Jan Jones

The 'Write A Great Synopsis' blog tour lands...

2012-01-26T06:00:00.000Z

The synopsis - love it or loathe it, every writer has to tackle one some time. I really don't find them simple and nor do most of my writing pals, so I was delighted when my friend Nicola Morgan casually announced on Twitter one day that she thought she might have a go at a How To...

Not only that, she's done it and jolly good it is too! So I thought I'd ask her a few questions.

Jan: HiNicola, welcome to my blog. Iknow you are on a whirlwind tour, so I won’t keep you long. Thankyou for sending me Writea Great Synopsis.Definitely a keeper, and I enjoyed all the very valuable advice, buta few questions occurred to me as I was reading through it.

Nicola: Hello,and thank you for letting me visit! Is that a Botham’s ofWhitby Landlord cake I see on the table?

Jan: Er, yes. Do cut us both a slice. Oh, you are. [Pause for satisfied chomping] Where was I? Oh yes, inyour acknowledgements you thank everybody who has ever moaned aboutthe stress of writing synopses for giving you the idea to write this book. Did you really not know that lots ofpeople had problems writing them?

Nicola: Iactually really didn’t. There was never a sudden moment ofawareness, just a gradual realization that everyone seemed tocomplain about doing them. Want to know a secret? Just to keep peoplehappy, I used to pretend I hated them, too. I didn’t want to belike that teacher’s pet who loves weekly maths tests. Then Idecided I wasn’t going to be a teacher’s pet, just anenthusiastic teacher!

Jan: Very glad you did! Likeyou, I adored doing précis exercises at school, but I also enjoyfilling a whole book with words. I often think writers hate doing asynopsis because we are unwilling to admit that our wonderfulcharacters, complex plots and witty words can be reduced or cut atall, let alone condensed down to a single page. Do you think that mayhave something to do with it? What would be your response?

Nicola: No,I think that’s an ex-post argument. I’m not sure why it would beso bad to admit that our complexities can be distilled. I think theproblem really is that we’re so close to our book that we can’tsee what to leave out. We both love our book too much and yet don’ttrust it enough to let it stand on its own – like a parent whowon’t let a son or daughter be independent. We’re too emotionallyattached. The difficulty is that we do need emotional attachment inorder to do a good job of distilling the book, but we also needdistance, in order both to omit the right stuff and also to see thewhole picture from an outsider’s viewpoint.

Jan: You are probably right. Now, inthe book, you say: “Thetone or voice of your book is conveyed seamlessly by the language ofthe synopsis.” This is where I get stuck - how to make it so when a synopsis isthird-person present tense narration and most novels, er, aren’t?

Nicola: Now,Jan, I know that you’re a good enough writer to do this withoutthinking, so you are just playing devil’s advocate, for which Ithank you!

[Jan: Ha! Little does she know]

Nicola: Conveying tone by language iswriting – without that skill, a writer has no voice, and writing asynopsis is only writing. I don’t see difficulty in creating alight tone (for example) in a synopsis for a light-toned first-personnarrative and I think it would be the natural thing anyway. Youwouldn’t write the synopsis in heavy, ultra-formal language if yournovel was a modern comedy, would you?

[Jan: er...]

Nicola: The point I was making is thatthe voice or tone of the book does need to be suggested in thesynopsis, not by saying “My book is hilariously whimsical” but byperhaps using the odd phrase of hilarious whimsy in the synopsis. Itshould come naturally, once you know that’s what you’re meant tobe doing. In WAGS, you’ll see several examples – both in the twosynopses that I offer myself, and in the sample synopsis by M LouiseKelly, which I specifically say I’ve chosen because it “nicelyshows how to convey the tone of your story in the synopsis.”

Jan: Thanksvery much - and the best of luck with the book. Where can people buyit?

Nicola: Thankyou! And thank you hugely for letting me come and sit myself downhere today. The cake was delicious. People can buy it (the book, notthe cake) on their choice of ebook site – I’ve tried to gathervarious links on the relevant page of my website but theAmazon UK link is here. Remember, you don’t need a Kindle to read a Kindle book or evenany e-reader at all: with the free software, they can all be read onlaptops or even phones, if your eyes are that good! NB: it’s at asilly cheap price till the end of January!

Nicola also has a fabulous draw going on at the moment. All commentersbelow (by Feb 15^th)will be entered into the Big WAGS Competition, with chances to win acritique of your synopsis by the Crabbit Old Bat herself! One commentper person on each blog – though you can add to your chances bycommenting on the other posts on the tour. Details of all stops onthe tour will appear on her blog Help, I Need A Publisher as they go out.

Happysynopsis-writing!

Penny Jordan

2012-01-17T15:18:00.001Z

This is going to be a hard post to write. Yesterday I attended the funeral of friend and writer Penny Jordan. Penny was 65, but looked and acted and had the drive and outlook of someone far, far younger. We were members of the same email group, to which she was posting right up until the day we heard that she had been taken into hospital gravely ill.

It was cancer. We'd known she had 'boring tummy trouble' for quite a while, but no one had any idea how serious it was. She hadn't wanted it widely known, because she didn't want to be treated any differently to normal.

Penny always knew what she wanted. She was a perfectionist in her home and in her writing and in the wonderful parties that she threw. She was also modest and unassuming. These twin facets of her character were reflected in her funeral and the gathering that followed. There must have been something like two hundred people in the very handsome St Mary's Church, Nantwich. Wintry sun flooded through the stained glass to light up the brickwork with unexpected colour. Everyone in their best - not necessarily black - as Penny had asked. There were family, friends, neighbours, writers, editors, publishers, representatives of the RNA, of her local chapter and email groups, other people Penny had worked with over the years.

The service was simple, but uplifting. A compassionate vicar, poems read by her nieces, heartfelt singing, the coffin - absurdly slight for such a hard-working, dynamic person - mounded with white roses.

And then afterwards at the elegant restaurant she often went to, with good food, good wine, good company.

I believe she was with us, slipping in between the guests, just checking all was well. Rest in peace, Penny. You will never be forgotten.

Penny wrote as Penny Jordan for Harlequin Mills&Boon and as Annie Groves for HarperCollins. She was awarded a Lifetime Achievement star by the Romantic Novelists' Association in 2011.
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Wet Sundays

2012-01-13T22:26:00.001Z

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I haven't posted a poem for a while, so here's one for the weekend. When my kids were younger, we used to spend a lot of time at the swimming pool!

Rainways by Jan Jones

Hurrying along the rainways
Mums with bags and children shouting in front
Passing posers from the squash courts pretending it’s dry
Kids in threes, rolled towels
Oldest one hand tight on money

Then

Inching delicious, past grave babies slowly rotating
Plunging silk ripples, sea-person hair
Lightflight fantastic
Oiled limbs
Untrammelled
Blue laughter, blue laughter, blue laughter

Children scramble free
Restless to do everything
Pirate slide, bubble seats, giant floats
Warm water, cold water, blue flume, black flume

Detached on the side, half-smiling
Girls whose swimsuits never get wet
Ankles dangling

And in the middle, Sunday fathers
Centred on their vanished world
Buying love, attention, anything on the menu
Desperate for a fleeting touch, hauling minutes out to hours
Fixing this pain in their memory
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A Sense of Perspective

2011-12-30T17:24:00.002Z

This was my birthday loot - gorgeous, eh? A whacking great crate of booze.

Except it isn't, of course. When seen in perspective, it is an elegant small crate of liqueur chocolates.

Which made me think - there are times when everything happens at once. I feel a bit off-colour, perhaps, or a piece of writing has taken longer than I expected, and all of a sudden the small jobs are all bumping into each other and spilling off the To Do list and events seem to spiral out of control.

But today I heard some grim news about a friend that made all my clicketty, fidgetty worries fall silent.

So this year I'm going to keep things in perspective. I'm going to widen my field of vision and decide what is important at any one time.

And I'll start with a liqueur chocolate, that pencil and the next scene in the serial-in-progress.

Happy balancing act to you all.
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Birthday roses and ginger brack

2011-12-24T00:30:00.001Z

When my mother was alive, she used to give me flowers every week. Partly this was to say thank you for taking her shopping and running her around. Mostly it was because she thought they brightened a place up and besides, she liked buying flowers.

Since she died, I've tended not to buy flowers for myself. Not sure why, it just felt slightly wrong. Now and again, though, when I see some particularly pretty ones, I feel a sharp prod in my back and a voice in my head telling me to stop messing about and for goodness sake put them in the trolley.

Which is why I bought these today for my birthday. I could feel the approval as I went through the checkout.

And because it is my birthday, I am also eating Ginger Brack and drinking tea. She would have approved of that too.

[Ginger brack from the wonderful Bothams of Whitby]

A different kind of launch!

2011-12-01T21:01:00.001Z

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Yesterday I went to the launch of Beryl Kingston’s new novel from Hale: Off The Rails about George Hudson of York. Born in 1800, Lord Mayor of York for three terms and known as the 'Railway King' because of his assiduity in becoming chairman of as many Railway Companies as possible, he was a colourful and not always fiscally responsible character. Indeed, his creative accounting led to his being imprisoned later on in his career.

The launch was held in York's Holy Trinity Church with its Georgian box pews, giving a semblance of privacy to the worshippers - and as we discovered, cutting off the worst of the draughts! It was lovely for me sitting in the pews and imagining what my own characters might get up to in the semi-privacy. Some of the pews were large family ones and some were a lot smaller. Certainly hands touching when sharing hymn books and feet rubbing against each other would not have been an impossibility.

Beryl Kingston with 'George Hudson'

Ahem. Back to Beryl's launch. The pulpit is a central one (giving a landscape feel to the church rather than a portrait one) and the ‘difference’ in this launch was that a local actor used the pulpit as a focal point for a dramatic monologue by ‘George Hudson’ himself, romping entertainingly through his timeline. I shall, of course, read the book, but the dramatic content brought the man very vividly to life and will enhance the experience.

The mulled wine and sausage rolls that followed were more than welcome on a very cold day!

