Jessica Hart - 50 heroes, 50 heroines...50 happy endings!

My first mangas!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:52:03 GMT

One of the best things about being a Harlequin author is the way our stories are translated and sold all round the world. Every now and then a packet drops through my door, and I find a copy of one of my books in French or Arabic or Finnish or Indonesian … or any one of the twenty three languages they’ve been translated into so far. Getting an edition in a new language is always exciting, and I can waste several minutes looking through the book carefully, as if I could actually read Greek or Hungarian.

On Saturday, something even better arrived in the mail: my first mangas.

I know from my royalty statements that I’ve had other stories made into graphic novels, but this was the first time I’d seen them and there’s nothing like holding an edition in your hot little hand. So here are the Japanese manga editions of Fiancé Wanted Fast! and A Bride for Barra Creek (and if you’re wondering how on earth I know, the titles are written in English too, although you can’t see it very well here).

I spent a happy morning when I should have been working, looking through them to see if I could recognise anything about the stories. There were some scenes that made sense, but others that had me completely baffled.

I don’t remember anything about kick-ass women with guns in A Bride for Barra Creek, for instance.

And if there was a scene in Fiancé Wanted Fast! with a naked Gib and a cat, I certainly don’t remember it! Now I’m thinking the translators have improved my story no end, and I’m wishing I’d thought of it myself.

The drawings are incredibly stylised and there are clearly all sorts of conventions that I can’t read (not to mention the Japanese, obviously) It’s such a different format that I imagine it’s almost impossible to translate exactly, and perhaps the translators are allowed free rein to change the story as necessary. However they’ve done it, it’s very clever! I was deeply impressed. And what a successful displacement activity, too!

What else? I’m very excited that I’ll be giving a workshop at the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Sydney this August (just as well when I’d already booked my ticket!) Closer to home, I’ll be at the Festival of Writing in York in April. If you’re a new writer looking to break into print, check out the Festival of Writing website - there is a great line up of workshops, as well as agent and ‘book doctor’ appointments.

Awards!

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:50:55 GMT

It’s a lovely morning here and I’ve just been for a brisk walk up to the Millennium Bridgeand back (part of my pre trekking regime!) I was full of good intentions to sit down and work as soon as I got back, but of course I just had to check my email first … and there was a message from the lovely ladies at CataNetwork Reviews to say that Cinderella’s Wedding Wish had won a coveted CataNetwork Reviewers’ Choice Awards for 2009.

It’s always a treat to get an unexpected message at all, but one with such exciting news is even better! Needless to say, I am delighted. Miranda was one of my favourite heroines, probably because I identified so much with her prickly nature! And Rafe … ah, Rafe! Why are there not more men like him around??

Cinderella’s Wedding Wish won best Mills & Boon Romance, while Michelle Douglas was awarded best Harlequin Romance (nice that they give us two awards, to spread the fun around!) Another familiar name on the list was Michelle Styles, who won best Mills & Boon Historical, so congratulations to both.

Congratulations are also due to our fellow Harlequin Romance author Nina Harrington whose debut novel has been shortlisted for the RNA’s Love Story of the Year (previously the Romance Prize). A fantastic achievement with a first book, so well done, Nina.

And there are other familiar names on this shortlist too: Nell Dixon, Jan Jones and Louise Allen congratulations to you all, ladies.

Fear of flying

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:22:09 GMT

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who contacted me about Mungo. I was so touched by all your kind comments and understanding. All in all it was a quiet start to the year, not least because it took ages for my hearing to come back, but I got up just a couple of days ago and realised that I was quite suddenly better. I still have a blocked feeling in ears which means my voice echoes disconcertingly in my head when I talk, but otherwise I’m raring to go again …

It’s probably no coincidence that feeling better has coincided with the planning of my trip to Australia this summer. The whole venture has grown progressively more elaborate, but is going to be fantastic. My dates have been creeping forward too, but I have finally fixed mid July to mid August and booked my ticket … and my credit card is likely to be steaming for some time to come! I have an extraordinarily complicated itinerary which involves criss-crossing Australia on eight internal flights in order to fit everything in.

