Almost finished writing Dangerous Deception. Once I reach the end I’ll need a couple of days relaxation, then I’ll have to tackle the housework that’s gone feral while I’ve been concentrating on getting my characters and plot into shape.

Rogan and Breeanna, the main characters, have been interesting to write. If you’ve read Deadly Tide, you’ll already know something about Rogan, the ex-Navy part-owner of a dive and charter boat operating on the Great Barrier Reef. In that book, Rogan played a pivotal role in helping Chayse Jarrett, an undercover cop, bring some rather vicious criminals to justice. In Dangerous Deception Rogan’s twin brother Liam is missing, and he begins to wonder who he can trust and who is lying to him.

The one person he knows he has to help is Breeanna Montgomery, a woman running from mysterious men who want something they think she has. Men who will kill to get what they want. Liam was hired to find Breeanna, and Rogan thinks she is the key to his disappearance.

Only five weeks to the Romance Writers of Australia annual conference in Sydney. They’re a great group of people and I love taking the opportunity to catch up with them. I just hope Sydney is a little warmer than it was when the last conference was held there. We’re spoiled living here in Bundaberg, as it has the fourth best climate in the world (according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica).

My friend Sara Bennett has sent me her latest Avon book, Kissing the Bride, and I’m looking forward to reading it soon. You’ll find a link to Sara’s website on my Links page.

1st April 2004

I’m beginning to suspect that gremlins live in computer email programs. For the last couple of weeks I’ve had trouble receiving emails, so if I haven’t replied to someone it’s because their email is probably still floating around in cyber space. And no, it’s not because it’s April Fools Day 🙂

Book five, Dangerous Deception, has gone through the research to the writing stage, and is currently giving me a few hassles. I don’t know about other writers, but for me, character motivation has to be plausible. If a character does something, I want to know that the reader can nod his or her head and say, ‘Of course, that’s the only thing they would have done.’

Well, one character wasn’t allowing that to happen, and I realised that she had more facets to her personality than I had revealed. Once I explored her a little further, fleshed out her background and allowed this to show, the motivation fell into place. Just like real people, the more we know about a character, the better we understand them.

Competition Results: The winner of the giveaway of a signed copy of Until Death is Pamela who lives in Tasmania.