LIZ FIELDING

THE GREAT ADVENT CALENDAR GIVEAWAY

DAY EIGHTEEN

December 18th

It's getting closer isn't it? Can you feel the excitement building?

I spent the weekend cleaning the house, putting up the decorations, including giving the pigs that guard our gateposts (I know most people go for eagles or lions or pineapples, but we're a "pig" family) their festive scarves. This one is Duchess.
Thank you all for the beautiful "heroine" names you sent. I'll put them all into my name database and next time I'm struggling I'll enjoy picking and choosing from among them.

Naming characters is such a big deal, although on occasion I have been caught out when writing the story of a minor character, wishing I'd given her a different name. I'm very careful these what I call all my characters these days because you just never know!

Like so many of you, I prefer simple, proper names. Ones that are easy to pronounce, easy to read (don't want the eye stumbling every time it encounters a difficult word). Coming up this year, there's Sylvie in THE BRIDE'S BABY, Violet in CHOSEN AS THE SHEIKH'S WIFE and Miranda, in the as yet unnamed followed up to Reunited: Marriage in a Million (always assuming it gets editorial approval).

I'm also supposed to write a short story within the next couple of weeks and I'd love it to be Sadie's (Diana's boss) story. Her name is actually Mercedes and she originally appeared in THE BABY PLAN as a stroppy teen.

We'll see.

Anyway I put all the lovely names in a hat and the best-beloved drew out Eva from Finland (whose name was "Whitney" by the way). The book is in the post, Eva, but it's the busiest week of the year for the Royal Mail so it's unlikely to arrive in time for the festivities.

Today, behind the door is GENTLEMEN PREFER ... BRUNETTES. Nick, a playboy tycoon with an eye for tall blondes, bribes Cassie, a dark-haired pocket venus of a cook, into preparing a seduction dinner for a glamorous colleague. (He told the glamorous blonde that he could cook -- he lied.) Actually, by the time he's getting to the good part, his heart just isn't in it. And as for the blonde, well, that's another story (I refer you to my previous statement about minor characters!)

If you'd like the chance to win this book, email me at liz @lizfielding.com, Day Eighteen in the subject line, your name and address in the body of the text and the colour of the ribbons on the gift that Sheikh Zahir is carrying when Diana picks him up from the airport. It's in the excerpt on the website.