If nothing else, it will be aversion therapy for my pathetic fear of flying! I’m the mad-looking, white-knuckled woman sitting next to you on a plane, the one muttering ‘not this time, not this time, oh, please, please, please not this time …’ Years ago, I read that the first and last two minutes of a flight are the most dangerous, so I always keep my eyes squeezed shut until the light pings and the flight attendants get up to serve the drinks (and yes, I know the way to avoid dehydration is to only drink water, but by then I need something a lot stronger than that!)

My phobia has been creeping up on me gradually for years. I flew a lot as a child in Africa and New Guinea, and I used to love jumping on and off rackety little planes with one propeller. I know, I know, the big jets are statistically safer, but if I put my faith in statistics, they tell me that every time I fly, my chances of crashing get higher …

A bit like writing, in fact. Every time I finish a book, I think, ‘phew, got away with it this time … but what if next time I crash and burn?’ I have been thinking such thoughts a lot recently as I have had my head down working on my ‘time slip’ and I am wa-a-a-a-y out of my comfort zone. But challenge is good for us, right? Phin, the hero of Oh-So-Sensible Secretary, certainly believes that. He makes poor Summer her leave her safe, tidy office and takes her to the rainforest where everything is hot and steamy and tangled and out of her control. (I think the control issue is a big factor in my fear of flying, to be honest) Summer is determined to hate it, and she foolishly makes a bet with Phin that she won’t change her mind. She loses, of course, but the price she has to pay isn’t so bad …

I loved writing Summer’s story. There are bits of her that are a lot like me. I’m not quite as obsessively tidy as she is, but I have a strong Virgoan streak of list-making, and a liking for order. Like her, I spend a lot of time fussing over my nails– check out the Summer’s polishes and how they grow progressively brighter! - and I’m fond of a doughnut, too, it has to be said.

But unlike Summer, I leapt at my chance to spend some time in the rainforest. The African scenes were based on the five months I spent in Cameroon in 1988/9 – one of the best times of my life - and the village in the book is very like this one on the Cross River. (There are more pictures of Cameroon on the Where are you? page)

Oh-So-Sensible Secretary, by the way, is the book I wrote as a result of the Pick Your Own Romance survey we ran as part of the 50 book celebrations. You chose the type of heroine (sensible) and hero (charming, laid back), the ‘marriage of convenience’ hook and the office setting, while Anne and Monique, who won the contest to name a character, are both duly featured as well. It was so easy to write that I’m wishing I could run polls like that for every book! I’m planning to write a royal romantic comedy duet next, so that’s the hook taken care of, at least, but I still have no idea about heroes and heroines … If you’ve got a personal preference, let me know! I’ve got several copies of Oh-So-Sensible Secretary to send out as a thank you, so don’t forget to include an address if you’d like one.

New routines

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:50:22 GMT

Well, my much-anticipated weekend in London didn’t turn out quite as planned, I’m afraid. I was on my way to Harlequin Mills & Boon in Richmond for my celebration lunch when I had a phone call from the vet to say that my old dog, Mungo, was in some distress, so I came straight back that afternoon. I brought him home for a last night, and the next morning sat with him in front of the fire until the vet came to put him to sleep. Anyone who’s ever had to make that decision for a much loved animal will know what a sad morning that was for me. I know it was the right thing to do, but Mungo was the centre of my life for nearly fifteen years, and I miss him terribly. He was very old and a bit crotchety at the end, but I think of all the years of love and companionship he gave me and remember him for the star of a dog he was. He was such a beautiful puppy, and he grew up to be a constant presence at my feet. It’s so strange not to have him there now.

So my year ended with a whimper rather than a bang, after all, not helped by the fact that I caught some virus that festered as I drove up to Scotland through the snow. You know that person who spoils things for everyone at Christmas by being ill? There’s always someone, and this year it was me. I had to go to bed in the middle of Christmas lunch, and as if I wasn’t bad enough company by then, I developed an ear infection that has left me (temporarily, I hope) almost deaf. I’ve only ever been able to hear in one ear, and thought I knew what it was like to have restricted hearing, but I realise now that I had no idea what it is like to be deaf. It’s incredibly isolating with both ears blocked, everything muffled and all the noise inside your head but I know I’m lucky in that some hearing will come back eventually.