[Many thanks to Holy Trinity and Mike Jarman for photographs]
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Penny Plain - final part

2011-11-26T22:58:00.001Z

The final part of Penny Plain is now out. All the loose ends get identified and tidied away neatly, just as they should.

I'm going to miss seeing the illustrations each week

A Wonderful Coincidence

2011-11-19T15:54:00.001Z

The story behind Part Three of this year's Penny Plain Mysteries is one of those serendipitous coincidences that we are told never to use in our writing, because no one would believe it. But this one DID happen, so I did use it - albeit in a fictitious manner.

Earlier this year, when I was writing the second series of Penny Plain, I received an email through my website from Betty, now living in Canada, to say that she always had People's Friend sent to her from the UK and had thoroughly enjoyed the first Penny Plain story.

Betty in 'them thar' days

She went on to say that she had particularly liked the unusual jigsaw-code-breaking strand, and mentioned that back in the 1950s she had worked on aircraft crash data, trying to establish the weak points in the new aeroplanes then being developed.

At which point I leapt off my chair shouting "Yes, yes, yes!" and "FABULOUS!" and "I don't believe it!" Because - as I immediately emailed back to her - I was at that very moment writing the new series of Penny Plain which included a mysteriously crashed plane from the 1950s!

We have since kept up a regular email correspondance, and I was so grateful for the easiest research ever, that I wrote Betty - in very fictionalised form - into this week's episode.

Whetted your appetite? Good - go buy it.

Penny Plain - episode two

2011-11-09T11:11:00.000Z

The second part of The Penny Plain Mysteries is out today. This episode centres on the rather worrying goings on at Fellside Farm. I love the way the illustrator has captured a typical Lake District farm with the hills in the background.

And the ice cream? What does that have to do with the story? You'll never know unless you buy the issue.

Penny Plain rides again!

2011-11-03T12:46:00.003Z

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Where is the year going? I delivered the second Penny Plain Mysteries serial back in the spring and thought of the November publication date as months away. Which it was, of course. So I forgot about it and got on with other projects.

So imagine my surprise when I opened up the first page of this week's People's Friend to find this! (Several other people in my aisle of the supermarket were likewise surprised. One lady rushed over thinking I was having a minor heart attack.)

It's the first time I'd seen the illustration and I love the way the artist (Ruth Blair) has got the characters just right.

It's another four part serial involving - oh, let me see - 1950s aircraft, the Women's Institute... and ice cream. And an overarching mystery and a few other bits and pieces as well.

You'll have to buy it to find out. Just like the lady in the supermarket.
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RNA Regency Day

2011-10-12T12:38:00.004+01:00

To St James, on Saturday, to the Regency Celebration at the Royal Over-Seas League run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. It being cool, I wore my sturdy cotton day dress with a useful shawl about my shoulders.

I was conducted to a vastly elegant salon, with a prodigious table of books for sale presided over by two very persuasive gentlemen.

I confess the soldiery quite turned my head,

which must account for the very breathless state I found myself in after a somewhat lively cotillion.

Fortunately, there was an opportunity to sit down with some of my bosom bows and listen to an eminently sensible discussion on my favourite author, Miss Austen.

(I admit to a covetous sensation on viewing Mrs Cohen's gown. Quite glorious, is it not? No wonder she took such pride in wearing it.)

Later, there were chances to try on bonnets and gowns,

a demonstration of scents, and the prospect of a guided stroll around the area or a hand or two of cards over tea.

Discretion forbids me to reveal the subject matter of my own panel, touching as it did on matters commonly taking place beyond the bedroom door.

The high point, though, was my purchase of a new biography of that splendid novelist, Georgette Heyer, and listening to her chronicler Dr Jennifer Kloester.

A very fine day indeed.

Hair!

2011-10-05T20:55:00.002+01:00

This Saturday, I shall be at the Romantic Novelists' Association Regency Celebration Day where I have been persuaded by my friend Christina Courtenay to be on a panel discussing sex and the Georgians and volunteered by my friend Louise Allen to help out with a Regency walk around St James. In costume.

Now, I have quotes for the panel, so that's okay. I have a map and notes for the walk, so that's okay.

I have a faux Regency dress, a pretend spencer, and shawl to wear.

But what do I do with my hair? I'm really tempted by Miss Harriet and Miss Elizabeth Binney (John Smart 1806)...

No, you're right. It'll be a scrunchy, a thousand hairpins and a lace hanky to cover the lot up.

The Deserted Daughter - radio style

2011-09-30T08:08:00.003+01:00

Last night I went to Bury St Edmunds (again!) to see another play in the Theatre Royal's 'Restoring The Repertoire' script-in-hand strand. This one was The Deserted Daughter, written by Thomas Holcroft in 1795, and was performed slightly differently to previous rehearsed readings.

As ever, the cast had only got together at 10 o'clock that morning to read through the script for the first time and did fantastically well.

The difference this season is that the plays are being recorded so that a wider audience can listen to some of these forgotten Georgian gems. This is fabulous news for those of us who would like to be able to have a taste of the sort of entertainment available in the Georgian & Regency era. As radio drama, it worked very well. The actors really concentrated on the words and the language and put everything into their voices.

But...

But to begin with it felt ... odd. It was peculiar watching the players talk into their own microphones instead of interacting with each other. I think it was a bit strange for the actors too - having to direct their voices to the mics when their natural instinct was to play to the audience.

They did incredibly well, and quickly found a happy medium where they could look at each other - and us - and still record. In a lot of ways, the radio style suits Thomas Holcroft who - as co-director Colin Blumenau says - never uses one word where ten will do. The characters are sufficiently different that it is easy to tell who is who and the stage business was suggested by scuffles and distance-from-microphone.

So all in all another triumph. Well done, team. Looking forward to the next one!
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Shortlisted!

2011-09-26T11:33:00.001+01:00

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Wow!

I have just found out that The Kydd Inheritance has been shortlisted for the Choc Lit Best Historical Romance award at the Festival of Romance!

It's a very strong list, so I'm thrilled to be included on it

The full list is:

For the ChocLit Best Historical Read Award:

Charlotte Betts -The Apothecary's Daughter (Piatkus)

Annie Burrows -Captain Corcoran's Hoyden Bride (Mills & Boon, HistoricalRegency)

ChristinaCourtenay - The Scarlet Kimono (Choc Lit)

Jean Fullerton -Perhaps Tomorrow (Orion)

Jan Jones - TheKydd Inheritance (Robert Hale)

There is also another award, so congratulations to all my friends on that one too:

For theTotal-E-Bound Best Romantic Read Award:

Juliet Archer -Persuade Me (Choc Lit)

Fiona Harper -Swept off her Stilettos (Mills & Boon, Riva)

Carole Matthews -Wrapped up in You (Sphere)

Sue Moorcroft -Love and Freedom (Choc Lit)

Talli Roland - TheHating Game (Prospera Publishing)

Background: the Best Romantic Read Award is for contemporary novels of any romancegenre, and the Best Historical Read Award is for novels ofany romance genre set prior to 1961.

The RomanceReader Awards are judged by a panel of real readers who consideredthe submissions on readability and enjoyment.

The winners willbe announced at the Festival of Romance Have A Heart Ball and Awardson Saturday 22 October, along with the Festival of Romance New TalentAward to recognise writers of great talent who have not yet beencommercially published.

Dick Turpin's Last Ride

2011-09-21T23:40:00.003+01:00

As soon as I opened the door to my box at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds last night to see this horseshoe-shaped scaffolding-and-plank set, I was hooked.

The play itself is an incredibly clever piece of writing from Daniel O'Brien with music by Pat Whymark which takes a legend and deconstructs it in a way that emphasises the romance whilst laying the truth behind the myth brutally bare.

cast in rehearsal

Played and sung BRILLIANTLY by a cast of five, Dick Turpin's Last Ride weaves together the fact and the fiction of Richard Turpin, born 1705, hanged 1739, who was a poacher, housebreaker, rapist and thief - and certainly no hero. The myth endures because a Victorian storyteller cobbled it together from half a dozen other sources, dressed it in poetry and sent it out into a world hungry for romance.

The characters of historian Thomas Kyll, disillusioned colleague Richard Bayes and writer William Harrison Ainsworth recount the life, death and legend of Dick Turpin. The five actors turn effortlessly into about fifty different characters in such a way that the audience is never in doubt as to who they are. The music, the fusion of modern and Georgian costumes, and the fluid movements around the set are a joy.

I was blown away.

Theatre Royal always puts on high class productions and this is no exception. I want to follow it round the country on tour and watch it every night. I want to applaud until my hands are sore. I want to stand here and yell out to the whole country, "THIS is what The Arts should be about. This."

Go see it. Seriously.
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Jojo Moyes - an inspiration

2011-09-17T16:26:00.001+01:00

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On Thursday 15th September, Jojo Moyes gave a talk to the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Perfectly ordinary sentence, right?

What it doesn't say is that on Thursday 15th September every single rail line within reach of Jojo went into meltdown at precisely the time at which she'd thought of leisurely setting out to London, on which journey she would buy lunch, sip water and hone a nice talk.

As soon as the full horror of the transport situation dawned she rang, and I said we could reschedule. "Certainly not," she said. "I'll be there. It's just a matter of how."

And she was - through tortuous means - and she was brilliant. She talked about realising in her early days that if writing was the only thing she wanted to do, she was going to damn well do it properly. She talked about not understanding what agents meant when they were turning down her first few books, but doggedly writing on until she DID suddenly know what she was doing, and the rush of excitement at knowing she was doing it well.

And she talked about something that struck a deep resounding chord with me. She'd recently sent in her tenth book, within deadline, and had it accepted. And then she'd re-read the manuscript and realised that while it was an okay book, it wasn't the best book she could write. So she's taken it back and cut 60,000 words out of it and is now frantically rewriting.

That's what I do - albeit on a smaller scale. I'm obsessive about getting each and every word just right. I polish until I throw up on opening the file. I know I could earn more money from my writing if I submitted something that was good enough, and in every other area of my life (I'm thinking particularly of housework here), I do just that. But not writing. Whatever I write has to be the best I can do.

