Tuesday, November 04, 2008

A WINNER!

This from Trish Morey:

"I've loved the chance to blog and enjoyed hearing about people's favourite places around the world, many thanks to Liz and all who contributed. Sarita Leone's name was first out of the hat - congratulations Sarita! Thanks for putting Chincoteague, Virginia on the map!"

A NEW COMPETITION

I've just updated my website for November and there's a chance to win a signed copy of a book from my backlist. Check it out here

AND SOME UNEXPECTED PRAISE

The Guardian is one of our most prestigious newspapers -- read by the great and good and renowned for its literary snobbery. In the past it has not been kind to romantic fiction, but after the screening of two programmes about Mills and Boon -- one involving crime writer, Stella Duffy, having a go at writing an M&B romance, the other a drama that is queued up on my hard disk waiting to be viewed, they said this:

"The programme is a success too - for one because Stella Duffy, as well as throwing herself into it whole-heartedly, is very good company (not many novelists make good TV). But also because of all the amazing Mills & Boon ladies she meets along the way: the editor, the established writer who's teaching the course in Italy (that was Sharon Kendrick), the aspiring writers, the fans. They're all brilliant, clever, funny, women. Modern, even. But they also understand that romance - and cuppy-kissing - lives on."

By George they've got it! Finally! Romance is not for dummies. We're all brilliant, clever, funny, modern. And romantic. How cool is that!

AND FROM THE SCOTSMAN...

Another newspaper not known for frivolity, comes this:

"Seeking respite from the cursed credit crisis, Claire Black dives into the pool of romance that is Mills & Boon, and discovers that millions of others are doing the same." Read on here

6 comments:

Phillipa said...

Liz - I saw that brilliant documentary and must admit, it trumped my expectations. Stella Duffy was marvellously balanced and sensitive as well as honest about the limitations of our genre, as she had to be, so that the whole thing didn't turn into an ad. She showed that it is pointless trying to force your voice into a genre - but that any novel, literary or genre, must be written with integrity. And she also had Maddie Rowe as an editor... :) one of the best programmes abour romance writing I've ever seen.

Phillipa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lynne Marshall said...

Hi Liz,

Thanks so much for sharing the good news with us. It seems progress is a slow process, but at least M&B is getting some good press of late!

I was even more excited to see that a Medical Romance title by Alison Roberts was mentioned in the extended article link. and I particularly liked that the journalist admitted to having never read a M&B, and refused to go down snobbish lane about them.

I sure wish I could have seen the documentary.

Liz Fielding said...

I thought it was great, too, Phillipa -- and clearly I'm going to have to try harder to get my H/h together on the first page. I used to do it without any effort but as my stories get more complicated it becomes tougher.

Lynne, I loved the journalist's honesty, too.

Snookie said...

I have your blog page bookmarked, but I always remember to go to your home page sometme during the first week of the month! I love your themes!

How long will that website with the documentary be around? I'd love to see it, but i don't know when I'll be able to make time to do it!

Sarita Leone said...

What a lovely surprise! Thank you so much! :)