HARLEQUIN'S EBOOK BOUTIQUE.

This past week, Harlequin Enterprises Limited announced "the launch of four digital entertainment ventures, specifically: Harlequin Mini ™ eBooks, Harlequin Mini™ Round Robin eBooks, the launch of the eBook Boutique on eHarlequin.com and a platform for gathering reader-generated content."

The Harlequin Mini ™ eBooks are "short-series eBooks written by Harlequin authors, including New York Times and USA Today bestselling writers—ideal for readers who want a 'quick fix' but don’t have the time for a longer novel." Ten new Mini ebooks will be available during the August launch, with four new Mini ebooks per month afterward. Each will cost $.99 to download.

The Harlequin Mini Round Robin ebooks will be launched by a published author, with subsequent chapters being created by fans and aspiring writers. Downloads will initially be free.

Harlequin Enterprises Limited is at the leading edge of digital publishing,offering about 40 new titles every month in eBook format. As of today, all of these titles will be available in the new eBook Boutique at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/. It will be the exclusive eRetailer for the Harlequin Mini and Harlequin Mini Round Robin eBooks. eBooks from the eHarlequin Boutique will be available in three formats—Adobe PDF, Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket.

"Harlequin has an unmatched involvement, engagement and participation with its readers," says Pam Laycock. "Because of this intimate relationship, Harlequin is going beyond reader participation in the Round Robin to tap the creativity and wisdom of our global community via http://www.writeharlequin.com/. We ask such burning questions as 'What Is Love?' or 'What Was Your Worst Date Ever?' and anyone and everyone can send in responses. A collection of the most appealing answers will be published in a digital format early in 2007 and then later as a print version."

So if you haven't dropped by Harlequin's website lately, stop by and check out these latest offerings!

ARE YOU BEING SERVED?

Read my post Are You Being Served? today at Romancing the Blog!

CLEAR THE DECK.

My husband, John, and I have had a very busy last several days. We got our unwanted deck safely torn down --- no easy feat. But fortunately, John had worked out just how it needed to be removed, so it didn't accidentally smash through our French doors below or do any other damage while it was in the process of being taken down.

So, now, it's gone, and our patio is bright and sunny again --- although it will be a while yet before we can enjoy it once more, as we've still got a lot of clean-up to do. My son, Shane, is lending a hand with all that, and we're salvaging all the wood we can to recycle by using it in another project we have planned for the future.

Meanwhile, John and I have also cleared much of our bedroom and got half the repainting completed. We hope we'll be finished with everything by the end of the week.

In between times, I've been working on my proposal and answering email from readers, which has got backlogged over the last few months. So I hope all of you who have written to me during that time have now received a reply.

In addition, yesterday was my stepdad's 80th birthday. So all the family gathered around for that. We had a lovely birthday dinner and celebration!

A WINDOW ON THE WORLD.

I'm sitting here, gazing out the new window my husband, John, installed in our bedroom this weekend.

Previously, we had a sliding-glass door there, which led to a deck we never used, as we prefer our patio downstairs. So, now that John's got the window in place, the next step is to tear off the unwanted deck, which blocks the sun to our patio.

Of course, since installing the window also meant putting in some new drywall, our entire bedroom now has to be repainted. But since I've been wanting to repaint it for ages, I'm delighted about this. :)

Sometimes, change is a good thing.