Hi there! If you follow my blog, you’ve probably noticed I haven’t posted anything in a while. As of today, it’ll be seven weeks since my last blog post *gasp*. A lot has happened. And if you follow me on social media (you totally should), you’ll know some of it. If you don’t, here’s what I’ve been up to…

#CarinaPitch

I went over my calendar for the last few months to try and pinpoint the exact moment I felt so overwhelmed I stopped writing blog posts. Because I write a lot of them in advance (read one or two), that moment happened a lot earlier than my last post. In fact, the real moment was probably in early April, when I decided to participate in the #CarinaPitch event.

I was finishing off revisions on a book I’d written last year (which I’d received plenty of rejections for). The revision was prompted by a revise and resubmit by one of the many publishers I’d submitted it to, which took my 30 000-word novella to a full manuscript of 50 000 words. Not wanting to put all my eggs in one basket, I decided I’d pitch the book to the Carina Press editors during their annual Twitter pitch contest. At worst, my pitch wouldn’t get noticed. Better would be that my pitch gets noticed, and I get feedback on the new version of the book. At best, I’d get offered a publishing contract.

And guess what, you guys? I got offered a publishing contract!

As a related aside, I think this happened because I was prepared. I’d made sure that my cover letter, synopsis, and series outline were ready before I’d pitched. Doing this and making sure the book was ready kept me busy. But I wouldn’t change that (I’m sure you’ll forgive me for neglecting the blog as a result), because it paid off. My first Carina Press book will be out in December – I’ll keep you posted on any updates!

Deadlines

Okay, so while I was doing all the things for Carina (including tons of behind-the-scenes stuff), I was also working hard on my Harlequin Romances. I was proposing a duet to my editor, and because it’s not quite the typical Harlequin Romance (yes, yes, I’ll keep you posted), I wrote a detailed proposal first.  And then, because I got my Carina call long before the deal was announced, I knew that I had to speed up my writing if I wanted to get everything done in time. Especially considering I was leaving for a two-and-a-half-week holiday in less than a month. So, I wrote my ninth Harlequin Romance in that amount of time. (I do not recommend this.)

Holiday!

Fortunately, I got a break from all the hard work when my husband and I went to Greece for ten days. And then, because we were already in Europe, we decided to hop on over to the UK. (I say this as if it weren’t a six-hour flight from Athens to London). The trip was amazing; and one of the highlights was being able to meet the wonderful Mills & Boon team over at True Love towers.

They also managed to convince me to do a Facebook Live! Check it out if you have time 🙂

Hopefully this clarifies what I’ve been up to over the last seven weeks!

And likely, my blog won’t be updated as often as before considering my new work commitments. For now, I’ll be posting every two weeks, and I’d love for the posts to deal with what you want to read because I’m so grateful for your support. So, let me know here or on Twitter or Facebook; I’ll try to make sure I write about the topics you’re interested in!