Chatting with Sandra
August 3: Home from the wonderful RWA conference in San Francisco! I had a wonderful time. Check out the photos in my album! The highlight of the week was when I received a gorgeous gift from Tiffany's to celebrate the completion of my 75th book for Harlequin. Seems hard to believe, doesn't it? And now I'm writing number 76...
Donna Hayes, Harlequin CEO and Publisher, presenting me with my award
July 21: I've begun writing my next book and I'm very excited about it. It will be the first in a mini-series about the Orsini family, whose old-world power and new-world sexiness is exciting.
Book One is the story of Gianni Orsini. Gianni is one of four brothers. They've made it on their own--they're incredibly rich, powerful and, of course, gorgeous. Their father is Cesare Orsini. Cesare came to America in the first quarter of the last century. He was a dirt-poor Sicilian immigrant. Now, he's wealthy beyond belief and, some say, he made that money through connections nobody wants to talk about.
Cesare's sons have never asked him for help. They don't want anything from him. Cesare has been a cold, sometimes unkind father all their lives and his "connections" are not ones they would be proud to honor. But Cesare is old. He knows his life must end soon. And before he meets his maker, he wants to salve his conscience for some of the things he did in the past.
One of those things happened in Sicily. It involved a mysterious theft. Cesare demands that Gianni make up for what he once did. Gianni sees no reason to do it--but will his attitude change when he discovers that "repaying" his father's debt may involve taking a young, beautiful, innocent Sicilian virgin to his bed?
June 25: I'm blogging this week in a couple of different places. We're talking about my new release, the lead novella in HOT CITY NIGHTS!
Click and save 20% off Harlequin Presents
If you can, stop by at IHEARTPRESENTS and at TOTE BAGS 'N BLOGS and say 'hi.'
I've also (FINALLY!) updated
my own blog site. What else
is new? Well, I just ordered some gorgeous new bookmarks to take to the
conference. I'll post a copy here as soon as they arrive.
June 19: This is supposed to be my 'take it easy' time between books. Well, it has... but there's always something to do. This time, it was cleaning out my file cabinets and trying to figure out why I'd save the things I'd saved. And I've been working with a bookmark designer. I thought it would be fun to have some new bookmarks on hand. I've also been working up story ideas for the books on my new contract. I've agreed to do a new mini-series, tentatively titled THE ORSINI SAGA: OLD WORLD PASSION, NEW WORLD POWER, plus a couple of stand-alone Presents based on ideas that have been in my thoughts for a while. No, no, I won't write all these books in a year! It will take me from now until the early months of 2010 to complete them. (Talk about planning ahead...)
But I have been kicking back. My husband and I have spent several long, lazy, lovely days just relaxing. We've gone out to dinner several times. I went into New York City with friends. I've slept late and gone to bed late--my idea of how a day should be lived. And I've done some shopping. OK, lots of shopping, but the big annual RWA conference is coming up fast and I needed some new things to wear. When you work at home, your wardrobe tends to veer toward jeans, T-shirts, shorts, sneakers, sandals... You get the idea. Plus--yay!-- I've dropped a couple of sizes. I've been on a diet for the past few months and I'm back to the weight I should be, which was goal for quite a while. The diet, by the way, is the first I've tried that really works. I'm a yo-yo dieter. You know. Gain 10 lbs, lose 5, gain back the 5 and start again. Repeat ad infinitum and periodically moan about it. This time, I spoke with my doctor. On his recommendation, I went on a low carb plan. Success! No hunger pangs. No yo-yo-ing. I weigh what I should. Now, to keep it that way...
June 06: It's been a wonderful, productive week. I sent in the manuscript I've been working on. The book is BILLIONAIRE PRINCE, PREGNANT MISTRESS, and it's going to be the lead title in Harlequin Mills and Boon's great new series debuting in July 2009. I loved writing the book--and my editor says she loved it, too. I'm delighted. This book will mark the start of the Presents' participation in the Diamond Anniversary celebration of Harlequin in the United States, and we all wanted it to be special. I've also been asked to write an online read for eharlequin for that same month. I did one of the very first online reads and it was great fun, so I'm very much looking forward to this one. I also managed to get some blog material out ahead of time to IHEARTPRESENTS and to Tote Bags 'n Blogs where I'll be talking about my brand new release, HOT CITY NIGHTS. The book contains three new, romantic, sexy, passionate novelllas. And I have to say, I suspect you'll fall head over heels for my hero, Lincoln Aldridge, in my novella, SUMMER IN THE CITY.
click on the cover to BUY at eharllequin.com