new book and radio interview

Current work: off doing meeja stuff today and a bit of library research
Listening to: Crowded House, Together Alone (I just LOVE the guitar on ‘Fingers of Love’)
Reading: next on TBR

Being dozy this week (and also because *cough* I’ve been a bad puppy and not updated my website this month until yesterday - new books are up there now), I sort of forgot I have a new book out this week. Until BBC Radio Suffolk contacted me, asking when I’m free to do an interview. Remiss of me. Apologies.

Anyway. Here for your delectation is Suffolk Ghosts and Legends (aka Scandals, Sieges and Spooks – the stories behind the ruined castles and abbeys, the people who lived there, and any scandals, sieges and spooks). I had immense fun writing this and going out for days with my research team (the oldest member of whom does the driving while I navigate to find what he calls ‘a tiny bit of masonry in a field in the middle of nowhere’, and the two youngest are in charge of chanting ‘are we there yet?’ and ‘we’re starving and the café’s over there’.)

The picture on the front was taken in broad daylight at Bury St Edmunds. I’m saying nothing about the little ghost (but I’m immensely amused by it. Maude Carew, perhaps. Have I mentioned that I love my publisher and their art department?).

I’m actually on the radio today as well. Back on lovely Graham Barnard and Karen Buchanan’s show on the ‘Ladies at Lunch’ spot. BBC Radio Norfolk, 12 noon today (FM - 95.1, 95.6, 104.4, MW - 855, 873 & DAB). Am looking forward to it because it’s always huge fun, and it will be lovely to see Sara and Tessa again. I will be talking about spooky things… (And then it's lunch out. Italian. Wonderful.)

Oh, and I’ve just come across a really nice review of the Norfolk Miscellany from Derek James, the features ed of the Evening News. ‘Extremely difficult to put down… you can dip in and out for months… A little gem of a book.’ Colour me happy.

Also saw said book in Jarrolds yesterday. On a shelf with lighting that made taking the photograph a little tricky (especially as I was trying to be discreet so people wouldn't realise how sad I was being - hence the poor quality of the photograph). But the combination of the word at the top of the display and the figure to the left of my book has really put a smile on my face. I was also at #7 with Norwich: Stories of a City, which has been on the shelves for SIX YEARS now. So that's pretty cool. (Have also been on this particular display shelf with two other titles in the last month. It's really nice to think that people are obviously enjoying these books; I put a lot into them.)

top of the charts – and seeing the wood for the trees

Current work: revisions on fairground book
Listening to: Corelli
Reading: next on TBR

Was delighted on Saturday to see in the EDP that the Norfolk Miscellany is #1 in the Jarrolds local book chart. Yippee. (That’s my third week on their bestseller chart, so I’m really pleased.) (And yes, I’m blowing my own trumpet, but I’m an author and this is local history. If I don’t talk about it, nobody’s going to do it for me!)

As for seeing the wood for the trees… Sometimes, as an author, you’re too close to your book to tell if it works. You read your MS and you read what you intended to say, not what you actually said. Sometimes – no matter how experienced you are – it takes someone else to point that out to you.

Luckily, I have a stellar agent who’s very good at doing that, and in a really positive way. She sent me an email on Friday, pointing out the good bits of the book – and then I got the kicker. It didn’t work for her. Then she asked me two questions: why I started the book where I did, and what the conflict was.

She was spot on about the starting point – oh, duh, why on earth didn’t I start the day before? I can really up the emotional stakes if I start the thing in the right place. As for the conflict… I thought it was a goodie. So I rang her and told her what it was. ‘Great. That works. BUT it’s not on the page.’

Again, she’s right. I’ve downplayed it and left it too long to drop the bombs, and I need to make it clear right up at the front.

As this was my 40th M&B, you’d think I’d know this by now. But hey ho. I spent the weekend revising the first half of the book, after talking over different books with my lovely editor (and warning her not to look at the fairground book because she’s going to have a different version later this week). So I’m focused and I know where I’m going. Good.

Oh, and the result of the editor chat? Sadly, I don’t get my Regency Doctor… well, I can bend him in a little bit provided he doesn’t take over. My time-travel one was a no-no, too. (Though I should add that I am NOT jumping on a bandwagon; I had stuff published in the early to mid 90s that would be classified as paranormal, nowadays. And I’ve been a Barbara Erskine fan for a very, very long time.) But we’ve worked out what I’m doing next, and worked out the conflict that was giving me trouble. Again, sometimes it takes someone else to point something out to you or say something that triggers off your creativity.