Between the virus, the deafness and missing Mungo, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, in fact, but I gave myself until the new year to wallow in self-pity. I duly pulled myself together on 1st January and have had a couple of days obsessively clearing out my study prior to getting down to work on Monday. Very therapeutic it has been, too. I spent a fortune on plastic boxes of various sizes and order has been firmly restored in the cupboard, which was a Virgo’s worst nightmare and is now a study in repression, with everything neatly filed and boxed away. Most satisfactory.

My next task is to plan the year ahead. Although losing Mungo has left the house desperately empty, it means I’m free to travel a bit further afield again. For the last year or so I’ve only been able to leave him at the vet’s for a week at the most, but now I can think about Australia again. It’s five years since I’ve been, and high time I was back. I’d love to go to the Romance Writers of Australia’s conference in Sydney in August, there are special people to catch up with in Adelaide, and I’ve been looking at walking the Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory while I’m there ... it sounds fabulous. This year I’m also planning to walk the West Highland Way (Mungo’s memorial walk) and catch up with everyone I haven’t been able to see for the last couple of years. There’s talk of Madrid, Bruges, Amsterdam, plus places nearer to home, and I’m back teaching romance writing at the Watermill in Posara in September. So there’s lots to look forward to in 2010. It’ll be a year of change for me, but of new opportunities, too, and I am determined to make the most of them. And now my study is organised, I’ve got no excuse not to get back to work …

A note from the webmistress

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:21:14 GMT

I have set up a fan page for readers who like Jessica Hart books over at Facebook. Come and join me! It can be your place to:

discuss your favourite Jessica Hart books
talk about when you first started reading Jessica's books
add pictures of yourself reading Jessica's books
add pictures of book covers - I've added the covers I have to get it started but there's a few early ones missing
talk romance books in general

Ending with a bang…

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:08:07 GMT

I know I say this every December, but what happened to the year??? A minute ago I was in Tuscany and now suddenly it’s nearly Christmas! How time flies when you’ve got your head down and need to write a book in double quick time … But it’s done, revised (one short scene expanded) and I’m hoping very much that’s the last I’ll see of it until the proofs. This story, initially plotted in the sea in Greece, elaborated with the help of the Ladies of Posara in Tuscany and fine-tuned walking along the river here in York is the sequel to Oh-So-Sensible Secretary (I know, what were they thinking?) which will be out in March 2010. Does anyone remember the Pick Your Own Romance poll we ran here last year to mark my 50th book? You voted for your favourite hooks, setting, type of hero/heroine and so on, and Oh-So-Sensible Secretary is the result. It also includes name checks for Anne and Monique, winners of the last competition.

I have to say that Oh-So-Sensible Secretary was one of the easiest books I’ve ever written. The brief was to write a romantic comedy, and try something a bit different, so I wrote it in the first person, which isn’t wildly innovative, I know, but a first for me. I absolutely loved it, and rather missed it this time round. It’s the story of Summer, an uptight PA, and Phin, her laid-back new boss (well, you said that was what you wanted). The book I’ve just submitted, yet to be titled, takes up the story of Phin’s brother, Lex, and single mother, Romy. I had this great plan: I would teach everyone to write fabulous romances, and write Lex and Romy’s story at the same time, and while I was writing/teaching it seemed to be working. I was certainly knocking out the chapters, and ticking off the boxes: character motivation (tick), opposing goals (tick), emotional conflict (tick) and so on. But when I came to read it through, I have to admit I thought, “hhmmnn, actually it’s about more than ticking boxes, isn’t it?” So I wasn’t that confident when I sent it in, but my editor seemed to like it, so I feel as if I can let go of a breath I wasn’t aware of holding. I’m often very dubious about a story at first, but am pleasantly surprised when I get to read the proofs – fingers crossed this will be the same.

