I got home yesterday after three weeks in Wiltshire over Christmas and the New Year and am still feeling a bit strange, as if I've suddenly found myself in someone else's house. My computer had a crisis two days before I went away, and I was rather hoping that ignoring it would solve the problem, which is my usual strategy, but sadly it didn't work on this occasion. A new desktop is on the cards. I do quite like the idea of a clean, smart new computer, but get so bamboozled when I try to choose that I end up backing out of the showroom, stammering nervously about having a think about it. I just wish I could find someone who would understand that there is no point in talking to me about rams and megabytes. All I want is to be told what to buy, and for someone to bring the boxes to my house, unpack them, set everything up, ensure that I have everything I need and then to disappear, preferably taking the empty boxes and my old computer with them. Is this really too much to ask

As soon as I have a new system set up, I can start work. I have agreed to write three books this year, the first of which has to be completed by the end of April. I do have an vague idea, but I haven't yet run it past my new editor, and it would be really helpful to be able to get into Word and start working up a synopsis. I'm away for a lot of February, so should really get going as soon as possible. Here's hoping that by the time of my next update, I'll have more to show than 'well, maybe she could do this, and he could do that .... and then, um, somehow it all works out.'