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 released then.  This is a book inspired more than most by the problems many of my friends and I face as we try to juggle our different responsibilities, for our jobs, our children, our aging parents … sometimes it seems, as it does to Perdita, that there just isn’t time to think about our relationships too.  As we get older, there’s so much else to worry about that love can get shunted down the priority list if we’re not careful, but luckily for Perdita, she finds Ed to remind her what really matters …

I’m very fond of Perdita, not least because she reminds me so often of my best friend, Diana.  In fact, the very first scene of the book, where Perdita takes a personality test, is based on a conversation we once had after Diana had been on a management course and much to her disgust had been allocated a personality type that she didn’t like at all.  Perdita’s reaction to discovery that she is not, in fact, a dolphin, is Diana’s almost word for word!  So if you’d like to win a copy of Promoted: to Wife and Mother, all you have to do is read the extract, and tell me what personality type Perdita and Diana are.  As I (and Perdita’s friend, Millie) said, I could have told them that without anyone forking out hundreds of pounds for a course! 

Anyway, here is Diana herself, making a rare appearance in person with a guest blog on an insider’s view of the Jessica Hartwriting process.  After that crack about my klutziness, I feel obliged to include a photo of her looking less than her usual immaculately-groomed self!  This was after I had broken her nose on our ill-fated attempt at sailing, but our disagreements over plot don’t usually turn violent, I promise …

 “As I bask in the reflected glory of Jessica Hart's 50th book this year, I know that each tome contains a little bit of me - usually something deep and meaningful like outfits  or make up , occasionally a hero's or heroine's name , more than often an idiosyncracy or utterance which I know, sometimes to my mortification, bears my imprint. If one of Jessica's heroines ever expresses surprise that the fast coloureds setting on the washing machine cycle isn't actually any speedier than the others, then that will be me. I like to think of myself as the intellectual side of the friendship. It's a friendship which I value above any other. Jessica and I were at university together and will both be 50 this year. Try as we might to maintain that 50 is the new 35, it's a daunting prospect and the only way to cope will be to spend the two offending days in each other's company, sporadically helpless with laughter and just the three of us: Jessica, her Wardrobe Mistress and a bottle of malt whisky to ease the pain of clocking up another decade.
 
Even 30 years ago, Jessica expressed an intention to write for what was then Mills and Boon and as someone who used to read them under the desk at school, I've always been enthusiastic about the venture. Through her, I've seen what hard work and dedication it takes, and I seethe when people comment about how easy romantic fiction must be and how they think they'll rattle off a couple one day. The plots for Jessica's books are often conceived when we have our annual girls' beach holiday together. We're usually bobbing up and down, failing to look glamorous - sometimes even failing to remain buoyant - on the Aegean or Mediterranean, and Jessica starts to outline her ideas which I promptly "develop"(= trash) and supplant them with notions of my own. The ensuing battle of wills results in only one victor - damn her - but occasionally a name or the swish of  russet  silk outfit  will survive the cutting room floor. Very occasionally I have a good idea, apparently. I know when that happens because I see her purse her lips in  resentful silence. Petulance is usually a  good sign that I've scored a goal for once. But she offsets that with the customary bleat " But what about the emotional conflict?". That's when I remind her with a  smugly dismissive gesture that all that emotional stuff is HER job, not mine.
 
Her books make me laugh out loud . Jessica says this is because I laugh at my own bons mots but that isn't entirely true. I think a lot of the time I'm recognising in the heroines Jessica's own traits and prejudices. I like the fact that all of her heroines enjoy their food - there aren't many radiccio leaves being pushed round her plates, are there? No heroine has yet been quite as much of a klutz as Jessica is: she specialises in ruining new silk tops with the sauce of her last culinary encounter. I also enjoy the fact her heroines are getting older and - erm - curvier. Their battles in juggling career and bolshie adolescent offspring are the stuff of which my own life is made. Now all I need is a Guy or a Max or a Campbell to stride in and take hold of my life, my failed attempts at DIY and my finances and - oh yes, to love me just the way I am, of course. The settings are always ones that Jessica knows from life and I don't know anyone with more of a knack for conveying a sense of place.
 
If I had to choose one favourite book, it would have to be Contracted: Corporate Wife, I think. My favourite hero is still Guy, who must still be  simmering on the verandah at Willagong Creek as I write. And I think chaotic Poppy in the Cameroon (The Trouble with Love) has been my all time favourite heroine. I love the scene where she gets drunk on palm wine in the village elder's hut, and I still have a letter from Jessica with the real life version of that encounter.  I can't wait to read the next one. If I feign enough humility, I'm sometimes allowed them at the proof stage and have spent many a journey from York to London giggling or blubbing on to the manuscript. I'd love to be able to do what she does but I think Jessica has the copyright to that particular brand of dialogue, wit, essence of place and (yawn) emotional conflict. So I'm more than content to join her ranks of loyal readers - some of whom delight her with personal votes of encouragement - to say congratulations and more of the same please.”

Back to Jessica...

Oh, all right, since that was really quite nice – thank you, Diana! -  here’s a photo of her minus the ice pack on the nose and looking much more herself …

Medical and Modern Extra author Kate Hardy will be blogging here next weekend, and we’ll be talking about writing different kinds of romance, so do come back then.  In the meantime, don’t forget to have a look at the extract for Promoted: to Wife and Mother if you’d like a chance to win a signed copy. Just me here to tell me the animal that represents Perdita's personality type.