The book is finished and the sun is shining – hurrah!  I typed THE END at four o’clock on the dot on Saturday, and after a drink to celebrate that night am now in full-on achievement mode.  Yesterday I defrosted the fridge, cleaned the oven AND had a major weed/tidy in my poor neglected garden, and now I’ve even got round to updating the blog … am I a machine or am I a machine???  True, I can’t quite bring myself to tackle my accounts, the next big job, but I don’t want to lose the glow too soon! 

Actually, I haven’t yet sat down to reread the whole manuscript yet, so perhaps all this celebration is premature, but it was such an enjoyable story to write in the end, that I’m hoping that bodes well for it.  I liked writing it in the first person, and the guidelines allowed for a lighter emotional conflict than normal, which suits my style, I think.  I’m not that good at intense emotion (except when writing out my own angst, of course)  This book was also the result of last year’s Pick Your Own Romance survey, and it was helpful to have some givens to get me started: a laid-back hero, a sensible heroine, an office setting and a ‘marriage of convenience’ hook.  They don’t actually get married, but they do pretend to have a relationship, so I reckon that counts.  And the winners of the last competition of the year had characters duly named after them: Anne is the heroine’s best friend, and Monique is the hero’s brother’s PA, who plays a critical role in the plot.  The brother is going to be the hero of the next book, so Monique, you may get another mention!

That next book isn’t due until the middle of November, so I have a few months now to work on other projects, which is exciting but a little scary too.  There will still be things happening for Jessica Hart, though.  I’m running a workshop at the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s annual conference in Penrith this July, and at the end of September am off to Tuscany to teach a romance writing course at the Watermill at Posara (I believe there are still one or two places available on this course, so click here for more details)  I’m also offering an evening course in writing popular fiction in the autumn here in York, which I hope will be interesting.

Then, of course, there are still books to come this year.  Next up is Honeymoon with the Boss – more about this book next time – in June and Under the Boss’s Mistletoe for Christmas (are you spotting a boss theme here??)  July will be exciting, too, as Last-Minute Proposal is a finalist not only for a RITA, but also for a National Readers Choice Award.  This year was the first time I’d entered the NRCA, so it was a big thrill to be short-listed for that too.  The winners of both awards will be announced at the RWA conference in Washington DC.  I’d love to go, but will have to see what the next royalties bring at the end of May … Meantime, I’m going to enjoy a breather from deadlines - and this beautiful spring!