Betrayal

After yesterday's sad news, I bring you something more cheerful: namely, the Prologue and Chapter 1 of the free audiobook of BETRAYAL. Enjoy!

Goodbye, Kitteh

This morning, we finally had to say goodbye to my sweet cat. After a lovely day yesterday that included watching birdies and fishies from a window in my parents' flat, snuggling up in my parents' bed and later snuggling up in my bed, she got extreme anxiety attacks in the evening. She had also lost additional weight over the past few days and could no longer jump on a chair, let alone climb on any of my window sills (hence the birdie-watching in my parents' flat: they have a small conservatory with floor-to-ceiling windows).

I'm so glad that the weather was nice and sunny this week so she was able to sunbathe (something that cats LOVE to do!) one last time. And I hope that somebody in kitty-heaven keeps lots of ribbons and balls at hand so she can now finally enjoy playing again.

Designing Bookmarks

In all the first-weeks-of-term flurry (not to speak of the adding-the-finishing-touches-to-dratted-diss misery), lining up my promo material for the LoveLetter Convention was of somewhat minor priority. But with only one month to go till the big event, I decided it was high time to do something about bookmarks and pretty things I would be able to sign. So I sat down last night and started to design.

The last batch of bookmarks for Castle of the Wolf didn't turn out all that nice (granted, this was partly my fault because I forgot to convert my file into a CYMK image, but there were also issues with the overall quality), so I looked around for some other options. Let's hope I'll get better results with the new printer of my choice.

Designing bookmarks for Springtime Pleasures turned out to be surprisingly difficult - I wanted a nice, dark green for the background, but my first attempts all looked rather lame. Luckily, I remembered my trusty swirls, fiddled around with transparency, fonts, and what not, and ended up with this:

I like my bookmarks rather clean and uncluttered, and I think this will do the trick nicely. What do you think?

Now I only have to decide on the punctuation of the tagline:

Caught between duty & desire ... Which one will he choose?

Caught between duty & desire - which one will he choose?

Caught between duty & desire, which one will he choose?

Hmm ....

The Bestial Boar

The new term started on Monday, so the past few days whirled by in a flurry of preparations. I didn't get much of anything done beyond stuff for uni. So I don't really have any news for you except for ...

... the Bestial Boar.

Specifically, an image of the Bestial Boar.

Yes, indeed, not sparing any effort, not caring about the great danger, I ventured forth to sketch a likeness of this mythical beast. And would you believe it? I was successful (well, more or less).

 The text is a snippet from Chapter 4 of Springtime Pleasures:

Charlie became aware that Lady Isabella was staring at her in a most peculiar fashion, which made her wonder whether she had committed another faux pas and whether wild boars were deemed an unsuitable topic in London society. She hadn't seen any wild boars since her arrival, so perhaps they were considered unworthy of being talked about. Which was entirely unfair when they presented such a problem in other parts of the country.*

_____

* This bit was partly inspired by a TV documentary about (urban) wild boars in Berlin, where apparently groups of wild boars roam through the suburbs and destroy gardens. :-)

Deadline-itis

One of Richard Doyle's initial letters for the Victorian magazine Punch

I'm currently preparing my dratted diss (aka my PhD thesis) for publication. As always when a deadline is looming near, I'm full-blown panic-mode. But hey, this time there are reasons. Good reasons!

1. I have to format the dratted thing in MS Word, which, as everybody knows, was never intended for professional book formatting. But when it comes to German academic publishing, we format our books in MS Word. Hooray!
2. The final publication will include a fair number of pictures (35 at the last count). According to Plan A, all images would have been included in an appendix at the end of the book. But how reader-unfriendly is that? So I came up with Plan B: put all images into the text, at the appropriate places. Have you ever put high-definition images into a MS Word document? Let me tell you, it's not pretty. Hence the panicking. Because scratch Plan B. 
3. Plan C:  Buy the Student & Teacher edition of Adobe Creative Suite Design (which includes Photoshop and InDesign, among others). But which version should I buy? The German version or the English version??? (Later on, I'd  like to use the programme for e-book creation. Therefore I'm thinking English version. But I'm just not sure. *sob*)
4. I have to hand in seven special-PhD-thesis copies at uni (these have to include a German summary of the study and a CV) (I think). They are freaking me out, too. 
5. I want to (must) have finished everything by the end of next week. 

In other words: Argh! Argh! Argh!