So thanks, Jojo. Thanks for being a total professional. And thanks for bolstering me. And you can just bet that I'm going to be first in line when the new book is published.

Jojo Moyes won the 2004 Romantic Novel of the Year with Foreign Fruit and is the current holder with The Last Letter From Your Lover. We in the RNA are very proud of her.
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Regency Readers' Day

2011-09-16T22:27:00.000+01:00

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I have lots of events to look forward to this autumn - and one of the first is this:

A day dedicated to Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen and the Regency period. What could be better? For details, go to the Romantic Novelists' Association website.

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sky blue pink

2011-09-06T21:55:00.001+01:00

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As a child, I often used to wonder what colour 'sky blue pink' really was. I reckon this might be it, don't you?
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Off at a party

2011-09-01T12:13:00.000+01:00

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Today is the first of the month, so I am over at Historical Romance UK talking about one of my very favourite places, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds.

William Wilkins (1778-1839)

As yesterday was the birthday of William Wilkins, architect, theatre proprietor and all-round control-freak, the post is about his present to the town - and how it nearly went horribly wrong.

Happy birthday for yesterday, WW.
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Final part of An Ordinary Gift

2011-08-20T22:35:00.004+01:00

The issue of Woman's Weekly containing the final part of An Ordinary Gift is now on sale!

Ely museum

In this episode Clare visits Ely museum (housed in the 13th century gaol),

learns about 16th century witchcraft ...

and finally understands her 'ordinary gift'.
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Ely serial - part three

2011-08-12T18:24:00.001+01:00

Part Three of An Ordinary Gift is now in bookshops and supermarkets. I've really loved writing my 'Ely' serial and getting the atmosphere of this island town into the story (no, really, it honestly was an island until the Fens were drained in the 17th Century - hence the name, "Isle of Eels") .

Amongst the things Clare comes across in this week's episode are a plaque to the Wisbech Martyrs

and a cannon presented to the people of Ely by Queen Victoria. [Note: very nice of her, but Clare and I can't help wondering what QV thought the people of Ely would do with it!]

Oh, and a priest hole with old, old, memories...

RNA Blog

2011-08-11T16:25:00.000+01:00

Conference

If anyone wonders what goes into organising the Romantic Novelists' Association annual conference, pop over to the RNA blog where I am being interviewed this week.

Mind you, the conference seems a very long time ago now!
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An Ordinary Gift - part two

2011-08-07T15:27:00.006+01:00

Part Two of An Ordinary Gift is out now!

In this episode, Clare visits Ely cathedral, meets some choristers and looks out of her window at a garden.

None of which is as it sounds.

Except for the cathedral.
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Warning - VERY cute cats photo!

2011-08-02T07:43:00.003+01:00

Brotherly love

My cats are quite ridiculously photogenic - and also remarkably cute at times. Being brothers who have never lived apart, Archer and Merlin often curl up together, but this was a particularly sweet pose last night.

All together now... Ahhhhh.

[PS: I'm blogging today over at Historical Romance UK]
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An Ordinary Gift

2011-07-27T14:41:00.000+01:00

It's out! The first episode of my four-part serial for Woman's Weekly is in the shops this week.

It is called An Ordinary Gift, it is set in lovely Ely in Cambridgeshire and it is a slightly spooky paranormal mystery.

The main character is Clare Somerset, an ancient-music archivist, who arrives in Ely to start a new job and a new passage in her life. As far as she knows, she has never visited Ely before, but almost from the first moment she starts to experience near-memories...

I set the serial in Ely because it is local to where I live and is one of my favourite towns. Here I am taking tea in Topping&Company Booksellers with a view of the Cathedral filling the upper windows. Anyone who has ever visited Toppings and been entranced by the interior will notice a certain similarity to Clare's new workplace!

Enjoy.
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Before the Conference...

2011-07-21T13:57:00.003+01:00

Jan Jones with workshoppers

With pre-conference tasks to do, I went to Caerleon in advance of the main RNA crowd. While there, fellow organiser Roger Sanderson and I gave a talk at beautiful Brynglas House in Newport on "Writing Romance".

Entrance Hall

This elegant building, built in 1852 and now a community learning and library centre, has been lovingly restored and is a wonderful local facility. We were very flattered to be one of the inaugural events.

The talk went well - but I was mostly blown away by the architecture. Why don't I have a house like this?

Or a fireplace like this?

[If you are wondering why there are no photos of the front of the building, it's because it was raining. Well, we were in Wales.]
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A different way with words

2011-06-24T09:51:00.002+01:00

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I have been busy getting ready for the next RNA Conference, but took time off a couple of weeks ago to visit a small, but perfectly formed, exhibition in a shop - yes, a shop, in South Audley Street, London.

Information is about it here and it has been so popular that it is on until the end of July.

The exhibition is by textile (amongst other things) Rosalind Wyatt. One window holds inspirations and the tools of her trade

"If Shoes Could Talk"

The other window contains a beautiful exhibit of Georgian shoes set in a living garden. At the back of the shop, a recording of Bill Nighy explaining the story of the girl who inspired the piece can be listened to from the comfort of a deep armchair.

Rosalind paints, appliqués and embroiders words onto her pieces. They are tender, thought-provoking, and quite, quite beautiful.

Rosalind Wyatt

My next serial involves a textile artist, so it was especially useful and interesting for me to visit this gallery of words, but you don't need an excuse. Really.

RNA Summer Party 2011

2011-05-21T09:31:00.006+01:00

What a fabulous Summer Party it was this year! Gorgeous frocks, wonderful shoes, wine, canapés, an award presentation and the best of all company.

I gave my LSotY shortlist dress another outing - here I am looking almost grown-up as I warm up the crowd ready for the presentations.

In an all-change moment, RNA outgoing chair Katie Fforde handed over stewardship to Anne Ashurst,

outgoing president Diane Pearson got an IMMENSE round of applause for her years of service, and then we moved on to the Joan Hessayon Award for the 2011 best début novel.

Joan Hessayon contenders l-r: Molly Hopkins, Kate Jackson, Paula Williams, Charlotte Betts, Sally Clements

and the winner was announced as Charlotte Betts with The Apothecary's Daughter.

enjoying the speeches: Lucy King (winner 2010),
Kate Johnson, Lyn McCulloch, Talli Roland

Impossibly glamorous Danuta Kean with me

Carole Blake and Jan

Then it was on to more partying, more catching up with friends, more networking with editors, agents, journalists and PR gurus.

The Joan Hessayon trophy

God bless the Romantic Novelists' Association and all who sail in her.

(Most pix taken by Marte at mlr photo. Others taken by me or Liz Fenwick)

Off visiting...

2011-05-20T12:50:00.000+01:00

While I was at the RNA Summer Party earlier this week (blog post soon, I promise), I popped into those Minxes Of Romance to do an author interview. The miracles of modern science, eh?
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Mugs and mementos

2011-05-04T19:54:00.001+01:00

Have you seen my awesome mug from the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds?

It starts like this........

and then, as soon as hot tea is poured into it, it turns into THIS!

(So naturally, I have to keep it filled up often)

It's all glowing and glossy and shiny and a pleasure to drink out of. Quite the nicest memento I have.

What's yours?
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Just because...

2011-04-22T14:01:00.000+01:00

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Just because the sun is shining and the wind is warm and I was once very young and unwisely in love, here is a poem I wrote then (many years ago)...

So Few Hours by Jan Jones

Just one afternoon
Stolen from the confines
Of these cold walls
And high ceilings
Just one afternoon
Speeding along motorways and
Narrow lanes
Wind in my hair
Your hand over mine.

And always now when I see your face
It will be above mine
Sun filtering through the arches of trees overhead
Always now when you touch my arm
I'll feel stones pressing into my back
And plants stinging my shoulders
Always now when I brush my hair
Leaves and twigs will cascade around me
Always now when I reach for a needle
I'll mend the rent in my skirt.

And nothing now will ever teach me to think of you
With less than a smile on my lips
And nothing now will ever teach me to think of you
With less than an ache in my heart.

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Magnolia!

2011-04-12T07:38:00.001+01:00

My magnolia tree has a history of getting it spectacularly wrong with regards to blossom/frost.

This year, however, it has got things spectacularly right.

Enjoy!
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Lunchbox theatre!

2011-03-31T22:42:00.002+01:00

Bored with sandwiches? Try something different at lunchtime - like going to a play!

At the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds all this week, the Little Bear Theatre Company are putting on a compressed 50-minute version of the five act Georgian play A Bold Stroke for a Husband.

Waiting for the actors

It was thoroughly enjoyable - a lot faster and more furious than Hannah Cowley intended, but just as funny and very accessible indeed. I did miss the leisurely setting of the scene and the asides to the audience which are a prominent feature of Georgian theatre, but as a cultural lunchbox, this stylish, snappy (and very clever) performance is hard to beat.

Well done all - I look forward to the next adaptation.
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Back and forth - and on

2011-03-26T17:24:00.003Z

Don't my books look nice on the shelf?

Hectic - but very nice - few days travelling around, supporting, promoting, and revisiting.

First it was down to the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, not a million miles from where I grew up. I've followed these guys since they first conceived the idea of opening a bookshop, so it was smashing to meet them in person and not just exchange words over the ether.

The evening was spent at a tweet-up organised by Scott Pack, designed to help the shop over a sticky patch. Wine, food, books, good company and a rather fine mobile bookseller - what's not to like?

Next morning I treated myself to a lovely ramble around where I spent my childhood. It's always a tiny bit worrying going back, but I needn't have worried. True, the primary school had been replaced by a much bigger building, and the large asphalt playground had been covered with play structures, divided play areas, and outdoor toys, but there were still happy kids all over the place and it was so colourful and joyous that it was impossible to look at it without smiling.

My road and those around it still seem to be the same safe streets they always were, even if two houses in three now have loft extensions and three out of four front lawns have been replaced by hard standing for cars.

