Romance.com.au (run by Harlequin/HarperCollins) has the first two chapters of my book up, if you’d like to read them.
Tag: Harlequin
The Week: 8th – 14th July
I did something spectacularly stupid on Wednesday: I tripped and fell onto the glass corner of a piece of furniture – WITH MY FACE! I’ve spent the rest of the week with the right side of my jaw badly bruised, and also sliced in two places. It’s made going out in public pretty embarrassing! I’m very lucky I didn’t do something much worse – or kill myself – so a funny-looking face is definitely the best option.
Lots of work this week – and the realisation I want to change something in my first book, but it’s far too late now! I’m having a bit of trouble balancing historical accuracy with not causing offence to twenty-first century readers:
Writing colonial Australia, and talking about Indigenous characters.
I’m also wading through the seventy-gazillion websites authors are apparently supposed to be on, such as BookBub.
Some of my travel plans have changed, and it now turns out I’d have been able to attend the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Melbourne next month, but it’s too late. (However, I definitely had an “Oh my God, I’m a published author!” moment when Harlequin emailed to ask what parties I’m attending. Apparently you get special – free – perks when you write for them!)
I’d like the opportunity to speak to certain people face-to-face about things, but it’s not going to happen this year. Instead, I’m busy stressing about pitching future books…
Oh, and here’s my review of Contracted as His Cinderella Bride by Heidi Rice.
This Cover…
Harlequin’s new(ish) Dare line is trying something really different with their covers. I can’t stop looking at this one. Unlike so many other category romance covers, the people look so real.
Along with Entangled Publishing’s Autumn line, it’s good to see some characters who don’t look like they’ve just graduated from their teens!
The Week: 8th – 14th April
Saturday Sunset in Canberra
Autumn leaves and bushfire smoke on Wednesday evening in Canberra. There was backburning (where they have controlled burns of the land to lower the bushfire danger) going on in the region.
‘I can get any novel I want in 30 seconds’: can book piracy be stopped?
So: My Big News
^^That’s Mine^^
This is what has been happening in my personal life over the past few months. It turns out there are a few people in the world who think my writing isn’t awful – in the space of a few days I received two offers from two publishers to write historical romance, but only a crazy person turns down Harlequin!
It was really stupid to wait so long before submitting anything. I finally got around to it at the end of last year, and by the end of February/beginning of March it was all happening, and now contracts have been signed, cover design information has been submitted etc. I know how lucky I am that it happened so fast.
This is why I am many, many, MANY months behind with my book reviews. I’ve been trying to get my own books written behind the scenes! I’ve hardly had any time to read.
I AM going to review my remaining ARCs (that aren’t exactly *Advance* Review Copies now!), but it’s going to be very unethical to keep reviewing historical romance books after that. I will continue to post HR book news, however.
After seven years, there’s no way I’m ending this blog, but I will be making some old posts private.
My new website is HERE (sonyaheaney.com), but it’s not properly designed yet. One thing at a time…
Oh, and I have a Facebook page, but there’s not much there yet, seeing as the first book is still in the editing stage!
Romance.com.au
I have no idea how I didn’t know about this site until last night. It is home for all of Harlequin Australia’s imprints, as well as for Avon Romance books etc. However there’s a lot more to it than that.
There is a blog, and there are videos and giveaways. I really like the layout, too. In a time when so many book sites are dying out, I think this one really works, and it makes it easy to shop by genre across multiple imprints under the HarperCollins umbrella.
Check it out here: romance.com.au
Harlequin’s Free Reads
Here’s your periodic reminder that Harlequin’s website is full of free online reads!
Read Bliss?
If – like me – you subscribe to the Harlequin newsletter, you probably got an email recently that advertises “Read Bliss“, which is a new YouTube channel that promotes romantic fiction and authors etc.
I’m still yet to discover what this channel is actually about, but Harlequin has always been great with their social media stuff, so it’s probably worth checking out.
SYTYCW Blog: “Banish stylistic clichés!”
The So You Think You Can Write blog makes for an interesting read when editors weigh in on trends in publishing. They also give advice on things they’re tired of seeing in romance books, and they recently had a post about phrases that need to be retired.
One phrase that is starting to annoy me in historical romance is “gloved hand/s”. When it first started showing up in books I thought it was a great description (especially as a reminder that our historical characters dressed very differently). However, now I see it in every single book, and it has completely lost its impact.
Here are some of the things editors are sick of (and you can read the whole post HERE):
Her mouth formed a perfect O.
She bit her lip.
His smile didn’t reach his eyes.
She looked up from under her lashes.
She touched his hand and felt a jolt/spark of electricity.
(I’ve got to admit to absolutely despising the last one. People aren’t electrical conductors!)