Website Update

Last night I've updated my website and made it all shiny and new: there are new sections (e.g. the "News" bit on the frontpage), new pages ("In the Press" for articles and interviews), new research articles, and ...

... new pages for both Betrayal and Springtime Pleasures. With excerpts!!!

Moreover, I've got a shiny, new newsletter, for which you can sign upto receive updates about my books and some additional goodies.

I hope you'll enjoy the new site!

Cover Blurb for SPRINGTIME PLEASURES

I'm working on the cover blurb for SPRINGTIME PLEASURES. This is what I've got so far. What do you think?

Caught between duty ...

George Augustus Fenton Griffin, Viscount Chanderley has to marry - fast, for his father has ordered him to find a suitable wife this very season. Alas, the only woman Griff has eyes for is the very unsuitable Miss Carlotta Stanton, who is not only far too unfashionably tall but also wears the ugliest spectacles in all of England. Still, Griff is utterly bewitched by her intense green eyes. Yet however much he feels drawn to her joie de vivre, duty and honor demand that he stay far away from Miss Stanton.

... and desire

Dubbed "the Giantess" because of her unfortunate tallness, Charlie Stanton finds that the London season is far less glamorous than she has ever thought - not the least because she is consigned a place among the wallflowers. But then she befriends Lady Isabella and becomes acquainted with her very dashing brother Lord Chanderley, whose life is overshadowed by a terribly tragedy in his past. Ever ready to help other people, Charlie is determined to rid him of his Sad Melancholia - even if it means taking on wild boars and several highwaymen. Indeed, even if the handsome viscount remains maddingly elusive and obviously doesn't want any help. However, the biggest challenge will be to overcome the handsome viscount's belief that he doesn't need any help at all. However, the biggest challenge will be the elusive viscount himself and his belief that he is beyond all redemption.

Saying goodbye to Teh Kitteh

A page from my first sketchbook, March 2012

The time has almost come when I'll have to say goodbye to my sweet kitty. She's had kidney problems for years, and indeed, it's a miracle that she has survived as long as this. After the catastrophic results of another blood test back in January, our vet told us she wouldn't see the end of the month. Well, our vet was wrong.

But now things aren't looking too good, for the kitty is no longer eating properly. She's still playing and she still wants her cuddles, so it's incredibly difficult to decide when the right time has come to let her go. *sigh*

Proofreading Bewitched

And the proofreading continues. (Today I was held up by a migraine, which was annoying. Grrrr.) (Also, I urgently needed to go food-shopping* after the bank holiday yesterday.) Here's a bit from Chapter One, where we are introduced to Fox & his friends:

"But still, Miss Bourne is exquisite." Drew reached over and took Fox's glass. "Have you danced with her?" He regarded his friends over the rim of the glass while he took a deep gulp of the wine.

"Pansy-eyed, blond little chit, reaches up to about here?" Cyril indicated a spot in the middle of his chest. "Yes, I have." He shrugged. "A bit disconcerting, if you ask me, such a little bit. Makes you wonder how ..." He frowned. "If ... you know."

Drew grimaced in distaste. "Heavens, Cy, don't be vulgar! At least not while Miss Bourne still holds my heart."

"Soul," Fox corrected. "Give me my wine back."

"Did I say soul?"

"You did." He held out his hand. "My wine."

Drew drank the rest of the wine and handed the glass back. "I guess I must have. How many times did Munty dance with her? Did he say?"

Mournfully, Fox regarded his empty glass. "If you weren't my friend, I'd have to call you out now."

Cyril snorted and answered the question. "Twice."

"Two dances? Goodness!" Drew slumped back in his chair. "I am devastated! I had only one!"

"Serves you right. You drank my wine," Fox muttered darkly.

________

* Among other things, I bought a chocolate Easter bunny (which I proceeded to ate up in the course of the afternoon - the horrible bunny killer, that's me) and a half-neikkid chocolate Easter man (= the perfect chocolate for a romance writer!)

Welcome to the People on Goodreads and Amazon!

Today I continued with my babysteps to reclaim my writing career (and I can't begin to tell you how good this feels!!!!):

• I continued to proofread Bewitched in order to get it ready for a relaunch;
• I updated my profile on Goodreads and managed to add my blog to my author page (whee!);
• and I finally, finally, finally set up my author pages on amazon.com, .co.uk, and .de (more to follow).

So I'd like to extend a warm welcome to everybody who comes to this blog from these sites. It's so lovely to have you here!

What a nice start to a new month this day was! :-)