The church where I spent so many freezing Sundays was the biggest surprise. I'd expected gentle decline - but it has expanded! The old pews have been replaced by stackable chairs to transform the nave into a vibrant, multi-use space. There are bright banners around, toys for children's sessions and a second hall and bigger kitchen built onto the side. The organ had wheezed its last, but in removing it they had discovered the most beautiful rose window. And the Lady Chapel is the same calm, traditional chapel that it always was. So lovely to find another instance of positive, thriving change. (Mind you, when they said they would contact me later as a source of archive memories, I felt just a tad ancient...)

But the very best part of the trip for me was walking through the small park where I spent so much of my time when younger. And I discovered that the muddy path where we had always been able to get down to the brook and fish for tiddlers was still there, the brook itself was still unfenced, the shallow, pebble-bottomed water was still a glorious magnet for today's kids. Colour me very happy.

And after all that, it was time finally to head for Reading to celebrate the launch of my lovely friend Julie Cohen's book Getting Away With It. Masses of people in Reading Central Library drinking fizz, eating ice cream (you have to read the book to understand why) and cheering her on. Hope it sells gazillions, Julie!

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Awards Night 2011 !

2011-03-10T16:03:00.006Z

The Romantic Novelists' Association Pure Passion Awards night 2011 was FABULOUS!

Just look at this room

look at the Award Stars

look at the Ladies !

I arrived early and grabbed a photo opportunity by the fireplace in the Reading & Writing Room at One Whitehall Place. None too soon, because the room soon filled up with shortlisted books, authors, guests and champagne.

As with all RNA gatherings, masses of cheerful networking took place before we were called into the Gladstone Library for more champagne, canapés and the Awards announcements.

I didn't win the Love Story of the Year award, but I was thrilled that my lovely friend and Cambridge-Chapter-mate Louise Allen did for her fabulous historical romance The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst. And then another great friend Elizabeth Chadwick won the Historical Novel prize and a third, Jill Mansell, won the Romantic Comedy prize! I don't think it will be any great surprise to learn that more champagne appeared roundabout then...

The full list is:
RNA Love Story of the Year: The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst by Louise Allen
RNA Historical Novel Prize: To Defy A King by Elizabeth Chadwick
RNA Romantic Comedy Prize: Take A Chance On Me by Jill Mansell
RNA Romantic Novel of the Year: The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes
Lifetime Achievement Stars went to Penny Jordan and Josephine Cox

Elizabeth Chadwick, Jojo Moyes, Katie Fforde, Penny Jordan, Josephine Cox, Jill Mansell, Louise Allen

(photos 1, 5 and 6 taken by Marte of MLR Photo)
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World Book Night ... and beyond

2011-03-06T12:33:00.001Z

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So, World Book Night has been and gone and lots of people bought books for other people and lots of people were given books and some people even competed with each other to see how many books they could collect for free.

Everyone had a great time, and why shouldn’t they? Books are enjoyable. Books make you feel better. Books can make you think, they can educate you, they can take you to faraway places and let you escape for a space.

So why don’t we buy more?

"Oh, because they are expensive."

Wrong. Buying a £4 Mills & Boon book is no more expensive than buying a £4 pair of stockings. Buying an £8 mass market paperback is no more expensive than buying an £8 pair of earrings. Buying a £19 hardback is no more expensive than buying a £19 bottle of nice wine.

So if it isn’t cost, what is it? Could it be because a book is visible evidence forever that you have spent money ENJOYING YOURSELF?

Think about it. Tights get ladders and holes and are thrown away. Earrings are small and easily hidden in the secret earring stash (everyone has a secret earring stash, right?). Wine is even better - it gets flushed through the alimentary system within 24 hrs and the bottle consigned to the recycling bin.

But a book is there forever. Proof that you have spent money on yourself. Proof that you have enjoyed yourself for a whole two, three, four hours. Proof that you have sat down and read instead of ironing or gardening or dusting or any of the other chores that we spend our lives avoiding.

Is that it? Well, there’s an easy solution - borrow a book from the library. You can return the evidence as soon as you’ve read it. Or treat a book as a throwaway: put it in the recycling bin along with your daily paper.

But maybe, just maybe, we should nail our colours to the mast. Stand up straight and tall and announce to the world that

WE LOVE READING!

There really isn’t anything wrong with it, you know.
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It's nearly Awards time!

2011-03-04T09:40:00.001Z

Shortlisted books for 2011 Love Story of the Year

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Eeek, it's nearly the RNA Pure Passion Awards night and I DO NOT have an approaching cold. I am telling my throat that it does not have that incipient tickle signalling full-on loss-of-voice, my glands are merely over-excited, my nose is not running, and my slight headache has simply been caused by the adverse weather.

However, just to be on the safe side I am carrying the Big Box of Tissues around with me and am mainlining tea with a side-order of paracetamol.

Because Monday sees a big sparkly Romantic Novelists' Association party and the announcement of the Romantic Novel of the Year, the Love Story of the Year, the RNA Historical Prize and the RNA Romantic Comedy prize. Nothing is going to stop me dressing up, going to the Gladstone Library at One Whitehall Place with my pals, celebrating being shortlisted and cheering on all the winners!

[Excuse me while I put the kettle on again, please.]
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Panel at Lakenheath

2011-02-26T19:37:00.002Z

I haven't done any promotion for a while, so it was lovely to be invited to take part in "A Touch of Romance" at the library on Lakenheath Air Base in Suffolk last week.

After the nicest and most courteous car-search in history, my fellow panellists and I were made very welcome with tea and chocolate biscuits. I cleverly forgot to take my camera, but the room soon filled up with a mix of readers and writers. Everyone was attentive, laughed in the right places (thank you, you have no idea how encouraging that is) - and the questions were so interesting and flowed so well that we went way over our allocated time.

Even so, we barely scratched the surface when it came to research, developing characters and our own individual methods of writing. I think all of us could have talked for much longer!

Many thanks to Lakenheath Air Base library - and of course to my fellow Romantic Novelist Association members Louise Allen, Jean Fullerton and Roger Sanderson. I think we made a pretty good team!
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RNA Love Story of the Year 2011

2011-02-10T22:29:00.002Z

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Woohoo! At last I can announce my sheer delight at being on the shortlist for the 2011 Love Story of the Year!

I was thrilled to be shortlisted in 2010 with my Regency romance Fair Deception - I’m stunned and ecstatic to have made the cut again this year with the sequel, Fortunate Wager!

Fortunate Wager is a story very dear to my heart as it is set where I live in Newmarket. I loved stepping back 200 years or so to find out what the town would have looked like and felt like then.

The Love Story of the Year is administered by the Romantic Novelists’ Association. The full shortlist for 2011 is:

Abby Green - "Bride in a Gilded Cage" (HM&B)
Jan Jones - "Fortunate Wager" (Hale)
Caroline Anderson - "Mother of the Bride" (HM&B)
Valerie Holmes - "Moving On" (Thorpe Large Print)
Mary Nichols - "The Captain's Mysterious Lady" (HM&B Historical)
Louise Allen - "The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst" (HM&B Historical)

To be in such company is an honour in itself, but the overall winner will be announced at the Pure Passion Awards Champagne Reception on Monday 7th March. The event takes place in the Gladstone Library at One Whitehall Place... and I for one can’t wait!
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Capturing the moment

2011-02-05T13:18:00.008Z

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All writers are observers. We carry notepads, murmur into recorders, rattle fingers over netbooks. Which is all very well if you are scribbling overheard scraps of conversation, or if you are gifted enough to be able to produce spot-on descriptions with zero notice. (I'm not, by the way. We are talking blood, sweat and concentrated staring into space here.) But what if you want to capture the essence of a moment? Something that you can refer back to months or even years later. Something that takes you back to Yes, then, that was it, that was how I felt at that exact moment in time.

As I'm sure I've said before, I use poetry. It doesn't have to rhyme. It doesn't have to be grammatically correct. But done right it will have its own internal rhythm and it will have the right keywords, in the right order, to capture the moment.

Last night, waiting in the car park to give my son a lift home from the late bus, I saw something I'd never seen before. It was beautiful, scary, left my heart pounding in my mouth and was over in seconds.

So once it was settled in my head, over my last mug of tea, I wrote it into a poem. A tiny, reusable, time capsule.

This is an example. There was no time to film it.

Otherworld Running
by Jan Jones

After dark is a lawless world
of energy and dares
of scary, arc lit follow-my-leader
of grace
streamlined running
lithe darting
dodging
one-handed hurdling
trellis climbing
roof sliding . . .

Then, gone
all of them

as suddenly as they were there

melted away

The last bus rolls in
With yellow windows and solitary passengers

As I start the car my heart subsides in painful jerks to my chest
the echoes of slapping feet held suspended in my mind

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Things to lift the mood

2011-01-26T20:20:00.000Z

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Yes, I know, they aren't remotely in season, but when it's a grey January day and you are walking head down against the drizzle past a market stall selling a pot full of your favourite colours, what else can you do but buy them?

Enjoy!

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1st Kydd Inheritance review!

2011-01-16T11:17:00.001Z

What a lovely way to be greeted on a grey Sunday morning! A Google alert to this review by the very fine Bookbag people.

Sue describes it as
"a splendid Regency romp with a heroine you will love for her acerbic tongue, kind heart and her no-messing attitude, be it bulls, uncles or Captains who are in the firing line"

and adds that
" I read it in one sitting so keen was I to find out how it all worked out, and just when I thought it was all going to work out very satisfactorily there was another twist in the tale and I was back on the edge of the seat."

I'm always grateful when people take the trouble to review a book. This particular one, coming unexpectedly on a grey day, has started a train of thought in my head which I'll muse over and return to tomorrow.

If anyone would like to order The Kydd Inheritance - either for themselves or through the library - Hale Books have a very attractive short-term offer on their website right now!
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New Year, new book

2011-01-11T22:37:00.003Z

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It's nowhere near the end of the month, and look what arrived today! My copies of The Kydd Inheritance, that's what!

Aren't they lovely and shiny? I keep wandering past and stroking them.

This is the prequel to Fair Deception, and tells the story of Kit Kydd's sister Nell.

