RWA 2012 - part four: plans gone wrong and more food...

If anything, Saturday was even busier than Friday. I saw that Michael Hauge was doing another workshop, so decided to get another fix. Unfortunately, they had given him a room half the size of the one yesterday (which had been full), and people were lining the walls. I decided to sit on the floor at the front of the room.

 It was only after Michael started talking that I realised this was a repeat of the workshop I'd been to yesterday. Note to self: read programme properly before you plonk your bum down. And I was sitting right at the front, facing more than a hundred people. It was going to be really, really obvious if I left straight away. I decided to sit it out for a bit and then creep out after twenty minutes.

Bad plan. As the room started to fill, our illustrious speaker began to get worried about us all cramming in. He turned and asked me directly if I was okay sitting on the floor, especially as I wasn't leaning against the wall. I nodded fiercely and said I was fine, but a couple of minutes later when he said the wrong word, he said: "It's because I'm still worried about her..." and pointed over his shoulder at me. Flip, I thought. I can't leave now! The whole room is looking at me. I'm just going to have to wait a little bit longer...

Now, there may be those of you who are wondering why I just didn't get up and walk calmly out. I asked myself the same question, and I have only one logical answer: I'm BRITISH! It's part of my genetic code to have a really low embarrassment threshold. Add in the fact that I'm a shy introvert at heart and there was only one thing to do - listen to more of the the workshop and hope the pins and needles didn't eat my legs alive.

After forty minutes I was ready to go. Unfortunately, I suffered a bout of pins and needles so strong that it left my right leg totally numb. I could have stood up, but it was likely that I'd fall straight over again. Not the way to make a discreet exit! I just had to sit there a little longer and subtly try to get the blood to revisit my leg.

Yes, I finally made it. But walking those steps to the door was like walking the green mile... ;-)

Thankfully, after the next seminar I could head out for lunch with some of the editors and gals who write for M&B RIVA. If you haven't heard already, Harlequin is launching a new line next year called KISS! It's basically the North American version of RIVA. Stories will have a range of sensuality levels but will be fun, sassy comtemporary books united by a similar tone and 'voice'. Books will be by authors either currently writing for Presents Extra or Harlequin Romance. 

RIVA/KISS authors Kimberly Lang and Heidi Rice

We went to Benihana and sat round a hot plate while our chef cooked our food in front of us. First, he impressed us with his knife skills and then he started cooking our rice. 

Look, he even made a heart with our rice! I don't know if he knew that was significant or not, but I thought it was kinda cute. I had scallops and steak and Oh My Goondess! Heaven. Do we have this restaurant in the UK? I have to find out. Too lovely. (Newsflash: Two branches in London! Yay.)

Behind: Heidi Rice, Kimberly Lang, Aimee Carson, Exec Editor Tessa Shapcott & Susan Stephens

Front: Senior editor Bryony Green, Fiona Harper & editor Lucy Gilmour

A Fun Day

I'm up to London today to spy on Mills & Boon author, Heidi Rice, while she gives a romance writing workshop in Selfridges Wonder Room!

The workshops are today and tomorrow and you can contact tory.lyne-pirkis@midaspr.co.uk if you're interested in attending! (Bit late notice, I know, but why not be spontaneous...it's very romantic!).

Will post pics and some of Heidi's sage advice here tomorrow.

A couple of links...

I'm blogging over at the Pink Heart Society today. Our new Tuesday column is 'Crafty Corner' and I'm sharing a warming winter recipe that my family wolf down, given the opportunity - Lamb & Parsnip Stew with Low-Fat Dumplings.

Also, Marie Clare have done a little piece on the Together Shop in Selfridges, which I blogged about last week.

A very glam field trip

One of the things Mills & Boon has cooked up to announce the launch of their brand new RIVA line is to partner with Selfridges, the famous London department store. On the ground floor, near the Marble Arch end of Selfridges, is the Wonder Room – a section of the store full of bright and sparkly things, like Tiffany jewellery, fine perfumes and designer handbags.

Right in the front corner of the Wonder Room is a new ‘pop-up’ shop called the Together Shop, which be around for six weeks, until just after Valentine’s Day. As the perfect place to find a gift for your valentine, the Together Shop showcases products that go in pairs or are meant to be shared, like salt and pepper pots or tandem bicycles and iPod speakers, but there is also exclusive jewellery and tableware.

Of course, as soon as we mention the word “romance” in the UK, we think of Mills & Boon – and it’s only fitting that there should be tables and shelves of M&B books, displayed against a backdrop of vintage book covers. There are even some of the vintage books themselves in glass display cases.

The Together Shop is selling the new RIVA line from M&B, and Three Weddings And A Baby – even though it won’t be available for a while in high street shops – is sitting there amongst the other January and February Riva releases. Of course, I had to take a little field trip, just to go and have a nose…


Here are some of my pics:

The wall of vintage M&B covers, with RIVA books strategically placed as part of the display.
(Many people have asked if they can buy the posters, apparently!)

All the display tables in the Together Shop are made up of mirrored jigsaw pieces, and here's the little jigsaw-themed label on the M&B table.

A stack of RIVAs, waiting for some stylish shoppers to nab them.

Another section of the display wall.

And if you head off to the Together Shop in Valentines week, Mills & Boon author Heidi Rice will in residence, working on one of her books and giving some advice on how to write your own love story! More about that nearer the time...

Riva Launch Month

I'm really excited, because the launch month for Mills & Boon's new series - Riva - is here!


I blogged last week at the Pink Heart Society about the first four Riva books. Click here if you want to know more or check out Liz Fielding's blog, as she's interviewing all the launch month authors and giving away books!

Anyway...my very first Riva, Three Weddings And A Baby is available online now! If you were a fan of my vintage fashion Cinderella story, Invitation To The Boss's Ball, then you won't want to miss this book, as it is the story of one of Alice's friends - Jennie.

Jennie was the spoiled socialite step-sister of Invitation To The Boss's Ball's hero, Cameron. She upped and eloped in the middle of planning a ball for him, leaving the heroine, Alice, to fill her shoes. As I was writing Alice and Cameron's story I kept thinking about what a juicy story idea that was, and by the time I was writing a happy ever after for Cameron and Alice, I was messing things up nicely for Jennie!

What if...? That's a writer's favourite question, isn't it? What if Jennie came home from honeymoon alone? What on earth could have happened to her whirlwind romance to blow it to smithereens - and how on earth could it be put back together again? Could it? Should it? I just couldn't leave the idea alone.

If you've read the beginning of Invitation To The Boss's Ball, you might remember that in the opening paragraphs Alice is admiring an oyster silk cocktail dress that Jennie falls in love with and buys:

The old oyster-coloured satin had the most wonderful texture—smooth but not slippery, like modern imitations, stiff and reassuringly heavy. Anyone who saw the cocktail dress would just have itched to touch it, and this is what Alice did, letting her fingertips explore it fully, lingering on the crease of the sash as it folded into a bow just under the bust line. This wasn’t just a dress. It was a piece of history, a work of art.

Well, I decided that Jennie should be wearing the very same dress in the opening chapters of Three Weddings And A Baby. It's Alice and Cameron's wedding, and Alice has decreed that Jennie must wear that dress. Jennie, however, has reasons for wanting to turn said dress into a very elegant bonfire! She's kept her whirlwind nuptials a secret, and no one knows it was her wedding dress, and she'd rather wear anything else than glorious oyster-coloured vintage satin. She'd also rather see anyone in the world than the one man who is crashing the wedding to confront her...

Want to know a bit more? Then you read the first chapter! See below for instructions.