Son enjoyed his final cookery lesson on Friday and came home with a really scrummy Black Forest Gateau (which we all liked), and chilli (which I liked but the fussy people I live with refused to try). Bless him, he looked so proud of himself. He has an inset day today (teacher training day). Madam is dismayed to think we’ll be doing something without her. ‘You won’t do anything FUN, will you?’ Bless. She has an inset day at the end of the month, so I’ve promised her we’ll do something fun then.

Happy June and wonderful weekend

Current work: Modern Heat
Listening to: Bon Jovi (at son’s request. DH removes it when he puts my car in the garage. Which I don’t do because I don’t want to scrape it…)
Reading: Crazy for You, Jennifer Crusie (enjoying so far)

Happy June – and here’s this month’s calendar pic. (How many years is it since I spelled out things in alphabetti spaghetti?)


Had a truly wonderful weekend with lots of lovely things happening.

Still overexcited about having a Romantic Times Top Pick (this is a big deal, actually, as it’s my first ever).

Picked up car on Friday morning and it’s a dream to drive – well, not that I got to drive it much on Friday. DH hates being a passenger; he’s such a pain (fiddling with buttons rather than reading the manual first: ‘What does this do?’… arrgh) that it’s much better for my blood pressure to let him drive. He likes the Corsa a lot more than my Clio – and, to my surprise, so do I. There are still things I need to get used to (the remote controls for the stereo are on the steering wheel instead of on a stalk, plus there’s this ‘soft touch’ thing on the indicators that feels REALLY weird) but I have confidence in the car; much nicer than the last two or three months in the Clio, where I’ve been completely paranoid that it’s going to break down in the middle of nowhere.

Got home to discover message from lovely ed: revisions are absolutely fine, she’s pleased with the book, and #39 has been accepted. Whoo-hoo. (Title and release date tbc – working title was The Emergency Doctors’ Second Chance but I’m expecting Marketing to change it to something with more buzzwords.)

Saturday: discovered that the Norfolk Miscellany is in the Jarrolds bestseller chart, yippee. (And Suffolk Ghosts and Legends is now listed on Amazon – no cover yet, but it’s out in 2 weeks’ time. Yippee.)

Sunday: family barbecue – and there’s nothing better than spending time with my favourite people in the world. The weather was glorious and we all ate too much and talked too much and laughed too much, and it was just fantastic. Bit that made me laugh most? When I made cookies in the morning. Son bounces in. 'I can has cookie? LOL!' (While I'd been baking, he'd been on my PC looking up Lolcats.) Son has excellent comic timing.

Today, it’s back to school for the kids and back to work for me. I still haven’t confessed completely about the setting, but I did tell my ed that this is a light and fun and frothy book...

PS Dealing with crows post coming tomorrow.

radio is SUCH fun

Current work: Modern Heat
Listening to: Julian Lloyd Webber, Unexpected Songs
Reading: Sarah Mayberry, All Over You (excellent – can’t wait for the last in the trilogy)

Friday was great fun. I was on the ‘Ladies at Lunch’ spot on Graham and Karen’s morning show with two lovely women – Tessa Shepperson and Sara Lock. We had a great time talking about current issues (including MPs’ expenses – I’ve had a thought there. Wouldn’t it make life easier if there was a dedicated block of flats near the H of P where MPs could stay during Session? True, they need a home in their constituency, because unless they live there they won’t really have a proper handle on local concerns; if the state provided London accommodation – a bit like student halls of residence albeit grown up – surely it would save all the angst? Why do people go into politics, anyway: to change the world and make things right, or for the money? OK. Naïve. Off my soapbox). It was great fun; Tessa’s a lawyer and Sara’s been on Cash in the Attic, and they’re both lovely women. We could’ve talked all afternoon…

Tessa was kind enough to send me her pic to use here – left to right, we have presenter Graham Barnard, Sara Lock, Tessa Shepperson, me, and presenter Karan Buchanan. (Tessa’s account of our spot is here at her blog.)

It coincided rather nicely with my bit in the paper, and lovely Graham kept mentioning that. It was a good pic, too, so many thanks to Steve the genius photographer for minimising the chins :o) and to Angi Kennedy for writing such a nice piece.

