Hhhmmnn … interesting to re-read my last blog and see how confident I was about version #6.  What touching faith!  In the event, it was version #7 that made it to the end – or even version #8, if we’re going to be picky. I was just about to email the manuscript to my editor when I realised that I’d miscounted the total number of words, and had 5,000 more than I’d thought I had.  NOT a good moment.  I had to slash and burn my way through the manuscript again, cutting whole scenes, to get rid of 2,500 words.  I don’t suppose I actually had my eyes screwed up while I was doing it, but that’s certainly what it felt like!  All in all, it was a real Mistletoe Marriage of a book (plus RSI – excellent!) and I feel as if I’ve been lashed to my computer for months.  I let myself have a morning off to have coffee with a friend a couple of weeks ago, and it fel ...

Remember me?  Long time, no blog, I know.  It feels like a lot longer than a month since the party, but the balloons have yet to go down and are currently decorating my shed while I wait for them to deflate as I can’t quite bring myself to pop them.  I was hoping this might be symbolic, but given that I have been horribly, horribly blocked on the writing front ever since, I have had to conclude that maybe not!   I have just restarted this book for the sixth time.  The heroine’s name has changed four times, and is now back to the original (Cassie), the hero’s twice.  These are not good signs!  I closed down, shut myself away and had an excruciating week when I wrote four thousand words a day, knowing that it was all useless, but unable to think of anything else to do.  It was like trying to run waist-deep in mud.  Ugh.

The problem, I eventually realised, was that ...

The 50 Books Party was a huge success and I had a wonderful time, so feel as if I have been well and truly celebrated!  The champagne cocktails were fabulous.  I’m not sure if you can see in the photograph but a friend gave me a box of the sweetest pink and white sugar hearts, which I used instead of a sugar cube at the bottom of every glass.  They were soaked in brandy and then topped up with champagne, and I can absolutely recommend them as a way to get a party going! 

There was no chance to take photos during the party itself, and a ...

As usual, time is running away with me and I am making very slow progress on my current book, in spite of regularly scaring myself by counting up the ever-decreasing number of days left before the deadline.  I’ve been preoccupied on other fronts, not least of which is the preparation for the party I’m having this Saturday to celebrate 50 books … and that will be absolutely and positively the last celebration, I promise!   I have been buying cases of champagne (well, sparkling wine) and candles and making delicious little cheesy biscuits in the shape of hearts but putting off the less exciting aspects of getting ready, like cleaning the house, in the hope that they’ll seem less important in the last

This week I'm blogging on Kate Hewitt's blog where where Kate and I are chatting about the differences between Presents and Romance. 

Unbelievably, October is here already!  This is both good and bad.    Bad because it means I’ve only seven weeks to write the next book and I haven’t written a word yet.  (Why do I do this to myself every time?  I suppose I must need the adrenalin rush, but I really wish I could break myself of the habit.) But good because it means the culmination of all this celebration when my 50th book, Last-Minute Proposal, hits the shelves at last.  I’ve been making such a fuss about it all year that I’ve got blasé about the wh ...

Today I'm blogging over at The Pink Heart Society about settings. 

Well, that’s it … I’m 50 now, and if I don’t think about how old it sounds, it really doesn’t feel too bad – or at least, no worse than 49!  On the plus side, I’ve been thoroughly spoilt and everyone has been lovely and made a big fuss of me, which I’ve lapped up.  Thank you for all your wonderful birthday wishes on the last blog – I was so touched when I found them all.  And the birthday isn’t over yet!  I’ve still got two special birthday dinners, a birthday lunch and a party to go.  By the time that’s over, and

Hi, it's the webmistress here to wish Jessica a HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY!  She's away right now but it would be great if we could surprise her with some birthday messages so get writing and tell all your friends to visit!

This week I'm delighted to welcome back Kate Walker in the last of my guest blogs.  As Kate explains, she was the first other HMB author I'd ever met, and as author of more than 50 books herself, not to mention the invaluable Kate Walker's 12-Point Guide to Writing Romance , who better to help me celebrate that 50 book milestone?  Welcome, Kate!

Some years ago,  back before the internet and easy communication  transformed my life, and the life of every other romance  writer I know,  I asked my editor if there was anyone else who wrote for Mills & Boon and lived anyw ...