I was saddened to hear of the death of Sir John Mills’s widow, Mary, this month - just a few months after her husband. Mary wrote one of my favourite stories, Whistle Down the Wind, which was turned into a beautiful film starring their daughter, Hayley. They lived in a beautiful house next to the church in a village on which I’ve based my fictional one of Penham in my children’s novel, The Audacious Auditions of Jimmy Catesby. My hero’s actress friend is even called Mary. I always secretly hoped that I’d bump into John Mills on one of our walks around the village. You know the kind of thing - you get talking, find how much you’ve got in common, get invited back for tea and become the very best of friends! Well, maybe that’s one of the reasons I write: life is always rather disappointing but I can make these wonderful things happen for my characters so my hero, Jimmy, gets to meet retired actress, Mary Snow, and they become the best of friends! Isn’t fiction great!

A quiet Christmas at home this year - visiting family. I love the twilight time between Christmas and New Year - and completely immersed myself in writing whilst not completely ignoring the glut of films on over the holidays! I’ve also read some marvellous books too. If you’d like to see what my favourite reads of 2005 were, click here.

Lots of beautiful winter walks this month. Here’s a pic of Molly and me by a truly wonderful cedar tree we discovered in the Chilterns.

I’ve just started a children’s novel which feels very naughty as I still haven’t completed Three Graces. But it’s racing along nicely and I can’t keep away from it. In my experience, if that happens, you should go with it and enjoy the ride! Writing my angel novel was very much like that - I had the first draft written in about four months which was quite astonishing as I’m a great fiddler when writing - tidying passages up before I can move on. I’m hoping I’ll have the same speed-writing experience with this one. It’s currently called, The Audacious Auditions of Jimmy Catesby which is quite a mouthful.

I seem to be going in for longer and longer titles. My last completed adult novel was called The Unmasking of Elena Montella, and the next one I want to write has the working title, The Curious Collection of Harry Kitson. I rather like them, but there does seem to be a lot of long-titled novels out at the moment. They’re rather fun, though! I do think writers should strive to be original. There’s nothing that puts me off a book quicker than a bland or unoriginal title. I love the titles of Louis de Bernieres and Amy Tan, and Armistead Maupin’s are always good fun.

No trip to Dorset this month and I’m feeling rather blue. I’ve decided to set up the “Dorset Artists’ Fund for Tomorrow” (or DAFT!) to save up for the next holiday, short-term rent or … possible move? Six years in suburbia is taking its toll and I want to escape to the country!

* * * * * * October* * * * * *

Gosh! I still haven’t finished my novel Three Graces but the ending is in sight (although I have been saying that for some time now!) This is the longest it’s taken me to write a novel and I’m trying to work out why. I had some rewrites to do on another novel and I keep getting distracted by two other ideas for future stories but I think it might be because I’m just a bit in love with the current one and I can’t bear the thought of it coming to an end. Well, that’s my excuse!

It could also be the fact that I’ve been away from my desk again. It’s been a fabulous month for writer-related events. I had the great pleasure of meeting Jackie Collins at a reading/signing in London this month, and my hero, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who talked passionately about organic food and the importance of animal welfare at Cheltenham Literary Festival, and there was also the fabulous ‘Ladies Night’ at Guildford Literary Festival where I met the lovely Fiona Walker and Lisa Jewell.

And then there was another trip to Dorset. Sometimes you just need to escape with a stack of good books and the laptop. Oh, and the husband and dog, of course! Our trip coincided with Dorset Food Week and we ended up travelling back with a rather large pumpkin on the back seat next to Molly!

Great excitement down by the canal this month. They were filming a big-budget adaptation of a PD James novel - The Children of Men - starring Clive Owen, Gary Oldman and Julianne Moore. The footpath where we walk Molly went right through the film set and, one day, we experienced the valley being pumped full of mist from a special effects pipe! Alas, there was no sign of Clive Owen. Just as well, really, otherwise I probably would have gushed and blushed like Honey from Notting Hill.

* * * * * * September* * * * * *

September’s my favourite month and this one was very special because it was our fifth wedding anniversary. We celebrated with a holiday in Dorset, staying in the converted stable block of a manor house with views across the fields to Lyme Bay. It’s such a beautiful area and I’m desperate to make a home there à la River Cottage with a few chickens and some pigs rather than living in a suburb of London where we qualify for free SmartWater!

