First of all, a big thank you to everyone who contacted me about Mungo.  I was so touched by all your kind comments and understanding.  All in all it was a quiet start to the year, not least because it took ages for my hearing to come back, but I got up just a couple of days ago and realised that I was quite suddenly better.  I still have a blocked feeling in ears which means my voice echoes disconcertingly in my head when I talk, but otherwise I’m raring to go again …

It’s probably no coincidence that feeling better has coincided with the planning of my trip to Australia this summer.  The whole venture has grown progressively more elaborate, but is going to be fantastic.  My dates have been creeping forward too, but I have finally fixed mid July to mid August and booked my ticket … and my credit card is likely to be steaming for some time to come!  I have an extraordinarily complicated ...

Well, my much-anticipated weekend in London didn’t turn out quite as planned, I’m afraid.  I was on my way to Harlequin Mills & Boon in Richmond for my celebration lunch when I had a phone call from the vet to say that my old dog, Mungo, was in some distress, so I came straight back that afternoon.  I brought him home for a last night, and the next morning sat with him in front of the fire until the vet came to put him to sleep.  Anyone who’s ever had to make that decision for a much loved animal will know what a sad morning that was for me.  I know it was the right thing to do, but Mungo was the centre of my life for nearly fifteen years, and I miss him terribly.  He was very old and a bit crotchety at the end, but I think of all the years of love and companionship he gave me ...

I have set up a fan page for readers who like Jessica Hart books over at Facebook.  Come and join me!  It can be your place to:

• discuss your favourite Jessica Hart books
• talk about when you first started reading Jessica's books
• add pictures of yourself reading Jessica's books
• add pictures of book covers - I've added the covers I have to get it started but there's a few early ones missing
• talk romance books in general

I know I say this every December, but what happened to the year???  A minute ago I was in Tuscany and now suddenly it’s nearly Christmas!  How time flies when you’ve got your head down and need to write a book in double quick time … But it’s done, revised (one short scene expanded) and I’m hoping very much that’s the last I’ll see of it until the proofs.   This story, initially plotted in the sea in Greece, elaborated with the help of the Ladies of Posara in Tuscany and fine-tuned walking along the river here in York is the sequel to Oh-So-Sensible Secretary (I know, what were they thinking?) which will be out in March 2010.  Does anyone remember ...

I’ve been doing some more teaching, this time as an evening class on writing popular fiction generally at the university here in York – not quite as glamorous as Tuscany, I know, but just as interesting in a different way.  One of the things we’re going to look at is the whole process of writing, so I have been giving that some thought lately. How *do* I write?  It’s easy to talk about character or plotting or dialogue, but actually getting the words onto the screen is a much more mysterious process.  For me, it certainly involves at least two rubbishy drafts and an awful lot of staring at the screen in despair.  The account of my day in

I’m just back from a week in Tuscany.  Not a holiday this time, as I was teaching a romance writing course, but I had such a good time, it honestly didn’t feel like working.  The Watermill at Posara is a lovely old building in a beautiful place, and the weather was perfect, but what really made the week for me was being with other people who were interested in romance. 

Some groups never gel, but this one did right from the start, and one of my lasting memories of the week will be sitting around the big table, talking about our favourite b ...

Mistletoe Marriage is out now in the UK  in a Mills and Boon Special Release called Sleigh Bells and Wedding Rings.

The Silver Thaw - Betty Neels

Pretty nurse Amelia Crosbie had never met a more infuriating man than Gideon van der Tolck! As the Christmas season drew nearer, the handsome doctor seemed determined to make someone his bride – but surely it couldn’t be Amelia?

The Christmas Basket - Debbie Macomber

Former sweethearts Noelle and Thom can have a second chance at love – if only they can close the bitter rift between their families with the spirit of forgiveness.

Mistletoe Marriage - Jessica Hart

A wedding could be the answer to all Sophie’s problem ...

It feels odd to be talking about Christmas when summer is barely over, but I’ve just received big box of the North American edition of UNDER THE BOSS’S MISTLETOE, which is out this November.  There’s still no sign of the UK paperbacks, but here is the NA cover again, since it’s such a nice one!  The only thing I knew when I set out to write this story was that it had to incorporate a Christmas wedding, and I plotted it with a friend as we walked the South West Coast path in Cornwall this time last year. 

The original story was ...

Oh, dear, I was very sorry for myself last time, wasn’t I?  I hadn’t realised quite how boring I was, so apologies to everyone who waded through the last blog! I’m glad to report that toothache is now but a distant memory, vanquished by a lovely relaxing week in Greece.  We had the top floor of a house overlooking Stoupa, with an L-shaped balcony that caught the afternoon breeze from the sea.

I could have happily spent the entire week on that balcony, looking out over the bay and to the mountains beyond but managed to drag myself down to the beach at Kalogria, all of five minutes’ walk away.  Soft sand, clear turquoise wat ...

It’s been ten days of such ups and downs that I don’t know whether I’m coming or going today.

I began on a desperate down, with Mungo, my elderly and diabetic Westie apparently very ill, and I went downstairs on the morning of the Friday before last convinced that the time had come to call the vet.  But he got out of his bed to greet me and wagged his tail, and was so much perkier on his walk that I decided to wait a little longer (up) 

He was better enough for me to leave him on the Saturday to drive over to the RNA’s conference in Penrith for the afternoon.  I was giving a workshop called ‘Nobody mention the F-wor ...