It is officially published on 31st January. If you order it from Robert Hale Ltd before then, you can buy it at an astonishing £13.29 (with free UK shipping) instead of £18.99 - the offer won't last long though, so be quick.
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Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:57:00.000Z

Thank you all for visiting during 2010. My 2011 wish for everyone is simply warmth, somewhere to rest your head, a slipper each and your very own Christmas toy.
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Penny Plain Pt4

2010-12-26T23:17:00.000Z

In all the busyness of Christmas, I have quite forgotten to blog about the final episode of my four-part Penny Plain serial.

If you haven't got the 18th&25th December double issue of People's Friend yet, you might want to look for it in the next couple of days before it vanishes off the racks.

I really enjoyed rising to the challenge of writing a serial. Next one in progress already!
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Happy Christmas!

2010-12-22T12:09:00.001Z

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Having spent October and November in Christmas-denial (I get so cross when shops start decorating early!), the festive season has now suddenly snuck up on me. Unfortunately, a stinking cold has also decided to visit, meaning that I have never been less prepared!

However, the tree is now up

the cards are up

the lights are up

and even my mini-tree is on the kitchen windowsill.

Just the presents to go then. And the cleaning. And the shopping. And the cooking...

Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas!
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Penny Plain Double Issue

2010-12-05T22:53:00.001Z

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Well, that was a surprise! Bought this week's People's Friend magazine and discovered that it was a double issue.

So, Part Two of the Penny Plain Mysteries is near the beginning on page 12

and Part Three is near the end on page 70

and Part Four won't be out until the 15th December!
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Gone visiting again!

2010-12-03T13:00:00.000Z

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I've gone visiting again. Fortunately this did not involve putting on coat, boots, gloves, scarf and woolly hat because today I have been Norm-ed from the comfort of my own PC.

In other words, Norm Geras asks me some questions...
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Penny Grubb - The Doll Makers

2010-12-01T23:00:00.000Z

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It takes a very talented person to hold a book launch in London on the snowiest day of the year and coinciding with a tube strike.

Fortunately, my Hale stable-mate Penny Grubb is also a talented writer, so there were plenty of people who turned up at the stunning Author's House (ALCS HQ) to celebrate the launch of her second crime novel The Doll Makers - including a colour-coordinated contingent from Robert Hale Books.

Ruby, Paola, Penny Grubb, Nikki, Jan (me!)

Cracking book, Penny!
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Talli takes on Amazon!

2010-11-30T23:10:00.004Z

It is always satisfying to take on the big boys by playing them at their own game. That is what Talli Roland is trying to do by recruiting as many bloggers, facebookers and tweeters as she can to publicise her debut novel THE HATING GAME.

Help THE HATING GAME hit the Kindle bestseller list at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk by spreading the word today. Even a few sales in a short period of time on Amazon helps push the book up the rankings, making it more visible to other readers.

Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/hNBkJk

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/hX2ieD

No Kindle? Download a free app at Amazon for Mac, iPhone, PC, Android and more.

Coming soon in paperback. Keep up with the latest at www.talliroland.com.

About THE HATING GAME:

When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she's confident she'll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she's perfected from years of her love 'em and leave 'em dating strategy. After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy £2000,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it's revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes. Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end?

The Penny Plain Mysteries!

2010-11-24T14:46:00.001Z

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Hugely excited to get The People's Friend this morning (Nov 27th 2010 edition) and to find the first part of MY SERIAL on the opening two pages.

Doesn't it look fabulous? The idea came way, way back when I was clearing out my mother's house and found a strange jigsaw puzzle rolled up in her games box. I blogged about it here. The answer to my mystery was sadly prosaic, but what a great story it could have been, I thought, and the idea made itself at home in my head. While I wrote a two-part gentle mystery, I fell in love with my characters so started a second adventure. I sent The Jigsaw Puzzle out into the world, it came back, I sent it out again. People's Friend loved it but wanted a longer serial so I finished the next two-part mystery and tied all four together with an over-arching story.

And even though I say so myself, it's jolly good. Go on, go and buy the magazine today.
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National Short Story Week

2010-11-22T15:33:00.001Z

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This week is National Short Story Week here in the UK. All flavours of short stories are being celebrated, from literary to flash, but I'm just going to talk about the ones close to my heart.

Yes, that's right... the truly terrific ... WOMEN'S MAGAZINE SHORT STORIES.

Womag short stories probably have the largest readership of any in the genre, yet they get the least press. They are carefully crafted, they have no wasted words, they are perfect to pick-you-up, to make you laugh, to make you think and sometimes to make you cry. They fulfil a need, in these busy days, for a tiny escape from the daily round.

Back in the early days of the Romantic Novelists' Association, women's magazine fiction editors were larger than life and lions in their field. [There is a whole chapter on the importance of the magazines in Fabulous at Fifty, well worth buying.] Writers of short fiction were lauded (as indeed they should be, she says with no ulterior motive, dear me, no). And yet the market for magazine fiction is now shrinking to make space for paying adverts and celebrity interviews.

Fortunately, some of our best known magazines are still buying good quality stories and still delivering them week after week for a ridiculously low price to a huge section of the buying public.

God bless 'em.

Psst... and on Wednesday this week (24th November) the inestimable People's Friend is publishing the first episode of my serial The Penny Plain Mysteries. Put it on your shopping list for the next four weeks.
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RNA Winter Party 2010

2010-11-20T00:17:00.003Z

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What can I say? The 2010 Romantic Novelists' Association Winter Party was just fantastic. So many of my favourite people all in one place. This was the culmination of a year of celebrations for our 50th Anniversary and in particular tonight we were concentrating on one of the things the RNA does best - the New Writers' Scheme. The RNA is the only professional UK writers' association to actively promote good writing in its genre. Every year a handful of writers make it from unpublished to published. Every year one of those writers is awarded the Joan Hessayon Trophy for best début novel of the year.


NWS Winners over the years

This year we gave shiny rosettes to all the NWS graduates present. It made for a VERY sparkling occasion.

NWS graduates

Katie Fforde

Diane Pearson

Jan Jones

Giselle Green

Norma Curtis and Trisha Ashley

Jane Smith with niece Daisy

There were speeches, draw winners, wine, canapés, champagne, talk and laughter. Lots and lots of laughter. And that, of course, is one of the other things the RNA does so well.

Catherine Jones, Tony Mulliken, Roger Sanderson

We will remember them

2010-11-11T10:03:00.001Z

Flanders meets the High Street
by Jan Jones

Standing in Waitrose at eleven o’clock
All life suspended
One woman reaching for a steak&kidney pie
An old man gripping his wire basket
Me with my trolley as thousands of cheerful, too-fast soldiers
March before my eyes in jerky shades of grey

PALs: joining up together, fighting together
Dying together.
A village wiped out. A community blasted.

The cashiers sit down again
People move
Two minutes of life, gone in the blink of an eye.
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The Kydd Inheritance - first sighting

2010-11-09T18:45:00.001Z

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Eeek! Haven't blogged for ages. I'll get some retrospective posts up in the next few days, but just now I'm overjoyed at the first sighting of my next Regency The Kydd Inheritance.

It is available for pre-order at the Hale book site at a whacking 30% discount!

The Kydd Inheritance is the prequel to Fair Deception and Fortunate Wager, my Newmarket Regencies.

Here is a tiny snippet of the scene that goes with the cover...

As they penetrated further across the heath, the gloom deepened and the rain increased. All the lurid romances Nell had ever read unfurled their pages in her head. She was not laughing at the idea of highwaymen now - there were no other travellers on this stretch but themselves and every bush seemed to hold twice its complement of shadows.
“Nell,” said Hugo’s low voice after perhaps ten minutes of her seeing ghosts behind every tree. “I do not wish to alarm you, but I believe there to be a horseman in that copse ahead of us to our right.”
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Gone visiting again!

2010-10-18T08:13:00.000+01:00

Off on my travels again! Today I am visiting Catt's rather lovely blog where she foolishly offered to ask me some questions and then couldn't get a word in edgeways.

See you over there!

Fabulous at Fifty!

2010-10-16T15:25:00.001+01:00

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It will not have escaped regular readers' notice that the Romantic Novelists' Association has been busy celebrating its fiftieth birthday all year.

This week saw the launch of Fabulous at Fifty, a fascinating selection of reminiscences from 1960-2010 (psst - do you know how we identify historical romances? They are set pre-1960, ie pre-RNA).

Being us, we needed to have a celebration to launch it properly, so we gathered for a truly sparkling lunch in the RAF Club Ballroom.

Shiny, I mused, as I innocently offered to decorate the tables.

I also decorated the book display, the mini-exhibition assembled and annotated by the indefatigable Jenny Haddon (the impressive gold decorations are Jenny's - the sneaky sparkles are mine)

and anyone foolish enough to come within reach.

Oh, and as with the best parties, there were presents.

It was just fabulous. And judging by the great fashionable lunches of the past,

some of us are keeping up traditions.

(There was chocolate too)

(And this really special bit of the exhibition)

National Poetry Day 2010

2010-10-07T19:48:00.009+01:00

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This year's National Poetry Day has the theme of "Home". This got me thinking, because there are two sides to everything. There's the part of me that loves my house and my things and everything I've built up over the years. And there's the writer part of me that's been-there-done-that and just wants to be on my own, to shut myself away for days and live in my own head without distractions or duties.

The best way I can illustrate it is with two contrasting poems.

For example, on the one hand, there is:

Ephemera is Me by Jan Jones

Home is a long swathe of responsible

Piles of memory

Backup upon backup of me.

It’s things

Stuff I’ve chosen

Or been given and chosen to keep

Home is my food in the fridge

My mugs in the cupboard

The familiar where I expect to find it

So if you’re asking in your simplistic, minimalistic way

If home could be somewhere else?

Why yes

But I’d have to bring all of myself with me.

You got a truck?

And yet on the other hand (and I love the allegory in this photo), there is:

Counting Links by Jan Jones

This is me

holding things together

fists clenched in my security, in what I have to do

here I am

with what I need to survive

pale fronds pulling me down, smothering hastiness

anchored by responsibility

because someone has to be

See what I mean? Two sides to every person and every place. I can't be the only person who feels like this, can I? The trick, I guess, is in how well we balance them.
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I love Woman's Weekly!

