Well, the roses have faded and have had to be thrown out, but the bowl and the glow are still there, much aided by not having to do any revisions at all on the last manuscript. If this goes on, I will begin to think that maybe I can write romance after all …

I’m now in the blissful position of having no deadline until the end of October … it feels wonderful! I have to keep reminding myself that I can’t afford to relax too much, as there is very little of the summer unaccounted for, and the October deadline will swiftly be followed by one at the end of November, which effectively means writing the two books together. This is to be a duet, two linked books, and my brief was that one should be set in outback Australia and one in London. For a long time, that was all I had, but then I went out for a drink with the two friends who constitute my City Screen plotting team, and that was all it took for the ideas to start flowing. I’m not one of those who believes that writing ...

What a difference a month (and a prize!) makes, eh? I can safely say that I’m enjoying being a romantic novelist again now, so let’s just ignore my gloom in March!

I struggled to the end of my manuscript just before Easter (phew!), and then was delighted to go away for a couple of weeks and forget about it. I had a lovely time in Scotland, and then back down in Wiltshire, and then, of course, it was April 20th and I had to get myself to the Savoy in London. I had to get up very early that morning, with much grumbling about not wanting to go ( I won’t know anyone/no one will want to talk to me/I hate wearing tights etc etc, the usual pathetic stuff that I should have grown out of, ooh, about forty years ago) but I made it to the train on time. My heels were so high that I could only totter a few yards in them, so I had to wear my ugly, but extremely comfortable, drongo sandals ( not a good look) until I made it to the National Gallery where I was meeting a friend for coffee and ...

Note from the webmistress: Jessica is still celebrating winning the RNA Romance Award but when she returns home I'll get her to give a full report on the RNA awards lunch at the Savoy in London on Thursday. In the meantime, here is a photo I found on fellow Tender author Fiona Harper's blog of Jessica accepting her award. Well done, Jessica!

God, I’ve no idea how people find the time to write daily blogs! Updating this writing diary every six weeks or so is pressure enough for me. No sooner have I got it done than I have to put it on my ‘to do’ list again, where it sits for the next month, taunting me until I get to the stage (like now) where I say ‘All right ! I’ll do it, I’ll do it, just get off my list!’

The trouble is that I haven’t really got anything to say this month. I am in the mid-book doldrums, having struggled to the end of Chapter 6 last night. I hate this stage where it feels like I’ve been writing this story for ever and yet there still seems for ever to go … As always, I have left it to the last minute, and if I am to have the draft finished before Easter, I need to write four chapters in the six days I have left. It’s not unfeasible, and I’ve done it before now ( Contracted: Corporate Wife was written in an absolute panic) but I haven’t even got notes for the ending yet, and I am not entirely sure ...

It's taking a very long time to settle back into a routine after Christmas, and I am finding it hard to concentrate on any one thing, let alone the new book. I am beginning to think that I may have taken on rather too many new projects this year. I feel as if I have thrown a whole lot of balls into the air, and am now paralysed with indecision about how and when to catch them all, with the result that if I'm not careful, I'll end up catching none at all. That's what comes of being cocky and saying 'I'll do that . yes, I can do that . no problem . yes, I'll do that too . and that . and that'. I may be eating a lot of humble pie by the end of the year.

Still, it's early days. I have come up with a plot for my next book, and the synopsis is with my new editor at the moment. It ended up being rather different from the plot thrashed out on the moors that I talked about in December, but that's the way it goes. Depending on my editor's comments, it may change yet again. I'm not proud at ...

I got home yesterday after three weeks in Wiltshire over Christmas and the New Year and am still feeling a bit strange, as if I've suddenly found myself in someone else's house. My computer had a crisis two days before I went away, and I was rather hoping that ignoring it would solve the problem, which is my usual strategy, but sadly it didn't work on this occasion. A new desktop is on the cards. I do quite like the idea of a clean, smart new computer, but get so bamboozled when I try to choose that I end up backing out of the showroom, stammering nervously about having a think about it. I just wish I could find someone who would understand that there is no point in talking to me about rams and megabytes. All I want is to be told what to buy, and for someone to bring the boxes to my house, unpack them, set everything up, ensure that I have everything I need and then to disappear, preferably taking the empty boxes and my old computer with them. Is this really too much to ask

As soon ...

Well, after all the fuss (see last entry) the book went through without any revisions, so I was a very happy – and relieved! – author, and my last deadline of the year has been met … always a good feeling! I have had a very relaxed year, and have enjoyed every minute of it, but things are going to get a bit busier in 2006. I’m starting two new projects, and am committed to writing another three romances, as well as moving my life down to Wiltshire every other month. Oh, and I have already planned six holidays next year, so am not entirely sure how I’m going to fit it all in …

I did dither a bit about only doing two books next year, but was offered the chance to do a duet, two linked books, as well as a stand-alone, and as duets and trilogies can be good for sales I decided I would be a fool to turn it down. So all the holidays and sundry other projects will have to be worked around producing a book by the end of April, another by the end of October and the th ...

Oh, dear, this book is proving hard work. My original idea, which I mentioned in the last entry, turned out to be a damp squib. My editor very cleverly made me work out for myself that plot – and especially the hero – just didn’t have what it takes, so rather than her saying it was an absolutely crappy idea (which it was), I had to talk her through it and eventually come to the conclusion that the hero simply wasn’t heroic enough and it wasn’t going to work. And as soon as she’d got me to this point, I marvelled that I could ever have thought it was even a possibility as an idea. I came up with another plot that night (using the trusty hot bath and gin technique) and this is the one I’m going with … or rather, plodding with.

I don’t know why I’m struggling with this one so much. I’m happy with my hero and heroine, and I know how the plot works out. Perhaps part of the problem was that I had it all so worked out in my head that if felt as if I’d already written the book. Whatever t ...

If you thought I looked smug after my graduation, you should have seen me on July 31st … and in fact, you can, because here’s a picture of me after hearing that I’d won the Rita award for best traditional romance. It’s a bit blurry, but that’s because we’d already been through a couple of bottles of champagne before remembering to record the occasion. I’d finished revisions on my manuscript at midnight on July 30th, and was due to set off on holiday at midday on the 31st. The phone rang at 8.00 that morning, and it was Kim, ringing from Reno with the news that I’d won. As you can probably imagine, it was a huge thrill and I found it very hard to concentrate on my packing after that, but it was the best possible start to our holiday. And when I came back from Turkey, I found so many generous messages of congratulation, especially from my fellow authors, that I got to have the ...

NEWS FLASH! Jessica's book Christmas Eve Marriage won the Best Traditional Romance section of the Romance Writers of America's annual RITA contest.