Barely ten minutes after sending in the manuscript, my computer exploded. Literally went bang and died. Naturally I responded in a deeply calm and controlled manner, and any suggestion that there was hysteria and hyperventilating, shrieking and hair standing on end and all sorts of other carryings on is a gross calumny! As luck would have it, I had just copied the manuscript files onto a memory disk, and I spent the next few days on my knees, thanking whatever deity looks after computers that I had backed up before the explosion. In the event, a computer engineer came out on Saturday night and managed to restore everything but if you sent me an email during those few days and didn’t get a reply, that’s why. The whole incident is a pretty good metaphor for my year, in which I seemed to be tottering on the verge of disaster many times, only to realise that things could have been so much worse, and that somehow I’d got away with it again …

So, I’m ending the year with a bang, at least. And now the book is done and dusted, I can go back to really enjoying being a writer … so much easier when there’s no pesky writing to be done! On Friday I’m off to London to celebrate 20 years of writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon. My first book was accepted in December 1989, and the editor who pulled me out of the slush pile is still there – and yes, I’m taking flowers! She’s coming out to lunch with my current editor so I hope we’ll all be able to celebrate a long and very happy association.

And for icing on the cake, I’ve just learnt that Cinderella’s Wedding Wish is a Romantic Times finalist for Best Harlequin Romance 09. Also shortlisted are my fellow HR authors Fiona Harper, Myrna Mackenzie, Nicola Marsh and Melissa McClone, so I’m delighted to be in such fine company. Even more excitingly, I’ve heard that I’ve been nominated for an RT Series Career Achievement Award as well. I’m indebted to Kate Hardy for this information (thanks, Kate!) I have to admit that I don’t really know anything about this award - but it sounds like a great excuse for a glass of sparkly, whatever it is!

Now, don’t forget to check out the Harlequin Romance Authors Blog on 18 December, when Donna Alward will be announcing details of a special Christmas contest and your chance to win a basket of books contributed by HR authors from the US, UK and Australia. A fantastic chance to sample books from across our great line – we think it’s the best!

Wishing you all a very, very happy Christmas, and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. I hope to see you again in 2010, when I really will try and be less slack about updating this blog – it’s top of my New Year resolution list, I promise!

All part of the process…

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:29:30 GMT

I’ve been doing some more teaching, this time as an evening class on writing popular fiction generally at the university here in York – not quite as glamorous as Tuscany, I know, but just as interesting in a different way. One of the things we’re going to look at is the whole process of writing, so I have been giving that some thought lately. How *do* I write? It’s easy to talk about character or plotting or dialogue, but actually getting the words onto the screen is a much more mysterious process. For me, it certainly involves at least two rubbishy drafts and an awful lot of staring at the screen in despair. The account of my day in About Jessica may look like a joke, but it’s all (sadly) too true.

Now that I’ve started to think about it, I realise just how much time I waste every day. I know I’m not alone in the constant search for displacement activities: I’m always checking my email, in spite of the fact that I rarely get a message, and if I do, it’s never anything urgent. I paint my nails a lot too, or at least I did until I discovered permanent manicures (life changing for those of us with weak, splitting nails) and like to think of this as part of the whole process. The mind seems to require a certain amount of festering time, I think (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it) and the great thing is that you can then justify all sorts of time wasting activities when really you should be slaving over a hot keyboard.

The fabulous Liz Fielding sent me the ultimate time waster other day. (Liz, if I miss my deadline, I’m going to hold you entirely responsible!) Have a go at this jigsaw: Now tell me that you’re not hooked! The great (or possibly terrible) thing about this is that you can upload any photos or images and create new jigsaws. I moved swiftly on from covers to photographs from the Where are You page – the Ouagadougou dancers makes a brilliant one. If you’ve got a favourite time wasting activity of your own, do share it and distract me from the jigsaws - then I can stop blaming Liz for the fact that I’m not getting on with my book!

