International Giveaway

Am dusting off this blog to say that I was over at the Pink Heart Society talking about the importance of stopping to appreciate how far you have come every so often. I am also giving away a copy of 'Breaking the Boss's Rules' to one randomly picked commentator from anywhere in the world. So heres the link http://pinkheartsociety.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-3amigas-nina-milne-slowing-down.html

And I shall be blogging more regularly from now on so be warned!

Meet the Main Characters

I was tagged ages ago by the very lovely Jessica Gilmore for a ‘Meet My Main Character’ blog hop. Although I’ve never met Jessica I have followed her blog for ages and I was delighted when she got The Call and was even more delighted when I got to read her wonderful books. If you haven’t already read her latest Summer with the Millionaire I totally recommend it! 

This is the very first time I’ve been tagged so I have sat down and pondered deeply – Olivia is my first main character to be published and go out into the world of readers so she will always always be very special to me. 

So…drum roll please and here goes – all about Olivia from How to Bag a Billionaire

What is the name of the main character? Is she real or fictitious? 

My heroine’s name is Olivia Evans and she is completely fictitious; an image of her dressed cat woman style breaking in to a building to track down my hero popped into my head one day and that was that…she and the book grew from there.  

Where is the story set?

First in London and then in Thailand on the island of Ko Lanta – though I have never been there by the time I finished the research I feel like I had and I definitely will one day…until then I will content myself with living vicariously through Olivia!  

What should we know about her?

Olivia is feisty, determined and fiercely independent - ever since her childhood she vowed that she would ensure that neither she nor her mother would be dependent on a man ever again. As a result she is very work orientated and has built up a successful career as a personal shopper.

What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

Her Dad bailed before she was born and Olivia grew up watching her mother use her beauty to seduce rich men and she knows that men are only ever after one thing. So there is no way she is giving it to them unless it’s on her terms. She equates love/ lust with dependence/ power and it will take a real hero to show her that real love can be a partnership.

What is the character's goal?

When some unexpected news disrupts Olivia’s well-ordered life, Olivia needs to track down Adam Masterson’s father for her family’s sake. The only way to do that is through Adam. Unfortunately Adam is being pursued by a bevy of billionaire baggers and believes Olivia is one of the horde – he wants her but he doesn’t trust her one tiny bit.  So somehow she has to persuade him she is above board and get him to help her. Not easy when she is also fighting a totally unwanted attraction.

Now I am not sure about tagging etiquette so I will provisionally tag Amber Page and Bella Frances as they too have debut books on the shelves. But please note I do not hold them to it in any way at all!!

Author Photos....Eeek!

OK…So finally 5 months and 2 days after The Call I got an author photograph done. What does this tell you about me?

1        I LOATHE having my photo taken

because

2        I am supremely unphotogenic

Now when I look in the mirror I mostly see a face I am comfortable with (except of course on 'bad hair days,' 'stayed up too late writing the night before days' or, 'oops shouldn’t have had that extra glass of wine days') Hmm…Ok sometimes when I look in the mirror I don’t run screaming from the room may be nearer the truth but the point is…

No matter what – if all the stars are correctly aligned, my hair is behaving etc etc,….my photographs never seem to look like me or perhaps how I imagine myself to be.

But I accepted I needed a picture so first I got my husband to take a photo. Make up free, the real me... and...  everyone said how 'realistic' it was. Well...I wasn't sure how to take that - I mean is that good or bad??? (Lovely husband assured me it was good!) But I still wasn't convinced that 'Realistic Me' should be 'Author Me' on a website, facebook etc….

So I called in the expert – a friend who happens to be a professional photographer who kindly offered to bring his camera round and take some shots.

Next I found some make up, conferred with another friend who showed me how to use said make-up and I prepared to put my head on the metaphorical block.

Photographer friend was amazing – inwardly he must have wanted to murder me (Our conversation went: 

Him: Smile 

Me: I can’t 

Him: think of something happy 

Me: Um…sorry can’t think of a single thing 

Him: How about thinking about when this is over?

See what he did – he made me genuinely smile! And he came up with some fab photos - so then came the hard part – which picture to choose and a dilemma. A smile that showed teeth or showed no teeth? See what I went for on my brand new facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NinaMilneAuthor (as for the amount of time that has taken me...well that is another story…) 

But because I’ve done some thinking and decided I look how I look and I am who I am - I have put the real make up free 'realistic' photo of me up here…(on the basis no one will see it… I must embrace the real me!)

Excitement and Fear

Excitement and Fear

AKA MY FIRST BLOG POST - Attempt number 489,543

OK…This is way harder than I thought it would be. I’ve written at least hundred witty meaningful posts in my head but faced with the screen my mind is a blank.

Hmmm…many deleted paragraphs later….I’ve decided to bypass wit or deep meaning and just say a bit about myself

So…I’m happily married, I have three children who are pretty lovely most of the time (and as I have one teen, one pre-teen and one younger one I think that’s pretty good going) and I have just started writing books for Harlequin, with my first book coming out in August.

I worked hard and long and experienced a fair amount of heart ache along my road to publication and now I have got to the bit I never really believed would happen. The exciting bit! 

But it’s not just exciting it turns out it’s scary as well.


Exciting because I will get to hold my book in my hands with my name on it.


Exciting because it is actually on Amazon and in six weeks it will be on bookshelves in real shops. 

Scary because other people will get to hold my book in their hands and then they WILL READ IT (aaargh….) What if they hate it? What if they roll on the floor laughing at the wrong moments? What if they don’t laugh at the funny bits? Or don’t cry at the emotional bits? Or don’t cheer Olivia and Adam on to the ending? Hell what if they don’t even read to the ending?

Exciting because this is a dream come true. Scary because it’s a dream that took me years to achieve and what if it all goes wrong and everyone who reads it… hates it, rolls on the floor laughing…….

Anyway you have probably got the point by now…I’m a bit of a head case about all this!
But of course I wouldn’t change a thing (apart perhaps from my neurotic personality!)

Because the excitement is definitely worth the fear. Because I loved writing ‘How to Bag a Billionaire’ and my hero and heroine (Adam and Olivia) are incredibly special to me and I understand that some people will like it and some people won’t and that’s OK.

And after all what’s the worse case scenario? That everyone will read it and hate it and roll on the floor laughing…..

OK. I am going off to hide in the bedroom with my duvet over my head until August.