2010-09-24T19:07:00.001+01:00

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Any women's magazine short story writer will know this name. The Woman's Weekly submissions address must be one of the longest to fit onto an envelope ever. Even so, after you've dropped that story into the postbox you put it out of your mind, so it was a slight shock to me last week to actually visit it and discover that the Blue Fin building really does exist!

It's fabulous. Tall, sky-piercing. All glass and angles and huge reception space and roof terrace. So it was really lovely to discover that the fiction editor's desk is about the same size as mine and only fractionally tidier. And the knitting editor's desk is surrounded by wool and part-finished garments. And there is a test-kitchen where they make the food featured in the magazine and which smelled heavenly.

And best of all, the art editor had MY ARTWORK on her screen!

So thank you, Woman's Weekly for my nice day.

And if everyone could go out and buy this month's WW Fiction Special with my story in, I'll be even happier.

Poetry of place

2010-09-04T22:42:00.005+01:00

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Having been discussing poems recently, I thought I'd post one of mine. (If it looks familiar, I put it on the Transita Authors blog ages ago)

I write poems for myself, to capture a moment or a mood or a person or a place. I find when I look at them again sometimes years later, they bring to mind exactly what I wanted to remember - a very handy brain-transportation device for a writer!

As I blogged last about Lady Mary Stewart and the way she brings her settings so vividly to life, I'm presenting you with a 'place' poem. This was written while sailing on the Norfolk Broads one time. Many people go there on holiday to enjoy the water and the scenery, but the landscape is so ancient and brooding that I always get the feeling we mortals are merely tolerated as we scull across it.

No Postcard by Jan Jones

Pretty? You couldn’t call this pretty
This land defies the roundness of the Earth
Grey-green under grey sky
Archaic in its horizontal heaviness
When man falters, stumbles to nothing
The land remains.

Incomers live on the surface. Try too hard. Never see
That line of mud around the ankles. Never notice
Those eyes the remote grey of the sky. Just
A micrometer of pulled petroleum.

Driftwood tree, taut amongst summer reeds
Grey water with a purpose of its own
Inexorable. Unremitting.
This land is no postcard.
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Gone Visiting with Mary Stewart

2010-08-31T11:24:00.002+01:00

Today I am visiting the rather fine Normblog with a post about what the supremely wonderful Lady Mary Stewart means to me.

I am a firm believer in the power of books on the developing mind. I read hungrily, greedily, but never to satiation point in my early teens. Three of the authors I discovered then who shot straight into my soul and set up house were Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer - and Mary Stewart. This is just possibly why I currently write light-hearted Regency romances with a dash of adventure and a sprinkling of humour.

Do read the article and then come back and tell me your early influences.
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The Kydd Inheritance

2010-08-25T19:15:00.002+01:00

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It occurred to me that I have had my lovely cover for The Kydd Inheritance for some time and haven't shared it with you all.

Created by the fabulous David Young who was responsible fro bringing Fair Deception and Fortunate Wager to life.

The book is a prequel to my Newmarket Regencies, being the story of Nell (Kit Kydd's sister) and the frankly gorgeous Hugo.

Sadly, you'll have to wait until the New Year to get your hands on it.

I might post a teaser or two in the meantime...

Dragons!

2010-08-07T14:00:00.000+01:00

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So the 50th Anniversary RNA Conference at Greenwich has been and gone. It was wonderful and exhilarating and exhausting and ... and its absence has left a whacking great hole in my life.

I ought to be filling that hole with writing, and indeed, I have sent off a couple of shorts, but you can't keep an addicted conference organiser down, so last week I went to the site of next year's RNA Conference in Caerleon.

And found dragons. All over Newport. Provided by a most enlightened council for schools, clubs and professional artists to decorate. I couldn't get pics of the ones in the shop windows, but here are a few to delight you.

Enjoy!
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Graduation Day!

2010-07-19T23:10:00.007+01:00

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It doesn't seem two minutes since we were packing the car to take Lizzie to Warwick for the first time, but - unbelievably - today was graduation day!

Well done, lovely one. So proud of you.

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Hot - and a WOOHOO!

2010-07-01T19:46:00.004+01:00

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I like the heat. True, it is nicer dry than muggy, but even hot and damp is better than cold and wet.

My poor cats, however, have been suffering a bit. Here they are in the perfect place to catch a draught.

It's also the perfect place to cause maximum awkwardness as we manoeuvre around them...

And in other news ... my brilliant daughter got a 2.1 in her Physics Finals from Warwick!!!!!
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Crashes and bangs

2010-06-11T08:06:00.005+01:00

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Quick blog post today to remind myself to do it more regularly.

Lovely presentation yesterday at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds on the famous Mr McCready's four-day visit to the theatre back in 1826. There were tiny scenes throughout capturing the goings on at the theatre (he was rather forthright on the subject of provincial acting, but didn't object to trousering the profits from the plays), and also a talk on special effects, Georgian style.

This is a reproduction wind machine - a beautiful thing made of wood and canvas. When I turned the handle it sounded rather like a sick banshee, but in the hands of a professional it produced everything from a gentle zephyr to a full-blown storm. There was also a thunder sheet. Interestingly, the term "stealing my thunder" came from an actor whose own tempestuous play folded, was replaced by Macbeth complete with storm scene, and the actor complained very loudly that the Scottish play had - quite literally - stolen his thunder.

And this is a star-trap for those beloved sudden appearances. Or occasionally not - they were famed for often being real star traps, with the actor being pinioned firmly around their middle!

Roses and Chocolate Ginger

2010-06-04T12:32:00.006+01:00

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The 4th of June 2010 would have been my mother's 80th birthday. Five years ago she wasn't very well, so instead of us all going out, daughter and I took her up a proper birthday tea with scones, thin crustless sandwiches and chocolate birthday cake with candles (but not 75 of them!). It was a faff, but I'm so glad we made the effort because she really enjoyed it and it was the last one she had.

Since then, the 4th June has always been a bit of an odd day, but this year especially so, perhaps because it is so sunny and plain nice outside, which it isn't always at this time of year. Mind you, with the best will in the world, no one would ever have described my mother as anything but a glass-half-empty person, so it would probably have been too hot for her and she'd have had me scurrying around watering all the plants.

Still, she loved flowers and she dearly loved treats, so I bought these in Waitrose for her this morning. I would have got her favourite freesias, but her voice in my head (anyone else get that?) pointed out that the roses were 25% extra free and the orangey-yellow would look much nicer in my kitchen than pale purple. That was the other thing about Mum, she was incapable of resisting a bargain and she would always buy something for me or her grandchildren rather than herself.

In the spirit of which, I also bought her favourite chocolate gingers to nibble (2 bags for £4; I think she'd have approved) while I read the latest Medical Romance - her favourite reading matter - by my good friend Kate Hardy. (It's Neurosurgeon... and Mum and she'd definitely have loved it.)

So, Happy 80th Birthday. I hope it's just the right temperature for you up there.

Rosemary Coulson 4.6.1930-30.9.2005

An entire day later...

2010-05-30T19:49:00.005+01:00

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And following on from the previous post, this is what 160 collated conference packs look like.

And an awfully long time after that, they've all been individually personalised as to when-people-have-booked-for ... and are in their envelopes.

Oh, I do still need to put the stamps on. Tomorrow, I think.
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RNA Conference Pack 2010

2010-05-29T21:50:00.005+01:00

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Where have I been for the last couple of weeks? Writing a masterpiece?

Erm... yes, in a way...

Ta-dah! The component parts of the first 160 Romantic Novelists' Association Conference Packs 2010!

And from another angle, just to get the height of those piles.

I suppose I'd better collate them and put them in the envelopes now.
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Diet Bread

2010-05-24T07:12:00.006+01:00

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"What's that?" I hear you all say, ears pricking up in anticipation. "Bread that you can actually eat on a diet instead of crossing the room to avoid?"

No, sadly. This is Georgian 'Diet Bread'. In those days, there wasn't the phrase 'to go on a diet' like there is today. It had a much wider meaning than simply to lose weight. This recipe incorporates fennel and sage in the dough to aid digestion and, er, movement. In other words, it was a bread that helped with your general diet.

The diet-bread rolls shown were made by Pat as the refreshments for last week's lecture. She has many historical recipe books and likes to treat us to something authentic each week. This time she spread half the rolls with butter (above) and the other half with potted cheese (below), giving a completely different taste. The potted cheese was made by mixing grated cheese, butter, mace, cinnamon and a dash of sherry, then pressing the mixture into a pot before spreading. A sort of upmarket Ploughman's to go with the subject of the talk - "The Inns, Taverns and Alehouses of Georgian Suffolk"!
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Simple Supper

2010-05-07T22:17:00.006+01:00

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After wrestling with Summer Party timings and Conference timetables (they put up a heck of a fight, you know) all evening I fancied something simple and quick and nice to eat before doing some of my own work.

This is my staple Roast Pepper Medley, which I serve straight from the pot:

Mixed peppers, de-seeded and sliced (Why do recipes always say that? Does anyone ever not de-seed them first?)
Onions, sliced
Garlic, peeled and chunked
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Chestnut mushrooms, quartered
Splash of oil
Extra good shake of oregano

Mix all in an open casserole, put into hot oven of Aga for 40 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Then lift out and add chopped, cooked chicken. (Vegetarians: it's still good on its own)
Leave medley to rest in its own juices (and also because the peppers burn the roof of your mouth if you eat them straight out of the oven)
And that's it, no salt, no pepper, nothing.

If you have to share with someone else (are you there, daughter?), you also need to add pasta twirls. But it was just me tonight. Yum.

What are other people's favourites when it's late and they're hungry?
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Good Luck, Lizzie!

2010-04-29T20:25:00.001+01:00

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Good luck to my lovely Lizzie who begins her Physics Finals with THREE (count 'em!) exams this Friday.

