Revenge of the Couch Potato

So I finally decided to do it.  There's only so many times I can sit on the couch and watch the kids go out on their bikes with their dad.  Plus, August means two boy birthdays - and both required bikes, so I've become Halfords best customer.   Three days after I bought their bikes I went back - to buy one for myself.

Now, that may not sound like much.  But the last time I was on a bike it was called a Hercules and I was 13.  And I've never ridden a bike with gears before.  I mean, GEARS??  Why on earth does a bike need gears? You get on.  You peddle.  That's it.  What's the big deal.

Heaven help Halfords best salesman.  The colour drained from his face really quickly when he realised the magnitude of the job ahead of him.  He made me cycle around the car park three times, desparately trying to explain gears to me, before letting me cycle home.

And by the time I got home I had to lie down.  I kid you not.  My legs were shaking.

So, now this is me.

Out today on the bikes with the kids.

And shortly after this picture was taken?  I got a puncture.  I kid you not.  I cycled my whole childhood without one puncture. 

So my bike is currently in Halfords getting fixed - after I purchased the years care plan of course!

How much fun can one girl have?

First of all apologies, I'm due to post on eharlequin medical authors blog and it seems to hate me. So right now the only way to post is to do it here first and then copy to the other blog. Some of you may have already seen this on the Minxes of Romance, so if you have, apologies!

The gala dinner with editor from Harlequin and fellow authors

It didn't start well. The train to Newport in Wales was packed with a variety of dogs and children crawling down the aisles. At one point I ended up with two unknown babies sitting on my lap. However once we arrived in Newport I recognised some fellow women scrambling with cases and shared a taxi with the lovely Freda Lightfoot to Caerlon.

Conference is all the about the people.  Last year I met the lovely medical author Kate Hardy, along with Heidi Rice and Kate Walker.  This year, I met two other lovely medical authors Margaret Barker and Jennifer Taylor.  I also had the privilege of meeting two Present authors India Grey and Natalie Rivers, and the lovely Harlequin Romance author Fiona Harper.




Scarlet with Harlequin editor Flo Nicoll




But then there is also the lectures - to give us all a chance to learn a bit more about the craft.  There was a huge range of topics covered in the programme and the hardest thing was picking what to attend. I have to say that this year I was naughty and ducked out of a few lectures through sheer brain drain.

But the ones I attended were fab. The conference started with Celebrations and this year there were a lot of members with good news of sales. It seems great that when we continually hear about tightening purses and less income, writers are still considered a priority. There was an award winning panel with Louise Allen, Elizabeth Chadwick and Jill Mansell all answering questions on how they wrote. I was amazed to learn that Jill Mansell writes all her books longhand with a Harley Davidson fountain pen! I was even more amazed when Fiona Harper (who writes for Harlequin Romance) pulled out her moleskin notebook from her bag and showed me that she writes long hand too - her next book was sitting right in front of me. I nearly snatched it and ran away!

Scarlet with Harlequin Romance author Fiona Harper

The Harlequin editors delivered a talk on being Unpredictable - their latest buzzword. They want new twists on the old stories and are still keen to acquire new authors.

Jenny Hutton and Anna Baggaley from MIRA and Mira Ink gave an overview for their line, highlighting all areas that sell well in women's fiction and teenage fiction. They also have new websites www.mirabooks.co.uk and www.miraink.co.uk

My favourite talk was given by Fiona Harper on getting emotion on the page and keeping it there. You could have literally heard a pin drop in the room while she was speaking. She has promised to put her notes for the talk on her website

The conference ended with agent Carole Blake and her client Elizabeth Chadwick letting us know how they were 'A Perfect Match'. Their working relationship has lasted longer than Carole's two marriages and they were a true doubleact!

It was a perfect end to a great conference and after the long journey home to Scotland I spent the next few days in bed recovering!

But then it was up and off to London with my kids and what did I do?  Something I can never help.  I bought tat.  Lots of it.  My other half cringed in horror when I was let loose in the Harrods Gift Shop.  Any item that had the name Harrods on it - I bought.  And here's the proof.

So what makes a fun day for you?  Attending a conference?  Buying tat?  What will it be??

Scarlet Wilson's debut book It Started With a Pregnancy is out on 2 September in the UK.

Freaking out!

So, as a subscriber to the Mills and Boon reader service my books have just arrived.
Drumroll please......

And my book is amongst them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of a sudden this seems real and completely terrifying!
People are actually going to be able to read my book and comment on it!  Oh NO!
What if they hate it???
I'm also not sure when I will receive my author copies to give to my family, friends and the people the book is dedicated to.  I'm hoping they won't take long.
In the meantime I will sit here shaking, waiting to see if on the 1 August someone will put a review of my book on the Mills and Boon website.
The thought petrifies me!

Nearing the finish line...

So I am nearing the end, about to cross the finish line.  I'm in my final chapter of book three, around 46,000 words and currently charging towards the end.