Saturday, into town to buy son’s main birthday pressie: a mobile phone. He’s very happy with it. (And yes, we did let him have it early. He has to wait for everything else until Wednesday. And then I will let his dad measure him on the height chart and admit that he’s taller than I am. You know the ‘are you smarter than a 10-year-old’ thing? In this house, it’s ‘are you shorter than an 11-year-old’… no. Not admitting it until he’s 12. Give it five years and daughter will be taller than I am, too. Just all me Garfield.)

Sunday, back on the radio - and just as I walked into the Forum, I saw Rick Wakeman. So I was feeling a bit starstruck as I went into the Beeb. This time I was on Maggie’s Brew to talk about Norfolk Miscellany. Maggie was very kind about the book, describing it as brilliant because it’s one of these ones with lots of bitesize facts and you learn a lot in a short space of time. I loved working on it and I’m very proud of my home county, so I’m pleased that she enjoyed it so much. Angi Kennedy from the EDP said similar things in her piece in the paper, and I’ve had various emails and calls since from family and friends who spotted it and said it was a good piece.

So it’s been a lovely weekend.

Today, I was meant to be meeting my friend Kate (who writes children’s nonfic – her husband is a rather famous children’s writer but I will be good and not namedrop) and we were going to have a walk on the beach and then lunch out. I was so looking forward to it. However, son staggered out of bed this morning, complaining of a headache and feeling sick. Paracetamol hasn’t shifted it, so I’m home today being Mummy and ministering to his fevered brow (i.e. all console games are banned and I’ll keep him supplied with cool drinks/keep an eye on the clock for paracetamol doses). Beach and lunch to be rescheduled – I hate calling off at the last minute, but Kate also has children and is as aware as I am that nothing is written in stone when you have kids. If they’re ill, they come first.

May Day

Current work: outlines and plotting; and revisions for Med

Listening to: Madeleine Peyroux

Reading: next on TBR pile

Today is May Day – and, as it's my first post of the month, it's also calendar day.


Bright, sticky heart-shaped candies. My daughter loves these, though I have to admit I prefer Parma Violets. (Hmm. Am I the only person in the world who liked them?)

Had a really good day yesterday.

Firstly, I got a very special book in the post. A copy of my all-time favourite category romance novel, signed by the author (who is also one of my favourite people - she's incredibly talented AND she's a thoroughly nice woman as well, great company, witty and kind). So colour me very, very, VERY happy.

Secondly, I ordered a proper table for my office to replace my desk. Why? Because my desk is really rickety, part of the veneer is peeling (OK, so it serves me right for ordering a cheapie desk from Argos in the first place), plus the design means I have to be a contortionist if I want to reach the plug behind my desk. I much prefer working at a normal table (and I can have access to my plug again and put my lamp on). I was going to ask for my old table back, but son has been using it to paint his Warhammer stuff and it’s not in a good state. John Lewis had a reasonably priced table that’s the same size as my desk, and they’re delivering it next Tuesday afternoon. Yay.

Am also having a bit of a meejafest. Lovely Angi from the Eastern Daily Press rang to ask if she can interview me about the new book. Am also going to be on BBC Radio Norfolk in the middle of the month, on Karen and Graham’s “Ladies who Lunch” slot.

Oh yes, and it’s May, which means I have new books out this month! Um, quite a few of them, it seems...

First up, fiction: Playboy Boss, Pregnancy of Passion is the second in my To Tame a Playboy duo, out in the UK right now. If you like Greek settings, you'll love where Luke takes Sara as a surprise. Oh, yes - and you might need tissues towards the end. And there's this sweet-natured spaniel who is a complete and utter shoe thief. (Yeah. The same one who steals one shoe from everyone in this house and piles them up in his bed. I think he would be a bit cross if he found out I'd nicknamed him Imelda. Byron, I mean, not my hero.) I'm VERY pleased with my cover: this is one cute man.

Then, in the US, we have The Millionaire Boss's Reluctant Mistress. This is actually a reprint - it was actually the first in my Posh Docs series, Her Celebrity Surgeon. And yes, the family surname is Radley. And yes, you all know exactly where I got the name. I will confess this over on I Heart Presents later in the month, among other little secrets...