Here’s a pic of us enjoying a trip around Lyme Bay on board The Sunbeam. Molly - whose nose is just saying hello - was singularly unimpressed by being out on the water but we loved it!

And here’s me on Bobby - the first horse I’ve ridden for 20 years! It was wonderful to be on horseback again but Zara Philips won’t be shaking in her saddle just yet!

Earlier this month, I went to see The Tempest at The Globe which stared just three men and a rope - quite astonishing! The wonderfully talented Mark Rylance played Prospero, Stephano, Alonso and a good many other parts too! Nobody uses pauses and gestures like him and I’ll miss him so much when he leaves at the end of the season. I also had the very great pleasure of meeting Danny Wallace who gave a wonderful reading of his latest book, Yes Man, about the adventures he had when he decided he should say “yes” more. For those who don’t know, Danny is the inspirational leader of the Karma Army and king of his very own country. What a guy!

And I’ve just made a marvellous discovery: Honeycomb Cosmetics. They have the most wonderful range of beauty products which are natural and nourishing. I’m completely addicted to their Gardeners’ Hand Cream and also adore their moisturisers and shampoo. In fact, with all these glorious products and all the lovely Dorset and Devon honey I’ve been consuming recently, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if I broke out in hives ; )

What with holidays, theatre trips and book signings, I still haven’t finished my novel Three Graces . Oh, dear! And the next novel is already tap-tapping at my brain, demanding to be let loose. But I did complete a couple of short stories this month which is quite good for me. Strangely enough, I find novels far easier than short stories, so two in a month is quite an achievement. Anyway, on with the novel …

* * * * * * August * * * * * *

I’ve just received 8 reading copies of my first novel Flights of Angels (to be published in Germany in February as Unter deinem Stern - Under Your Star). It’s so strange flicking through the pages and seeing my characters’ names but understanding very little else. But it’s a really magical feeling to finally hold my book in my hands after all those hours of pouring over a keyboard, dreaming up scenes and characters. It’s so incredible to think that this will soon be on the shelves and that people will be able to buy it and read it!

There was great excitement earlier this month when we took Molly out for a walk along the Grand Union Canal near us. There is a gorgeous old farmhouse with lots of outbuildings and I’d taken my camera along because I thought I might be able to use it as a setting for a future story. Well, it just happened that there were not one but two film companies there: one filming an episode of Midsommer Murders and another filming a drama with Richard Briers whom we spotted from afar. We got talking to the manager of the property and discovered that it’s been used for all sorts of films: Renee Zellwegger parachuted into the pigsty in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Catherine Oxenburg was ‘raped’ in one of the bedrooms, and Black Beauty was also filmed there. I think Molly will soon be getting bored of me walking her up and down there in the hope of a Johnny Depp film being shot there!

It’s been a month of visits to the coast too. Here’s one of my husband’s paintings of Molly and me enjoying a day at the sea.

July brought yet another trip to the theatre. This time to see The Philadelphia Story staring Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Ehle. I absolutely love the old black and white film with Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and - swoon - Jimmy Stewart, and I rather like the musical version, High Society but the play just didn’t work for me. The wonderful ‘hearth fires and holocausts’ scene between Tracy and Mike was completely lost in the theatre and I felt it lacked the intimacy of the silver screen. But it was a great thrill to see Kevin Spacey who gave a very slick performance as CK Dexter Haven (what a great name!) And, of course, I got to catch up with my great theatre buddy, Deborah Wright, an amazingly talented and prolific writer of The Rebel Fairy and Under My Spell. As usual, we had a good old gossip about the world of publishing over pizza and pudding.

I also had the fabulous experience of being part of a TV audience for the new ITV show Nigella. I’ve been wanting to take part in a show for a while as a hero in the novel I wrote after Flights of Angels - Molly’s Millions - is a guest on a daytime chat show. The experience was excellent research and Nigella was absolutely lovely, keeping her cool despite the heat of the studio and a temperamental food blender!

