Well, as suspected, I didn’t get the book finished while in London – one and three quarter chapters was the best I could do – and a crisis duly materialised when the chapter I had written while I was there vanished from the disk I was saving it onto. NB: always save onto the hard disk as well! I know this now, as I have been told it by countless men who have sucked in their teeth and shaken their heads at my rashness in entrusting my work to a floppy disk. By the time I’d heard this for what felt like the fifteenth time I was beginning to get a bit tight-lipped, but had to bite my tongue as it was a man who recovered my chapter (my hero!). And to be honest, it was worth enduring the lecture not to have to write it all over again. If it had been left to me, I would still be blubbing and beating my head against the desk with frustration – or possibly hunting round for a hammer to take out my feelings on the computer, because, really, what is the point of a machine that tells you the disk isn’t formatte ...

Writing this diary is a good reality check for me, as it makes me realise that somehow I do get things done, even though it never seems like I’m getting anywhere. Since the last entry, I have not only done a rough draft for the current book, but six chapters of the first draft which is due at the end of March, and it feels as if I have been writing it for ages. Martha and Lewis and the two babies are now quite familiar and I am in love with their house, which has a verandah and ceiling fans and the Indian Ocean at the bottom of the garden. For the moment, all seems to be going suspiciously easily and I can’t help thinking that the plot will be lost very soon. I’ve usually been through several crises by this stage, and am not used to feeling so calm when I’m in the middle of a book. I’m getting nervous waiting for my come-uppance!

Am off to London in half an hour to stay with the object of my affections for the next couple of weeks, so rushing to get this done b ...

This is what’s known as a displacement activity! I am supposed to be squaring up to that blank screen right now, typing Chapter One and getting on with it, but as usual I keep finding all sorts of excuses why there’s no point in starting just yet…

The good news is that I do have a plot, thanks to Stella, who helped thrash out an idea over a bottle of wine and was allowed to name the baby as a reward (she’s already had a name check as a secondary character in Fiancé Wanted Fast!, out May/July this year). She chose Noah, which is, apparently, what she would have called a boy if she had had one, so Noah it is. My heroine is called Martha, and the hero – for the moment at least – Lewis, although I’m not entirely convinced about it. Am not sure why, as I do like it as a name. I imagine a Lewis as a very cool, rational, no-nonsense kind of character, which would make sense for the hero. Will have to see how I get on when I eventually get round to writing a first ...

I meant to update the diary to wish everyone a happy Christmas, but there was so much going on in December that I missed that deadline, not to mention assorted others, and now it’s getting a bit late to offer good wishes for the New Year as well. However, for those of you like me who are only just getting back into the swing of things after the break, and especially for all of you who got in touch with me last year, have a very happy and successful 2003!

I had a wonderfully romantic Christmas, and was all set to glow through the new year, but a computer virus, a real virus, a bruising fall all the way down my stairs, and a tax return have brought me down to earth with a bump. I haven’t done any work for over a month now and I am beginning to feel twitchy. I am supposed to be starting the next book at the end of this month, but am bogged down with my thesis and in any case have got absolutely nowhere with a plot, which is still stuck on baby plus exotic setting. ...

The big news this month is the launch of www.harlequinromanceauthors.com - a joint effort by a number of Harlequin Romance and Mills & Boon Tender to try and alert readers to what a great line this is … contemporary stories that  give you just what you want from a romance.  Apart from news about forthcoming releases, there’s a ‘Day in the life of’ each author – a twist on the standard biographies – and a Café Corner, where you can eavesdrop on the conversations Romance authors have when they get together.  The website was only launched on Sunday, so we’ll be revising it and adding new features as time goes by, but do have a look and let us know what you think. 

Ah, yes, Paris!  Here I am looking very happy in the Luxembourg Gardens.  Absolutely more fun than just writing romance, but have yet to come properly down to earth and am consequently having great difficulty concentrating on the job in hand.  I hadn’t quite finished the last book (now called The Blind-Date Proposal) before I left, but I had been a good enough girl to be allowed to go, and it only took a couple of days to finish it when I got back.  My editor has had a look at it and it only needed a couple of minor revisions, so I’m hoping that as far as the City Brides trilogy goes, it is now two down, one to go …

I am just about to start the second – and hopefully final – draft of the current book, which so far has been going spookily well.  Normally I manage about 40 pages of a first draft but this one is already 95 pages long, and at times I just didn’t seem to be able to shut my characters up.  Of course, not trying to do another job at the same time helped, but generally I think it’s just that some books acquire a life of their own and others, like the one I have just finished, never quite click.  So I’m hoping that this book will continue to write itself ...

Am busily touching wood, though, as updating this diary is a bit of a displacement activity in lieu of starting back at Chapter One, which could be a bad sign.  I’m sure I’ll be all right once I get going though, as this time I have a very clear idea of my heroine, Kate, and the hero, Finn, and where they are (London) and what they’re doing (the usual!), and the assorted secondary character ...