I’m still on page 2, but after a very (very) rough draft, I’ve gone back to the beginning to start the first proper draft of the book, so it’s not quite the lack of progress it sounds.  I’ve done my usual timetable, allocating a certain number of pages per day, and - again as usual – have managed to not give myself quite enough time to finish it without a last-minute panic.  After a very relaxed couple of months, it looks as if I’m going to have to knuckle down at last.

Ever one to put off the moment of truth, however, I’ve decided I’d better update the blog quickly first, as March is coming up fast and I should be doing something about Promoted: to Wife and Mother which is ...

Just a quick update before I head off to London for the Mills & Boon centenary party tonight, but there’s a spur-of-the-moment contest, too, so if you’d like to win a copy of my most recent story, keep reading to the end … I want to do some thank yous before then, though.  First, to Elizabeth Rolls, for her guest blog and for stopping by to answer my questions so patiently over the past few days.  Thank you, Elizabeth!  I really enjoyed hearing about a quite different way of writing.

I’d also like to say a great big THANK YOU to everyone who has clicked on Where in the world are you? I check it every day, and give a yelp of excitement every time I see that a new flag is lit up, or another yellow ...

It’s been a big day.  I have written all of 27 lines, which means I’ve completed the first page of my next book.  It’s only a rough draft, of course, and written in a mixture of past and present tenses, and I haven’t bothered with much punctuation, so it may not sound like much, but psychologically, getting to the end of that first page marks a huge step.  I now officially have a ‘work in progress’, for a start.  I’ve been messing around for two and a half months now, and the longer I leave it, the harder it is to get going again.   Not that I’ve been hanging around doing nothing – I feel as if I’ve been busy, in fact - but the level of displacement activity (don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how ...

Have just made it home after a wonderful but exhausting weekend away, but can just muster the energy to put up a few photos of the party last Thursday.  Sadly, I was late arriving, thanks to a delayed train, and so missed a lot of the razzamatazz.  I could hear it all going on as I was struggling to change into my jewelled shoes in the rather lovely loos, but it was pretty much over by the time I made it upstairs (couldn’t help thinking it was all a bit of a metaphor for my life) and the speeches were just coming to an end. 

Still, there was still plenty of party going on, and the Wallace Collection was a wonderful setting. The crowd was a bit daunting at first, but once I got a glass of champagne and elbowed my way into the throng I found lots of people I knew. 

I promised you some fresh voices on the blog this year, and I’m delighted to introduce the first of my guests, Elizabeth Rolls.  I have to admit that I’m very envious of Elizabeth.  Not only does she write historical romance, which I’ve always secretly felt that I would like to do – what else is a PhD in medieval history for??? - but she also lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills.  As a closet South Australian, I spent a lot of time sighing gustily over the photos of her home on her website, complete with gum trees and an assortment of livestock.  It’s all a long way from York, where Mungo, Douglas and the still-feral Archie are the closest I get to livestock, and my little courtyard garden will never bo ...

OK, settle down and make yourself comfortable, because there’s lots to tell you this time and I want you to concentrate!  I’ve spent the last week scratching my head about how to mark the publication of my 50th book this October.  I have a sinking feeling we’re all going to get sick of hearing about that book, but I felt I had to do something, and rather than wait for a frenzy in October, I’ve decided (with some prodding from Nikki!) to liven up the website all year, so we’re starting now ... 

I’ve got the message that websites need to be interactive, but it’s hard trying to think of something that will involve you without requiring a lot of time and effort on your part.  However, we’ve come up with a couple of ideas, which we think y ...

Thank you so much for all your comments on where I might start the next book. No sheikhs, no royalty … phew!  And the message I got from my new editor was only to write those kind of stories if I could really buy into that fantasy, which I can’t, so I can draw a line under that.  Instead, I’m going back to office settings with younger heroines (good call, Anne and Nell!) and the third one of the year will be a Christmas wedding story.   For the first book, I’m starting with the title originally proposed for the book I’ve just finished, but which wasn’t right for that.  It’s going to be called Cinderella’s Wedding Wish (don’t look at me, I just write the books). 

I spent New Year with friends in Scotland – on the Solway coast, where The Right Kind of Man was set, for you fans of Skye and Lorimer – and on New Year&rs ...

I know, I’m ahead of myself!   But I thought I’d get in early and update the blog while I’ve got a free evening, because otherwise it won’t get done until next year (which sounds longer than in fact it is).  I’m in a strange kind of limbo at the moment, having finished the last book of this year but not yet having any idea about what to do next.  I need to have a chat to my new editor, but in theory I’d like to commit to another three books in 2008.  Apart from that, everything’s a blank.  I don’t even have a glimmer of an idea.  There’s been some discussion recently about the importance of titles, and part of me thinks that what I need to do is start with a winning title and write the story to fit it, but I suspect this is easier said than done, and anyway, it would depend on my editor coming up with the title in question, as I haven’t got ...

Well, my new timetabling system seemed to work, as I managed in the end to send my book in four days ahead of my deadline, instead of the week later I was originally anticipating.  I’m sorry if this sounds unbearably smug, but it did feel good!  I had a last minute crisis of confidence when I reread it on Monday night, but it was too late to do anything about it by then, so I sent it off anyway, and as it turned out I needn’t have worried.  I have already had my editor’s comments back, and she seemed to like it (phew).  I just have to make a couple of small additions, and get the hero to produce a ring in the final scene.  These really are tweaks, as opposed to the tweaks editors sometimes ask for which involve rewriting the whole book! 

I’m hoping to get them done tomorrow, and that will be my writing commitments for the year done and dusted – what a relief!  I&rsq ...

Fortunately Tilly and Campbell got the thumbs up from my editor, and as you can see from my high-tech timetable here I am getting stuck into their story.  I was rather pleased with my staggered timetable – rather than a standard target of 8 pages a day, sometimes I gave myself 5 or 7, and allowed one day a week off, in the hope that I would get ahead of myself and gain a psychological boost from that.  I even gave myself a three page start, but have to admit that so far I’ve only managed to meet my target every day – there hasn’t been a lot of exceeding going on! 

Even so, the book is progressing.  I am currently stuck up a Scottish hillside with Campbell and Tilly, and beginning to think it’s time to get them down & ...