needed a family name for them . . . something meaningful. I would have three stories set during three different time periods with all three sisters looking for a worthy gentleman.

Playing around with that idea I decided upon the idea that each daughter searches for a Gentleman of Worth.