I'll finish it this week, hopefully have a quick read through for any glaring errors and then send on to my wonderful critique partners.  At this point, my terrible grammer will be highlighted.  My fondness for particular words will be found.  My glaring medical errors or timescale issues will come to light.  

And the - Oh NO!  You can't do THAT!!!  Will also be open for critique.

But that's what you need.  Often I can't see something that my critique partners will spot straight away.  Often I will highlight a sentence that I've rewritten ten times and say "this just doesn't sound right" and a few taps of the keyboard from a critique partner will show me what I've meant to say all along.

Then there is the missing gaps.

You know - that things that were in my head all along for this book, that have just never made it on to the page.  And I thought they had.

So, I'll get asked the question - BUT WHY????????????  And I'll realise I haven't written it down anywhere!

I'm lucky.  I have another month before I need to send my manuscript to my editor.  So that will give me a few weeks to set it aside - enjoy the RNA conference in Wales - make any amendments my critique partners suggest (maybe even hopefully get to read something of theirs!) and then press SEND.

And while that sounds fabulous, we all know at that point the crows of doubt start to circle......

So, do you like finishing and pressing send??

Oh dear.......

My addiction has struck again. Someone mugged me in Glasgow City Centre yesterday and flung this bag at me!  No - honestly they did!
Radley addiction is a serious business.  Does anyone know a cure???

My first book cover!!!!!

So, drumroll please..................here it is my first book cover!!!!!
This is real, it isn't some wild fantasy I've cooked up in my head or dreamed up at night.  I really DO have a book cover posted on Amazon.
So what do I think?  Well, I am a tiny bit disappointed the writing isn't in red - but that's just me.
What can you expect from someone called Scarlet?

And blogger still hates me.  I can sign in to put up a new post, but it doesn't recognise my sign in for commenting on any pages.  Including my own.  I am now named Anonymous.  I have to go and use someone else's computer for it to work.  So what's wrong with mine?  Can anyone give me a clue?

The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

So, thank you Rachael Johns for this award.  Now I need to think up 10 random facts to share with other bloggers.  And since I've done something similar, I really need to find 10 different facts....

1. My book that is due published in September - It Started With A Pregnancy, is really the book of my heart.  To sum it up, a diabetic midwife falls pregnant and starts to freak when she realises she can't control her diabetes the way she used to.  Been there and done that.  Twice.  For someone who has spent their life knowing when a hypoglycaemic attack is about to hit, and could usually always avert it, to have a total change of condition and have NO signs of oncoming hypos is/was terrifying.  I could have normal, rational conversations with people with a blood sugar of 1.2 (normal is between 4 and 7, hypo warning signs usually show when it drops under 4).  Even my family were freaked by it.  And for a control freak like me, well....
2. I'm a trained nurse and health visitor.  I've worked in medical wards, orthopaedics and coronary care.  I've also worked as a District Nurse and as a health visitor I was addicted to the smell - yes, the smell - of newborn babies.  You really didn't want me near your child!
3. My favourite kids were the ones who refused to do the assessments.  The ones who threw the bricks off the wall instead of building a tower.  The ones who you tried to coax to say five single words and all they would say was NO.  The ones who wouldn't draw a circle or a cross but would look you in the eye and take the crayon along the wall.  I like kids with spunk.
4. As a student I was once asked to put cream on someone's APRON.  I was working in the ward from hell, with the Sister from hell, so I pulled the curtains, armed with my tub of cream and thought "Wherever the apron is I'm going to get it."  The poor patient had cream from the top of their forehead to the tips of their toes.  Incidentally, the APRON is the roll of fat that hangs over your belly!
5. I once auditioned for ballet school in Glasgow, but wasn't really sure I wanted to go.  I did ballet, tap , modern and jazz dancing until I was 16.
6. I used to be a good girl.  At school I was known as a goody two-shoes.  I've never done drugs and didn't start drinking alcohol until I was 19.  Please note, I said used.
7. My radley bag collection (from the last post like this) has unfortunately grown.  I now have 18 bags, and a suitcase (which isn't that great!).  All the bags are absolutely essential and none of them I can do without.
8. I wrote my first Mills and Boon when I was 17.  It was a medical and was called Hidden Love and involved a typewriter and that horrible tippex white paper for whenever you made a mistake.  Funnily enough I got a standard R, as it would now be known, and took myself off in a huff for a bit.  I didn't write my next one until 2009.
9. I'm taking my beloved and my kids to Eurodisney this year at Christmas and we are going to stay in the Disney Hotel at the park entrance, all with my M & B advance!
10. I have two wonderful critique partners for whom I am extremely grateful.  Nancy (Sheandeen on eharlequin) and Rachael Johns, both take a bow.  I am not going to forget that I couldn't have got published without you!

PHEW!!!!!!!!!!  All done!

Now, I would love to pass this on to others.  Feel free to download the pic and participate!