The Next Big Thing

The lovely Freda Lightfoot, author of The Keswick Reminder, has invited me to take part in a blog event entitled THE NEXT BIG THING - a series of questions and answers about what’s happening next in my writing life. So here goes:

What is the title of your book? 

Tis the Season to Go Shopping which is one of four novellas in the Baby It's Cold Outside anthology from Entangled Publishing which is released on November 15th.

How did you come by the idea? 

The idea to do four stories set over the Christmas and New Year season and linked by a freak snow storm on America's Eastern Seaboard was a group effort between me and the three other fabulous authors in this anthology - namely Aimee Carson, Kate Hardy and Amy Andrews. I came up with the idea of having my couple stranded in an empty department store on Fifth Avenue on Christmas Day all on my own though - basically because I have this little fantasy of being able to go 'shopping' at Selfridges on Oxford Street and being able to afford anything I want. And then I started to think, how that particular fantasy would be even better if you were doing it in the company of a really gorgeous guy - I mean, seriously? Fantasy sex plus fantasy shopping? It sounded like the ultimate Christmas wish come true scenario to me...

What genre does your book fall under? 

Contemporary romance (with a sprinkling of Christmas sparkles)

Which actors would you choose to play your characters if it were a movie? 

My workaholic heroine Kate Braithwaite is a little uptight and judgmental but once she thaws has a sweet, vulnerable side that makes the hero's heart melt, so I'm thinking maybe Jennifer Aniston.. My photojournalist hero Ryder Sinclair's a bit harder to place because as well as being ruggedly handsome he's got this tender, nurturing, fun-loving side that totally captures Kate's heart... At the moment I'm leaning towards the ridiculously delicious Matt Bomer (check out my Pinterest board for this story), but I suspect a great deal more copious research on Google Images may be called for to be absolutely sure about that...

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

Two strangers get snowed in at a deserted department store on Fifth Avenue and discover that keeping warm one cold Winter season can make your Christmas wishes come true. Plus there's fantasy shopping... Sorry, that's two sentence.

Will your book be self-published or traditional? 

Entangled are primarily an epublisher so the anthology's going to be an ebook in their Indulgence line (very excited about that as  Jennifer Probst's fabulous The Marriage Bargain was an Indulgence, which I loved to bits).

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 

Amazingly for me, as I'm not a fast writer, I wrote the first draft of this story (which is only 18k mind you) in a week. The words literally flowed off my keyboard, I enjoyed writing about these two so much.

Who or What inspired you to write this book? 

Well, apart from my long-standing Selfridges' seasonal sex-and-shopping fantasy, the inspiration behind this book came from all the wonderful brainstorming I did with Aimee, Amy and Kate! In fact we worked together so well we started calling ourselves the Flirtettes - you know like a really cool sixties girl group with big hair and amazing harmonies... Okay, that was probably a bit too much information...

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

That it's in an anthology with three other fabulous sexy, seasonal, snowed in stories from three other completely brilliant writers. I've had the great privilege of reading the other stories so I'm telling you they're HAWT and fab.

Consider your interest piqued!

To close I've nominated three other authors to tell us about their NEXT BIG THING on Tuesday 20th November.

Take it away:

Kate Hardy
Amy Andrews
Abby Green
Fiona Harper