Now back home and it’s still raining.  I have rearranged my deadlines slightly, and am now supposed to be starting the first book of my ‘city girls’ trilogy, which I need to have finished by the end of April.  The trouble is that I’m a bit short of a plot at the moment.  The workshop I do on plotting a romantic novel is all very well in theory, but in practice my mind’s a blank.  I keep changing my mind about the heroine’s name (currently opting for Phoebe) and although I know how to set up the original situation (mock engagement), I can’t see how I can move it all beyond Chapter 3.  I’m spending a lot of time in the bath, drink in hand, which has proved effective in the past, but instead of inspiration about my heroine’s fictional life, I’m just getting maudlin about everything that’s wrong with my own all too real one.  Still, a block like this is a great excuse to watch soppy videos, reread all my favourite books, trawl through magazines, listen obsessively to CDs (current faves Chris Isaak, Baja Sessions and the soundtrack from Monsoon Wedding) and head for the bar at every opportunity, because you just never know when a stray remark will trigger off a whole new train of thought …  Hey, it’s what a writer’s research is all about!

Back in March, by which time I hope I’ll have got a bit further.  In the meantime, don’t forget about Assignment: Baby, out now in North America!