Anniversaries!

What happens when you have your head down doing revisions is that Very Important Events tend to pass you by.

Back in February we celebrated my husband's birthday (and I didn't miss that!) because it's on a particular day and it was also my father's birthday for 81 years.  So it's a day I'm accustomed to celebrating.

But back in February, too, I just realized today -- two months after the fact -- was another anniversary of an event that basically changed my life.  In February 1985 my second book, Starstruck, was published!

Second book?

Well, yes, but the first one out of the gate. The first book, Dare to Trust, came along two months later. It was followed by the fourth book, Quicksilver Season, two months after that. And the third, To Tame a Wolf, and fifth, A Chance of Rainbows, came out in December the same year.

Thirty years ago!

How could I have forgotten?  Beats me.  It doesn't seem nearly that long -- and yet so much has happened since.

I've met terrific readers in person and via email from many parts of the world. I've made some wonderful author friends (Kate Walker, Anne Gracie, Maddy Hunter, Sophie Weston/Jenny Haddon, the late great Rose Marie Ferris, Michelle Reid, Linda Benjamin/Jessica Douglass, Peggy Nicholson, Antoinette Stockenberg and Pamela Bauer among others).  I've had the privilege of working with many terrific editors who have all done their best to make my books the best they can be.  In the publishing industry I've met artists, and art directors, marketing people, copy editors, models and photographers  -- all of whom have shared their expertise.

Beyond that, I discovered that writing books gave me the chance to learn about so many places and people, so many occupations and ways of life. Without writing, I daresay I would never have gone to bull-riding school!  I would never have learned how to build an 11-ton sandcastle or tend bar or be a veterinary technician or an architect.

If I'd gone to Australia and New Zealand, I still wouldn't have had the joy of a week at Robyn Donald's house with the creek running through it or have glimpsed the Blue Mountains through the fog with Anne Gracie, Barbara Hannay and Marion Lennox, swapping stories along the way.  I wouldn't have traveled along the Cote d'Azur with Jenny Haddon doing research, or trekked all over Europe (kids in tow) to write a book that mirrored our journey -- which we were on so I could write the book.

If life imitates art, art also imitates life.

Just this past week, I lifted my head from doing taxes (why have I never had a tax accountant hero or heroine, I wonder. Maybe art -- mine, at least -- can only be pushed so far!) and looked around for new ideas amid the old.  I dug through old magazines and prowled through new sites on the internet. I read articles and took long walks -- and rediscovered the joy of starting afresh.

It doesn't feel as if thirty years have gone by.  There are these new people on the horizon (new fictitious people as well real ones) I want to get to know.  There are new friendships and old that will intertwine and grow.

In the meantime, while I write, I will count my blessings -- and the joys and friends I've gained through writing books. Thank you for being among them!  You have made my life so much richer and more varied than I could ever have imagined!

Watch for Anne McAllister's next book, The Return of Antonides, in October.  No cover yet -- but she has sent in the art info and is crossing her fingers.

In the meantime, if you Last Year's Bride, as an ebook, or in the trade paperback duo Love Me, Always with Sara Mayberry's wonderful Make-Believe Wedding.

Keep your eyes open this fall, too, for the story of Cole's brother, Clint, who has come back to Montana -- and the life he thought he'd left for good.

Publishing anniversary

 Someone reminded me this week that it's exactly twenty-two years this past Friday when my first book - AN IMAGE OF YOU - was published by Harlequin Mills and Boon in the UK.

It was a dream come true. I'd had three books rejected but this one caught an editor's eye. My crusading, madcap, heroine made her laugh - rare in romances back then - and after quite a lot of rewriting (mostly cutting "background") I got the call. It took longer to get a book on the shelves in those days and it was nearly eighteen months before publication day (by which time I'd written three more books!)

Even today I still get the most enormous buzz when a box of new books arrives but I will never forget the first time. That moment when I opened the package of books, held one in my hand, saw that wonderful cover and could exclaim to the world that YES! I was a published author! Books in the library, on the shelf at my local supermarket and in the W H Smith in the nearest town. The town where I grew up published an article, with a picture. The local paper got involved and then a national. Lots of "Mum Writes Book" headlines!

It was the most wonderful time and the saddest. Within two months both my parents had died unexpectedly (and far too young) and the anniversary is inevitably linked. I'm just glad they were both there with me to celebrate that special day.

Now, exactly on this 22nd anniversary, by some quirky coincidence of fate, Harlequin Mills and Boon have republished An Image of You as an ebook, with a pretty new cover - sadly it doesn't reflect the fact that most of the action takes places in the Kenyan bush, but after more than sixty books covers never surprise me. :)

This will be my last post of 2014 so I just want to thank you for all the support, buying the books and put in a little plug for my new look - once monthly - newsletter. There's a sign up link on my blog