Well, here I am, blogging for the first time, but the truth is that I’ve nothing exciting to report, so don’t hold your breath.  Like everyone else I’ve spent the last few weeks preparing for/recovering from Christmas and New Year.  I had a sad start to the festive season as I had to have the last of my beloved tabbies put to sleep just before Christmas, and Mungo had a dire prognosis at the same time, but he at least seems to be on the mend now.  I spent Christmas in Scotland, and New Year in Wiltshire. 

Most New Year’s Eve was spent on an obstacle course in the dark in the pouring rain ... which I sincerely hope is not an omen for the year to come, although it’s a pretty good metaphor for last year.  Oddly, as you can see from the photo I appear to be smiling, so must have been enjoying myself in spite of everything!

I’ve been back in York a few days now, and have spent most of my time updating and revising pages for the new website.  But now that’s done, I need to get on with the next book.  I had lobbied to do a trilogy in the first half of the year, but after a discussion with my editor, have decided instead to do three books (not necessarily linked) over the course of the year.  This takes the pressure off nicely, but I must be very careful not to fritter the time away but try and do something about the other much-talked about projects (edition, book about Sri Lanka, historical novel) that are stacking up. 

At least I now have an idea for the first book, and I’ve sent an outline off to my editor today.  Once again I’m tackling an older heroine, this time a “successful single” in her forties who has no regrets about not having children or getting married, but who finds herself constrained by the responsibility of an elderly parent instead.  Just today, some ideas came together about the hero, a widower, and his family, and I’m feeling much more positive about it already.  A session with my plotting team is planned for Thursday, and then I will have to start on the first draft.  Even though the deadline is not until the end of April, I know what I’m like.  It’ll be all too easy for me to mess around for three months and still get into a frenzy come April, and I am determined to turn over a new leaf this year … hey, it’s only January, I’m allowed to have a resolution or two to break, aren’t I? At least I’m not bothering with ‘lose two stone’ this year.  There are some things you just have to accept about yourself, and one of mine is that I’m never going to be able to diet. But I’ve been disciplined about writing in the past, so there’s no reason I can’t try to be that again …