It takes some time for a modern woman to see past the spectacularly bad dress sense of a spectacularly beautiful man.

Out now, my romantic comedy short story The Truly Awful Shirt Shop, published by and available free from Australian Women Online.

August2009

Tempest

Little Gems Anthology: 2009 Turquoise

When a magical sea nymph rescues a deep-sea fisherman from a life-threatening storm neither can return to their former lives. Tempest is a romantic fantasy about lovers who give up everything for each other. It is part of an anthology of romantic short stories that include the 'turquoise' motif.

Little Gems Anthology: 2009 Turquoise can be purchased from Romance Writers of Australia.

With the publisher

Erotic fairy tale

A modern woman, disenchanted with men and dating, embarks on virtual love affairs with Hollywood's leading men only to find true love in the real world. I wrote this short story as a craft piece and have since worked it into a very modern fairy tale. Like Goldilocks and her porridge, Lisa takes some time to find a man who is just 'right'. This story has been with the publisher since January 2010.

Romantic suspense

I like my romantic fiction heavy on plot and character development. I like to see the characters fall in love while they are pursing their own dreams and meeting their individual challenges. I also like to read about exotic places. When I pitched a contemporary romance to an editor she was as interested in the suspense plot elements as she was in the romance and so I was encouraged to write my first romantic suspense novel. The synopsis and first three chapters have been with an American publisher since October 2009.

In competition

Competitions are a great way to get independent feedack on your work. Not only does the experience highlight ways to change your work, it also places you in a field so you have an idea just how much you need to improve for your work to be competitive when it hits the editor's desk. I am very careful about choosing competitions that I enter. The feedback has to be timely for the stage that I am at in manuscript development and the judge has to be an editor or agent who is acquiring for the line I am targeting.

Contemporary sweet romance

My romantic short story set in France has been in competition since January 2010.

Work in progress

I am hard at work completing a contemporary romance novella that has been requested by an e-publisher.