News and the Shred

I am in a happy place.  I heard back from my editor today with revisions for book 2.  I am delighted.  This is the book I wrote while waiting to hear back from Mills and Boon about It Started with a Pregnancy.  So, my editor had never heard anything about this story, hadn't seen a proposal and hadn't agreed it at all.  After I got The Call for book 1, I sent this in and held my breath.
So now I am breathing a huge sigh of relief.  I don't need to write something completely different.  I have to make changes, but that's fine.  The revisions seem reasonable so I'm going to bury my head in the sand for the next month and work away on them.
Next, I've joined the Craze.  The Craze for the Shred.  I've heard other people talking about it and finally decided to see what it was all about.  I'm currently only on Day 4 and I'm still at level one of the 30 day Shred.  Apparently if you follow this 20 min exercise routine every day for 30 days you can lose 7-10lbs, change shape and drop a dress size.  Now I hate exercise.  I'm practically allergic to it.  I danced up until I was 17.  Then did nothing for years.  I went swimming for a bit, only because I'm not a particularly good swimmer and wanted to get better.  But it annoyed me.  The grey-haired swimming brigade kept swimming in front of me (going breadth wise instead of length wise - why would people do that?) and as I can't tread water, every time they swam in front of me I sank like a stone.  Recently I've been going to a Zumba class once a week and have quite enjoyed it, but an hour a week is not going to sort out my flabby tum.
So, Shred it is!  I've decided not to weigh myself until the end of the 30 days - so I'll let you know how it goes.

And what do you think of this?  It's my banner for my new website which is being built by a work colleague.  Hopefully it will be ready soon.
Finally a huge congratulations to Leah Ashton, the winner of New Voices who just sold her book to Mills and Boon.  I look forward to reading it!

After the Call...

First of all, thanks to everyone who sent their good wishes following The Call.  You might have been able to tell I was on a high...
So what happens next?  Quite a lot actually.  I wasn't asked to do any final tweaks to my manuscript so have been able to sleep soundly.  My editor let me know that my book will be titled It Started with a Pregnancy and will be published in Sept 2011.  WHOOPEE!
I also had to agree a date to have my next manuscript ready.  I've agreed on the end of May but have just finished writing a medical romance that's a little different.  It's been off to my critique partner and had some changes and has now been sent on to my editor, who will get back to me in a few weeks.
I'm not delusional.  I know that revisions will be required.  And hopefully now I've had some practice I will be better at them.  My big worry is that my editor will tell me she doesn't like it and I'll have to start something new completely.  Because I love this story and I love that it features a profession I've never seen in a Medical Romance before.
In the meantime I've started revising something I wrote last year and has room for improvement - oh, and a POV!
I've just had my first set of Author Alterations sent to me and I plan to work on them tomorrow.  This is the last time I get to see my book before publication.  Yikes!
I also received my contract, which made my knees tremble as I printed it out.  So I just need to sign that and send it back.
I also purchased a domain name for my website and a friend at work is going to build my site for me.
Finally I found out that my first book will be eligible for the Joan Hessayon Prize with the RNA as it went through the New Writers Scheme.  So next year I get to go to the RNA Summer Party!  Yippee!
So how is everyone else getting on?  I know some people are still waiting for their SYTYCW entries and my fingers and toes are crossed for you all!