This makes a nice segue, if one was needed, into fact that Liz and I have books out together in UK this November in the new 2-in-1 format now. I have yet to be convinced about the new covers, I must admit, but the big plus is that along with Under the Boss’s Mistletoe comes Christmas Angel for the Billionaire, which is a truly wonderful story from Liz. I only meant to flick through it, but I was sucked into the story in spite of myself. It’s always a pleasure to read Liz’s books. They all have that magical PTQ that is so hard to define or to analyse. Perhaps it’s all that time she clearly spends ‘thinking’ too! An even better reason to keep jigsawing …

Under the Boss’s Mistletoe is different in feel, I think, butI hope you’ll keep reading when you’ve finished Liz’s book! This is the book I was struggling with so much last year, and which only came to life when I stopped and reread Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, a book I quote endlessly in classes and workshops, because it’s so funny and sharp, and because I love the way he thinks about stories. Re-reading it reminded me that I hadn’t delivered on ‘the promise of the premise’ (pretending to be engaged/planning a Christmas wedding) and so I included what Blake calls ‘fun and games’. I sent Cassie and Jake to a wedding fair and then set up a scene where they had to dress up as a bride and groom and be photographed and lo! the story took off.

And talking of Christmas, here’s some advance warning if you’d like to set yourself up with some holiday reading. In December, Donna Alward will be announcing details of a special Christmas contest on the Harlequin Romance Authors Blog, the prize to be a basket of books contributed by HR authors from the US, UK and Australia. This will be a fabulous opportunity to read across the range of stories in this great line, so keep an eye on the blog to find out exactly when the contest is coming up and make sure you don’t miss your chance to enter.

Finally, if anyone’s in need of even more displacement activity, try and choose your favourite romantic novel of the last 50 years – not nearly as easy as it might seem! The Romantic Novelists’ Association are holding a 50th Anniversary Poll to find the nation’s favourite romantic novel. The poll isn’t open to members of the RNA, but it’ll be very interesting to see what book tops the poll and whether it’s what is normally thought of as a romantic novel. As a member, I can’t vote, but I’ve been thinking about it anyway, and I was quite shocked to realise that many of my instinctive first choices (i.e. Georgette Heyer and Mary Stewart) were actually published before 1960. I think it’s time my tastes moved on!

Tuscany

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:50:23 GMT

I’m just back from a week in Tuscany. Not a holiday this time, as I was teaching a romance writing course, but I had such a good time, it honestly didn’t feel like working. The Watermill at Posara is a lovely old building in a beautiful place, and the weather was perfect, but what really made the week for me was being with other people who were interested in romance.

Some groups never gel, but this one did right from the start, and one of my lasting memories of the week will be sitting around the big table, talking about our favourite books, playing Boggle and laughing. I’d expected to enjoy myself, but I had no idea it would be quite such fun!

We concentrated on the structure of the story rather than on the admittedly tricky business of putting words together in a certain order. No amount of sparkling dialogue or simmering sexual tension will work unless you’ve got all the elements you need to drive the story forward and keep the reader turning the pages, so we started off by talking about hooks, and the importance of creating a situation that forces your hero and heroine together, and the motivations that will keep them together, however much they might want to walk away.

Then we looked at character and the need to think about giving the hero and heroine inner goals, as well as at plotting, dialogue and how to invest a story with sexual tension. And somehow, sitting under a vine-laden pergola, with the garden as a classroom, none of it seemed too difficult …

The course was a mixture of me talking (feedback: too much of that!), group discussions, and working on our own stories. For me, the best bit was listening to people talk about their stories, and playing around with ideas about how to make them work in the group. I found that really exciting and it was amazing how characters and situations started to come alive as we sparked ideas off each other.

Some great stories began to take shape over the week, and I was quite puffed up with pride in them all by the end, although I don’t actually think it was much to do with me. It was about being with like-minded people in beautiful surroundings, with nothing to distract you but the sound of the river and the clanging of the church bell, no deadline beyond the next fabulous meal, and no responsibility beyond wondering if it was time to move into the shade or not …

We had one day off, on the Wednesday, when we took the train to Lucca. I had lunch in a shady café on the Piazza Anfiteatro, and then spent a lovely afternoon fantasising about being Italian and living there in my next life as I drifted in and out of bag shops, salivated in the most wonderful delicatessens and cycled all the way round the spectacular city ramparts.

Here’s my bike on top of the ramparts...

