LIZ FIELDING

Flipping through an old copy of Writing Magazine I came across a moan from a reader that all the stories submitted at her writing group featured horrible men; of those described, I have to say that the love-louse sounded the most appealing! Where, the writer asked, have all the good guys gone? Don’t decent men make for interesting protagonists?

If I’d had the poor woman’s address I’d have sent her a comfort parcel of “Tender” romances.

Full marks to the College Street Bookshop in Ammanford. My phoned-in order of Beneath the Snow by Caroline Carver arrived next day.

They’ve also got Sophie Weston’s December “Tender” on order for me. I’d been under the impression that M&B distribution was too rigid to deal with individual requests but I’m delighted to discover that this isn’t the case. I’m not knocking the big chains. I love Borders and WHS; they sell my books, so get my full support – and a fair bit of my hard-earned, too! I’ve nothing against Ottakers and Waterstones and when they start supporting me, I’ll return the compliment, but in the meantime I’ll continue to use small business where I can. Maybe it’s my age, but I enjoy dropping in at the local butcher, baker and bookshop and getting old-fashioned personal service along with a bit of a chat.

More good news on the Mills & Boon distribution front in the UK, is that 50 large Woolworth stores are running a three-month BOGOF deal from now until January, which means you can buy two copies of The Marriage Miracle next month -- one for you, one for someone’s stocking -- for the price of one!

Finally, I received an entry form from the Virginia Romance Writers chapter of the RWA for their HOLT Medallion Award so, taking action before it became buried beneath a pile of “later” stuff, I went to hunt out books with the relevant copyright date only to discover that a pile of new books has much in common with my sock drawer; when you need a matching set, all you can find are three odd ones.