Three Graces is still progressing nicely and it’s now the summer holidays which means my tutoring duties are all-but-over and I can become a full-time writer. I think I’m about half-way through the novel - chronologically - but you never can tell! This one seems to be very out-of-control with new characters evolving all the time, demanding to be heard!

More news from Germany this month. Flights of Angels which is to be published in February next year, is going to have some wonderful publicity: posters, displays and stands and things. It’s all very exciting even if we still can’t find it a home in the UK!

The opening chapter of my ‘second’ novel, Molly’s Millions, came runner up in the RNA’s Elizabeth Goudge Award this month and my agent is thinking of sending this one out very soon to see if we can tempt publishers. I will feel very sad if Angels doesn’t make it over here, though. It still feels so strange that we’ve found it a home abroad first.

* * * * * * June * * * * * *

I was absolutely delighted to discover that my novel, Flights of Angels, has been given a cover already and is on both the Random House site in Germany and Amazon. I think it looks lovely and hope that it catches everybody’s eye when it hits the shelves early next year! The German title translates as Under Your Star which refers to the angels looking after my heroine, Claudie.

Another fabulous experience this month was seeing the musical, Chicago, in London with my friend, Henriette. Brooke Shields was starring as a very sexy Roxy and it was great fun. I particularly loved the musicians who all played on stage and were an integral part of the story. And dear Amos! He always steals the show for me with his song, Mr Cellophane.

I also went to my first concert - Neil Diamond performing at beautiful Woburn Abbey! My friends and family thought it very funny that my first concert was to see a man who’s in his sixties but he was sensational: a true star and artist who has been writing beautiful songs and music since the 60s. Over 30,000 people turned up to see him and the atmosphere was great. Sweet Caroline, I’m a Believer, Play Me … brilliant! The abbey glowed in indigo lights and the parkland competed with a beautiful sunset.

The concert has given me all sorts of ideas for a sequel to the novel I’m currently writing, Three Graces about a modern-day duchess who discovers she has to share her new home, Amberley Court, with a rather eccentric ghost. Amberley, I’m hoping, will be the setting of a number of future stories and I have the feeling that my current hero’s youngest sister will fall under the spell of a mature rock star who holds a concert in the grounds!


* * * * * * May 2005 * * * * * *

Hello there! Thank you for visiting my website. Hope you’re enjoying looking around.

This journal is where I’m hoping to keep in touch with everyone and let you know what I’m up to. It will also be the place to visit to see what’s new on the website.

The past year has been such an exciting one. Not only did I find my beautiful rescue dog, Molly (see photos page) but my first novel, Flights of Angels, was bought by Germany in a bidding war! I’m told it’s quite unusual to have your first book accepted by a foreign country before selling it in its own language first but it’s been the most wonderful experience.

It’s taken a long time but I feel I can really call myself a writer now! I’ve been all sorts of things in the past: civil servant, marketing assistant, personal assistant and English teacher, but I’ve always longed to be a professional writer. It seems to be the perfect job for me: I like being my own boss and making up my own working schedule (in other words, being able to down tools and watch a film whenever I want to) and I don’t mind being on my own for long periods of time. And, at long last, I have a legitimate reason to just sit and daydream … bliss!

There are some down sides to being a writer, though. Because the job entails long periods of sitting down, there’s a tendency to become very lazy. Combine that with regular breaks for cups of sugary tea and biscuits and the result can soon make its presence felt! Luckily, I seem to have solved this problem by becoming a dog owner! Molly, my springer spaniel, takes me for regular walks which burns off those writerly calories very nicely. The rhythm of walking is also very helpful when it comes to thinking about the WIP (work in progress).

Talking of which, I should get on with some writing. That’s another thing about being a writer - it’s so easy to get distracted!

Anyway, have a look around the website. There’s an extract from Flights of Angels which I hope you’ll enjoy. I’ve also put up some photos of Whitby, the setting of the novel. There are writing tips for budding novelists and a fun quiz to find out if you have what it takes to be a writer, and a page dedicated to my favourite books and films! And a links page will take you to some of my favourite websites.

I’ll try to keep the journal updated on a monthly basis so drop by when you can. And, if you have any questions or comments for me, send me an email.

Chat soon!