And I also have new nonfiction on the shelves: Norfolk Miscellany is what it says on the cover. Whether you've lived in Norfolk for many years or just moved to the county, you'll find new and entertaining information about Norfolk within the pages.

Happy May Day - and may the sun shine on you for the holiday weekend.

Fab weekend

Current work: last runthrough of book
Listening to: Vivaldi cello concerti
Reading: next on TBR pile

Brilliant things that happened over the weekend:

• Author copies of Norfolk Miscellany arrived

• saw a fab production of Joseph at the Theatre Royal in Norwich (Craig Chalmers was Joseph; the whole cast was excellent, and for the delectation of various romantic novelists, I must point out that the guy playing Pharaoh looked like Richard Armitage dressed as Elvis – just go and check out the pics on his website, here – have just noticed from the programme bio that he was involved in Grease. Oh dear. My daughter would definitely want to see that and she’d fall in love with him as Danny)
• went out to dinner with DH and friends on Saturday night (sadly, crème brulee was not involved – but my starter was fabulously kooky as well as seriously scrummy. Take one pile of lovely steamed asparagus, take one soft-boiled egg, take top off egg and add butter from spoon and vinegar from pipette to make a kind of hollandaise, and use asparagus as soldiers. Ha. You know that’s going to end up in a book, don’t you?) (AND for the first time ever we didn’t get a tearful child on the phone – she’s a real daddy’s girl, but I’m the one she wants when she’s tired and tearful, bless)
• saw my fave aunt and uncle on Sunday (wonderful - our first barbecue of the year, and their garden is fabulous - DH relived his childhood playing a fairly vicious game of swingball with my uncle; lovely to see my cousin, too, especially as she's heading towards a milestone birthday and I can tease her about being OLD - and her husband made a seriously gorgeous banoffee pie for pud, even caramelising the bananas himself with a blowtorch)

Hope everyone else had as nice a weekend as I did.

Today is deadline day and I am finishing the book. Am blogging over at Love is the Best Medicine today about mad ideas so please go over and say hello – you could influence the crazy ideas my mind is producing, and you’ll get the chance to win a signed copy of a book…

Finished...

Current work: Modern Heat
Listening to: Crowded House, Together Alone
Reading: next on TBR

Whoops, where did the week go? Oh, yeah. On my deadline. Sorry for going AWOL and worrying people (and thanks to those who sent me an email asking if all was OK). Am very relieved to report that it wasn’t a crisis. I was just a bit caught up in my deadline. The problem with writing The Norfolk Miscellany is that it’s one of these books that takes you off at tangents. (It does what it says on the tin. Lots of facts on lots of subjects.) And the readthrough was even tougher, because I’d come across something and think, Hmm, now I really should check this out – and this – and this… And, two hours later, I would realise that I was starving because I’d forgotten about lunch, and the dog was looking immensely fed up because he was expecting either a walk or a bit of my lunch, and I wasn’t paying attention.

But it is done, printed (which seemed to take all evening), copied to CD-rom along with the jpegs, and I will be posting it to my editor later today. Yes, I know this is the age of technology. But jpegs – of the size you need for book publishing as opposed to low-res thumbnails used on the internet – are better sent on disk. Plus my publisher likes a hard copy.

As well as that, I did check out Barack Obama’s inauguration with the kids, the other day (and best of luck to the man – he has one hell of a job before him); and… what day is it? Friday. Hmm. Thursday, made cups of tea for lovely carpenter and my kitchen is fixed, so I’m a happy bunny.

Plans for today: visit Dad (we agreed to change from Wednesday as it was so icy – and it’s just not worth taking the risk on ungritted, single track roads), then crack on with my Norway book. Am concentrating on fiction for the next fortnight.

Oh, yes. I promised my review. Lovely Julie Bonello from Cataromance has been as sweet as always, and put a smile on my face. (Thank you, Julie.)

Warm-hearted, satisfying and hugely appealing, The Greek Doctor’s New Year Baby is another wonderful Medical romance from award-winning author Kate Hardy!…romantic storytelling at its best! Poignant, enjoyable and absolutely terrific.

You can read the full review here.

I’m also appearing on Maggie Secker’s show on BBC Radio Norfolk on Sunday – I’m her first guest, so I’ll be there just after 3. You can listen online here (click on the ‘listen live’ bit) or tune in to 95.1, 95.6 & 104.4 FM, and DAB Digital Radio.