Michelle Styles:

The BBC in its wisdom has decided to show Rome on two nights per week. In some ways, this is very good as then I get to see more episodes and in others, I have to remember the day!
James Purefoy is definitely worth watching as Mark Antony. And as the whole Antony/Octavian relationship did shape the future of Rome, it is good to have two such strong actors in the pivotal parts.
When I was speaking to the journalist from the Evening Chronicle, we spoke about tv series helping to make a time period more accessible. In other words, more people are interested in the time period because of the series and because they can see that Romans were in most respects people like us.
My prepartions for the e-harlequin workshop do continue at pace and I will put up worksheets on my website. I will also be offering a critque to one lucky (or unlucky) winner from my newsletter.
I have also started my Regency duo -- or at least made a folder for the first one and started to think about the characters. One of the problems when you have written several books is that you have to think up new situations and reasons. It can be so easy to fall into the trap of repeating themes and situations. Sometimes, a theme can take more than one book to explore, but it soon becomes like Twyla Tharp about scratching for ideas in the same place and your work starts to be stale.
I want my work to be improving and that means constantly looking for ways to polish and add more.

Rome started last night on BBC 2. The second episode is on SUNDAY!!!! So while there is not long to wait, I do have to remember the date.
The episode was packed full and I was thoroughly engrossed. It was reasonably accurate as to the main events -- although some of the subplots were slightly dubious. For example -- could Pullio really kill that many men in tavern without basically having a scratch on him. And also why is he sporting a beard? The vast majority of Roman men were clean shaven during this period. And I keep trying to decide which Pullio I liked better...And what was with the strange custom of the Romans wearing belts at funerals -- the whole point was that during the mourning period, you were supposed to go unbelted. But it did hold me within its world.
I wonder if Livia will make an appearance in this series, and if they are going to show Octavian shadowy first wife whom he divorced to marry Livia.

I see that the Roman's Virgin Mistress is now published and available for purchase on Amazon.com. I suspectthat will mean that it is out in the bookstores there as well. It will be out in the UK bookstores officially on 6 July.

As far as I know the piece about me has not yet appeared on ITV News North East, but every night lately I have been watching with the video at the ready...

I turned in my latest ms and now I will start doing my prep work for the next two as they are a duo. I also have a stack of admin plus blogs for other people to write. And the dust in my house has reached epic porportions...

I saw on the BBC last night that the new series of ROME starts on the BBC on 20 June. This is utterly fantastic news as I understand that the second series is even better than the first. And of course TheRoman's Virgin Mistress is out in the shops in the UK at the beginning of July.
In case anyone is wondering, my senior editor has no connection with the BBC and my book was scheduled over a year ago. However, scheduling is a black art akin to witch craft. But I hope it means a very good serendipity for me.
For me, it is always interesting to see how they handled the time period and where they put the emphasis. There are so many ways of looking at a time period, that the only thing one can hope is that it rings true to your reader.

Thanks to Michelle Willingham, I have now seen the review for The Roman's Virgin Mistress in the RT.

It is a pleasant review EXCEPT the reviewer manages to get the hero's name wrong and misspells the location.

The story takes place in Baiae and the hero's name is Fortis. No Balia or Forte are mentioned. The modern name for Baiae is Baia. Minor points but to my mind important.

The reviewer says that I am attempting to capitalise on the popularity of ROME. Although I am grateful to her for mentioning the tv series, it is more complicated than simply attempting to take advantage. When I first began writing about the period, the series did not exist. Serendipity is probably a better word. Or maybe there is something in the ether.
I now see that there are several Viking set films due for release next year. I wonder if I shall be accused of trying to capitalise on them. And what about my Victorian set ones? Luckily North and South has been out for awhile. And I was forced to watch Richard Armitage in that and Robin Hood while I wrote the book, but really liked Toby Stephens in Jane Eyre far more. So Jack is probably a combo of the two.

I write what I write because I happen to like the time periods, not because I want to capitalise on anything. I think it would show. But if serendipity happens, fine. If not, I trust other people will be like me and like the period.