[*ranty Mum* How ridiculous is that? Three years of working towards a degree and they slam you with THREE exams on the same day???]
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At the Sign of the Pestle and Mortar

2010-04-21T18:47:00.007+01:00

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I do love the local history talks at the Bury St Edmunds record office. Today's was about apothecaries, of which I knew not a lot until this morning.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, apothecaries occupied the middle ground in the medical hierarchy, below the physician who would diagnose and prescribe, but well above the surgeon. The thought was that anyone could chop a leg off, but it took someone really clever to stop the pain.

A late Stuart/ early Georgian apothecary would make up all the pills and draughts himself from his extensive stock of herbs, spices and opiates. His most valuable book would have been his Herbal (Pat had got out John Gerard's exquisite 1633 and 1636 Herbals for us to read and lust after), followed by his own recipe book for medicines and potions. Frequently these were a 'work-in-progress' with notes as to their efficaciousness. They would also be passed down from master to journeyman or father to son. Apprenticeship lasted seven years, after which you were free to start up on your own.

This print shows a standard apothecary shop interior with a giant pestle and mortar on the left, an alembic (or still) on the right, jars on the shelves and lovely graduated drawers for ingredients and ointments. The pestle&mortar was so useful it was the standard advertising device. The photo at the top shows where an original apothecary's shop stood in BStE - pestle&mortar still there above the door.

Apothecaries didn't only supply medicines, they were also much in demand as a source of food flavourings. Inventories show vast quantities of items such as caraway seeds that would make their potions palatable as well as having a medicinal effect. They also used plenty of sugar (various kinds) and, er, senna. One really weird ingredient was gold-leaf: to coat the pills of the better-off patients. (I can just see that catching on with the NHS)

Blood letting was a favourite remedy, and all apothecaries had a leech jar. One eminent BStE citizen apparently used to fish out a leech and clap it to his forehead whenever he had a headache!

All in all, good apothecaries with a fine client list had high social standing and were able to amass a reasonable degree of wealth. Both the apothecaries, Thomas Macro senior and junior, were members of the Corporation of Bury St Edmunds - a very prestigious position indeed.

One last photo: Pat always makes us authentic Georgian snacks to go with our tea. These are "jumballs" flavoured with cumin and caraway. Delicious. They are also quite, er, firm, so we were given permission to dunk!
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Distracted by the shiny

2010-04-16T14:39:00.018+01:00

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So, the 50th Anniversary RNA Conference is at Greenwich this summer, and last week was full of meetings to Make It Work.

Like sorting out timetables (don't hold your breath). And accommodation. And food. And, er, Gala Dinner table decorations. (Look, these things are important.)

So this morning - aided by daughter who should have been revising for her finals - has been largely spent distracted by the shiny. There's something so gleeful about running beautiful sparkly sequins through your fingers...
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Show, not tell

2010-04-05T12:49:00.006+01:00

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I've been busy this week editing my People's Friend serial, which is why I've not been blogging. There "wasn't a lot to do" said lovely editor Shirley, apart from "pick up the pace a bit" in the final part.

Pick up the pace.

Oh, God.

So off I hared to the phone and had a nice chat with her. It transpired she thought that while the final part (it's a four-part gentle mystery) obviously needed to include a lot of denouement and explanation, the last third felt a bit flat. Could I perhaps inject some action into it?

It is a sad fact of life that editors are rarely wrong, so I sat down and re-read the episode. And yes, she was right. Could I see how to fix it? Could I heck.

So I wrote down the sequence of the last third: Penny goes to the boat, Penny listens to one side of Leo's phone call, Penny sees the point at which Leo regains his memory, Penny listens to Leo telling her what happened, Penny and Leo solve the final mystery together.

Oops. All Penny's viewpoint. But if I rewrote the middle three segments from Leo's point of view it should suddenly become much more alive because the information is coming to the reader first-hand instead of second-hand.

This is the gist of the original (with some spoilers removed)
Penny saw memory hit Leo with almost physical force. His face drained of colour. “I’ve got a meeting. I’ll ring you back.” He turned off the phone, dropped it with a clatter and slumped forward, covering his face with his hands.

"You've remembered, haven't you?"

"I'd had a terrible night and was still going over what she’d said next day. I drove around a bend on a road that I must have travelled a thousand times before - the sun was low, it dazzled off the wet tarmac and I went off the road into a tree."

And this is the revised version
Why did he still have this gap around the time of his accident? They reached the bottom of the road, Penny started to make the turn and the sun glanced off the wing mirror straight into Leo’s eyes. A kaleidoscope of images rushed at him. A bend. A quiet suburb. The road slick with rain and the sun dazzling off it. The steering wheel jumping. The scream of tyres...

“Stop!” he yelled, covering his face with his hands. “Stop!”

The car braked to a halt. “Leo, what is it?” said Penny. “Are you ill?”

Leo opened his eyes. A child skipped down the pavement with her mother. Seagulls screeched overhead. “I’ve remembered,” he said.

And guess what? It works. Just as I've always known and had temporarily forgotten. And that is Show, not Tell.

PS: the photos are of the hellebores that I transplanted from my mother's shade-garden so I'd always have a permanent reminder of her. I could have told you that today (top photo) they are bushy and thriving and twice the size they were two years ago... or I could show you (bottom photo). I know which works best for me.

Spring!

2010-03-28T15:17:00.001+01:00

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Well, it's taken a while, but it's finally here. Just as British Summer Time kicks in.

2010 RNA Awards Lunch

2010-03-24T20:18:00.006Z

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Last week was the Romantic Novelists' Association Pure Passion Awards Lunch. Every previous year I have arrived early and scurried around putting out place names or tying balloons on books or doing anything else I was asked to in order to get the room ready.

This year was different. Yes, I arrived early - but then was ushered into the Author's Room and given tea and hugged the other shortlisted authors and had my photo taken. [Shortlisted Love Story of the Year authors shown with lovely chairman, Katie Fforde] It was all a bit surreal, really. At any moment I was expecting someone to draw me apologetically to one side and tell me there had been a mistake and I wasn't supposed to be there after all.

Once all the photos had been taken and we had caught up with one another, we were released into the wild - sorry, the anteroom - for a glass of champagne and even more catching up with masses of pals. The Royal Garden Hotel was jammed! Amazingly, my editor managed to find me (they are such a clever breed) and we moved into the gorgeously decorated main room for lunch.

Fair Deception didn't win - that accolade went to Nell Dixon's deserving Animal Instincts, published by Little Black Dress - but it was such a wonderful day the awards seemed the least of it. And one of the very best bits was this dessert: 'Pure Chocolate Passion'. created especially for the 50th Anniversary.
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Procrastinating, moi?

2010-03-12T10:03:00.008Z

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I have a novel, a revision, a serial, three short stories and a raft of critiques to get on with. I have a To Do list rather longer than my arm. I desperately need to decide whether to wear sensible apricot or swirly scarlet to the Pure Passion Awards Lunch (I have mentioned Fair Deception is shortlisted for Love Story of the Year, have I?).

So I thought I'd ignore all of them and go to a nice soothing lecture on "Historical Bury St Edmunds through Paintings and Prints" instead.

These photos are of the remains of the old Precinct Wall in Bury St Edmunds. Look at the thickness of it! I just love the way all the buildings butt onto it and have grown around it.

The past in the present.
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Penny Grubb's launch

2010-03-04T19:04:00.008Z

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It is always lovely to help a fellow author celebrate, so I was delighted to be invited to new Hale author Penny Grubb's launch for Like False Money, the first in a series of crime novels.

The launch was held in the splendid 'penthouse' apartment of the ALCS building in London.

Wine and nibbles were consumed, Penny gave a very funny talk on how she and the book progressed from the initial idea to eventual publication, books were signed, photos taken and networking done.

It was especially nice that the gang from Hale (our joint publisher) were there to cheer Penny on, and that being the case I grabbed a photo opportunity of my own...

Shortlisting present to me

2010-02-25T21:48:00.008Z

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As anyone who knows me will tell you, I have a... let's call it a penchant... for amber. When I sold my first ever short story I commemorated my achievement with a pair of amber earrings that I'd been lusting over (for months) in PastTimes. They cost £20 and it was the first time I'd ever paid more than £3.99 for a pair of earrings in my life.

It, um, set a trend.

Every time I have a writing milestone, I now treat myself to something special in amber. Each of those special pieces (as opposed to all the ordinary, normal, gorgeous amber earrings I've acquired since that first pair) remind me that now and again I am a success.

And this is what I've bought to celebrate being shortlisted for the RNA Love Story of the Year 2010 with Fair Deception. Isn't it just the most beautiful thing? I think I'm in love.

Lunch

2010-02-24T07:36:00.004Z

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Today I will be mostly having lunch in Cambridge with my pal Elaine. I will feel extremely miffed if I do not get to see lots of photos of her gorgeous new granddaughter.

Sadly, I do not think eating at a table on the balcony in the sun will be involved.

But sticky toffee pudding or Chocolate Boxes might be.
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Happy Birthday, Lizzie!

2010-02-19T08:29:00.003Z

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Happy Birthday, sweetheart! Enjoy your day!

(I cannot believe it's been that long!)

A Spot of Sunshine

2010-02-17T22:58:00.003Z

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"Ah! I remember sun!"

Love Me, Loves Me Not: Winner

2010-02-14T17:55:00.005Z

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Thank you to everyone who entered for the Loves Me, Loves Me Not give-away below. A veritable vein of virtuosity uncovered here, I feel.

And the winner is...

JEN!

If you email your address to jan at jan hyphen jones dot co dot uk I'll wrap the book and post it off to you.

Commiserations to all the non-winners. The book is available on Amazon and from The Book Depository (post free anywhere!) on the side-bar.

Happy reading!
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SHORTLISTED!

2010-02-11T10:49:00.013Z

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I am overjoyed to be able to announce that my Regency romance Fair Deception has been shortlisted for the Love Story of the Year 2010 administered by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Fair Deception is the first of my Newmarket Regencies. It tells the story of Kit Kydd, who rescues actress Susanna Fair from evil Rafe Warwick. They then pretend to be engaged in order to keep Susanna safe and out of the way. Needless to say, things don't quite go as smoothly as either of them had hoped due to Susanna's inability to say no and Kit's inability not to be a knight errant.