...and these are the ramparts from outside the city, a photo I’ve only included because Carolyn told me it would be boring, so now of course I have to put it in rather than admit that she was right!

But now it’s back to work. It suddenly turned into autumn while I was away, and I have that “new term” feeling: I want to sharpen my pencils, start a clean notebook and get myself organised. I’ve got five separate projects to juggle this autumn, but my week at the Watermill has left me raring to get on with all of them … for now, anyway! I wonder how long that will last??? No holding your breath, anyone!

Sleigh Bells and Wedding Rings

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:59:29 GMT

Mistletoe Marriage is out now in the UK in a Mills and Boon Special Release called Sleigh Bells and Wedding Rings.

The Silver Thaw - Betty Neels

Pretty nurse Amelia Crosbie had never met a more infuriating man than Gideon van der Tolck! As the Christmas season drew nearer, the handsome doctor seemed determined to make someone his bride – but surely it couldn’t be Amelia?

The Christmas Basket - Debbie Macomber

Former sweethearts Noelle and Thom can have a second chance at love – if only they can close the bitter rift between their families with the spirit of forgiveness.

Mistletoe Marriage - Jessica Hart

A wedding could be the answer to all Sophie’s problems. But Sophie’s feelings for her convenient fiancé can’t be hidden. Her deepest wish is that they should say “I do” – for real!

A contest!

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:10:12 GMT

It feels odd to be talking about Christmas when summer is barely over, but I’ve just received big box of the North American edition of UNDER THE BOSS’S MISTLETOE, which is out this November. There’s still no sign of the UK paperbacks, but here is the NA cover again, since it’s such a nice one! The only thing I knew when I set out to write this story was that it had to incorporate a Christmas wedding, and I plotted it with a friend as we walked the South West Coast path in Cornwall this time last year.

The original story was very Gothic in feel, perhaps because of all that dramatic scenery, but in the end the book turned out quite differently – I seem to remember writing quite a lot of drafts of this one, and I changed names of the hero and heroine several times … oh yes, all that angst is coming back to me now! They ended up as Cassie and Jake, though, and now I can’t imagine even thinking about calling them anything else. Cassie is a wedding planner who spends her life organising weddings for other people, but never for herself. She ends up working with Jake, the rebel from her past, to transform an old (Cornish!) hall into the perfect venue for a Christmas wedding … Now all they need is a bride and groom!

UNDER THE BOSS’S MISTLETOE isn’t out until November but I have some spare copies to give away. Just email me and tell me what where your perfect wedding would be and you could win an advance copy. All entries will go into a hat, and I’ll draw three winners in October when I get back from Italy.

What else? It took a little time getting here, but I finally received the plaque for the National Readers’ Choice Award, and as you can see, it makes a fine addition to my study. It has pride of place on the windowsill next to my RITA, where I can see them both whenever I lose my nerve and remind myself that I CAN do it. I am very proud of the plaque, I must say, and very grateful to the Oklahoma Romance Writers for organising the award. My desk looks very tidy, doesn’t it? This is because I’d just swept all the stuff off it and onto the other table for the purposes of the photo – normally it looks like the next photo, and I spend my time hunting desperately through the pile for pens and scraps of paper I’ve scribbled things on, which are always at the bottom! I always think I’m the kind of person who ought to want to work in a calm, uncluttered environment, but in fact my study is always a tip when I’m writing. One of the many good things about coming to the end of a piece of writing is being able to tidy up at last. For some reason I can’t bring myself to tackle it when I’m in the middle of writing – you’d think it would be the perfect displacement activity too, wouldn’t you?

I’m off at the end of September to teach a romance writing course at the Watermill at Posara in Tuscany, which I’m looking forward to very much. It’ll be good for me to get back into romance writing mode, too, as I have to start on my next book … er, now (wish I hadn’t worked that out). So far, I have the characters and a premise and not much more, so there’s a long way to go. But the course I’m teaching will make it all look easy (hah!) This autumn’s course is booked out, but I will teaching at the Watermill next year as well. There’ll be more about the course in October, but if you’d like to find out more in the meantime, have a look at the Watermill’s website http://watermill.net/index.html.