It was published by Hale in October 2008 (qualifying period is July'08-June'09) and was sold out, but Hale have now reprinted it, so if you'd like a copy, click on the side panel!

Alongside me on the shortlist is one author that I am especially delighted to be ranked with. My very good friend and fellow RNACambridge chapter member Louise Allen has had her hot historical The Notorious Mr Hurst selected. Like Fair Deception, it also has a Regency-theatre setting and the love story between Maude and Eden just scorches the pages.

Louise says "Wealthy, eligible, beautiful - Lady Maude Templeton can have any man in Society. But she wants to marry for love - and the man of her dreams is sexy, talented, intelligent - and impossibly ineligible. What is more, he doesn’t believe in love. Making theatre owner Eden Hurst realise he needs love, and her, seems hopeless - but when she puts her mind to it Lady Maude can be quite as shocking as any of her Ravenhurst friends."

Full list for the RNA Love Story of the Year 2010 is:

The Notorious Mr. Hurst - Louise Allen (Harlequin Mills & Boon)

Animal Instincts - Nell Dixon (Little Black Dress)

Always the Bridesmaid - Nina Harrington (Harlequin Mills & Boon)

Fair Deception - Jan Jones (Robert Hale)

The Wedding Party - Sophie King (Hodder)

Claimed for the Italian's Revenge - Natalie Rivers (Harlequin Mills & Boon)

The Award will be presented at the Pure Passion Awards luncheon at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington on Tuesday 16th March 2020.

Big Fat Gold Book Give-away!

2010-02-05T19:37:00.005Z

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Ta daa! The RNA anthology LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT is published in paperback today!

It is crammed to the covers with forty-four fabulous love stories written by terrifically talented authors from the remarkable Romantic Novelists' Association.

(See what I did there? Alliteration. Gotta love it.)

As well as a very nice contemporary story from me called Love's Colours, there are Regencies from my good friends Louise Allen, Nicola Cornick, Joanna Maitland and Amanda Grange and contemporaries from my Transita-stablemates Sue Moorcroft and Jane Gordon-Cumming.

Then there's a lovely Marshal-related story from historical superstar, Elizabeth Chadwick as well as contemporaries from Liz Fielding, Gill Sanderson, Sophie Weston, Katie Fforde, Judy Astley, Joanna Trollope, Carole Matthews, Anita Burgh, Rosie Harris, Adele Parks...

The list just goes on and on. Contemporaries, historicals, the odd fairy, timeslip and paranormal. And guess what? I've got a splendidly shiny copy to give away!

So, if you'd like to win this celebration of the Romantic Novelists' Association's Fifty Fabulous Years to date, just leave me an alliterative comment.

Even if it's only a little bit alliterative.

Just a couple of matching first letters will do.

Closing date, February 14th. When else?
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Bird Cake

2010-01-31T10:58:00.009Z

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Because I topped up all the outdoor feeding stations for the Great Garden Birdwatch this weekend, I have been enlivening the morning by making new supplies of birdcake. I find this vastly cheaper than buying the squares ready made from the pet shop!

Take one scoop (that's it in the yellow) of feeder-seed-mix, one scoop of soft-bill ground mix (basically oats and sultanas) and one scoop of the bread-and-toast crumbs that get saved in a bowl instead of being thrown away because the birds like them.

Got that?

Now blitz a small xmas-pud containerful of peanuts in the ancient electric coffee grinder that no one uses any more. Ignore the strange smell. It's not used often enough to worry about it.

Melt a 500g block of dripping in a large saucepan. TAKE IT OFF THE HEAT. Pour everything in and stir with the spoon marked "bird fat only". If the mixture is still runny, add more of everything.

Now spoon into the square cases that you saved from when you did use to buy the cakes from the pet shop. Or you can use empty cheese tubs instead.

Put out in the porch to cool down. Days like today that will take 20 mins max, I'd have thought.

The you can slide them into those square wire mesh containers for all to enjoy!
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Last Wishes - Georgian style!

2010-01-27T17:32:00.008Z

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Hooray! The Spring Season of lectures (Spring? So what was that sleet doing outside?) from Bury St Edmunds Record Office has started!

Today's was on the Wills left by various members of Georgian society in and around BStE. On a serious note, it is possible to learn a great deal about the historical mind-set from Wills. On a not-so-serious note, some of the Last Wishes are priceless (and a goldmine for historical novelists).

Wills in the 1760-1820 period were not nearly so dry and stuffy as they tend to be today. Dr Pat Murrell read out some lovely snippets, including one chap who wrote in his will that he was "making this will sitting in the inglenook next to the chimney with my leg raised upon a footstall". There was also the Rector who noted - also in the legal document - that even though he had made his Last Will some years previously, this was a new Last Will since every year he had less and less to leave.

And then there was the woman who left "all my land, buildings, plate, linen and effects to my daughter - BUT NOT IF SHE MARRIES THE SHOEMAKER!"

But how about this one? Pat saved it until last and it's an absolute floorer if ever I heard one. Just imagine the faces of the assembled family as they gathered to hear William Ruffell of Shimpling's last wishes in 1803. (It's a bit long. Bear with it.)

"As this life must soon end, and my frame will decay,
And my soul to some far-distant clime wing its way.
Ere that time arrives, now I free am from cares,
I thus wish to settle my worldly affairs.
A course right and proper men of sense will agree.
I am now strong and hearty, my age forty-three;
I make this my last will, as I think 'tis quite time.
It conveys all I wish, though 'tis written in rhyme.
To employ an attorney I ne'er was inclin'd.
They are pests to society, sharks of mankind.
To avoid that base tribe my own will I now draw.
May I ever escape coming under their paw.

To Ezra Dalton, my nephew, I give all my land,
With the old Gothic cottage that thereon doth stand;
'Tis near Shimpling Great Road, in which I now dwell,
It looks like a chapel or hermit's old cell,
With my furniture, plate, and linen likewise.
And securities, money, with what may arise.
'Tis my wish and desire that he should enjoy these,
And pray let him take even my skin, if he please.
To my loving, kind sister I give and bequeath.
For her tender regard, when this world I shall leave,
If she choose to accept it, my rump-bone may take.
And tip it with silver, a whistle to make.
My brother-in-law is a strange-tempered dog;
He's as fierce as a tiger, in manners a hog;
A petty tyrant at home, his frowns how they dread;
Two ideas at once never entered his head.
So proud and so covetous, moreover so mean,
I dislike to look at him, the fellow is so lean.
He ne'er behaved well, and, though very unwilling.
Yet I feel that I must cut him off with a shilling.

My executors, too, should be men of good fame;
I appoint Edmund Ruffell, of Cockfield, by name;
In his old easy chair, with short pipe and snuff,
What matter his whims, he is honest enough;
With Samuel Seely, of Alpheton Lion,
I like his strong beer, and his word can rely on.
When Death's iron hand gives the last fatal blow.
And my shattered old frame in the dust must lie low,
Without funeral pomp let my remains be conveyed
To Brent Eleigh churchyard, near my father be laid.
This, written with my own hand, there can be no appeal,
I now therefore at once set my hand and my seal.
As being my last will; I to this fully agree.
This eighteenth day of March, eighteen hundred and three."
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January RNA panel

2010-01-22T19:00:00.005Z

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Back from lovely couple of days in London full of meetings galore and rather nice food. That is - the lovely couple of days were full of meetings and I am full of rather nice food.

Highlight was the January RNA meeting, for which Chairman Katie Fforde had assembled a very fine panel. From left to right: Sue Moorcroft (author), Georgina Hawtrey-Woore (editor at Random House), Lizzy Kremer (agent with David Higham Associates)

Lots of useful questions and answers - the most encouraging being that Romantic Fiction always does well in a recession and that good writers are still being bought, still being published and still selling!
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Another lovely review!

2010-01-13T23:32:00.002Z

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Another lovely review - this time from the completely charming Liz Fenwick who said she couldn't put Fortunate Wager down.

Thanks, Liz!

Wonderful review for Fortunate Wager!

2010-01-06T12:45:00.003Z

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Thank you to Cybil from Rakehell for this wonderful review of Fortunate Wager. I loved writing this book, so I'm delighted that she enjoyed reading it and took from it all that I was trying to convey.

And if anyone is thinking of buying a copy - it's a staggering £11.69 from Amazon right now!!!

(Also, they still have Fair Deception at £14.94 - it can't last long!)
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My one resolution

2010-01-01T08:43:00.003Z

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I'm only making one resolution this year on the grounds that it'll be less easy to break it if I don't have half a dozen others in hand.

It isn't to eat sensibly, because I promise myself that after every meal. It isn't to exercise more, because I vow to do that every time I'm out of breath racing to beat the free-parking limit. It isn't to drink less because I remember that after every RNA meet-up.

It's a resolution that's really quite difficult.

Put Writing First

I believe women are conditioned to look after others first and themselves later. I certainly am. I have this huge sense of responsibility that has me saying "yes, of course" when I really mean "no, I don't have time".

But this year I'm totally going to try. I have short stories waiting to be written, I have the third Newmarket Regency floundering at the Midsummer Fair, I have an exciting new project that needs me to concentrate on it right now.

I don't think I can write before I clear my emails in the morning - tried that before and it was a disaster - but I'll whizz through the posts, answer quickly and succinctly, and then I'll write.

So, one resolution that I honestly want to make work. What's your one?
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Sale time!

2009-12-28T12:19:00.003Z

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Due to the unaccountable absence of any liqueur chocolates in either my birthday bag or under the tree, I felt impelled to visit Waitrose this morning and browse the sale bay. (That and the fact that we only had an inch of milk left in the fridge.)

Have now spent another £2 of my birthday money and feel nicely mollified. There were bigger boxes, but I do love these miniature chocolate bottles with an appreciable amount of liquid inside.

So, what didn't you get this Christmas and what are you going to do about it?
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Happy Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:17:00.002Z

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Happy Christmas all!

Hello, snow!

2009-12-18T08:41:00.006Z

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East Anglia has turned pretty overnight.

Later on it will no doubt be slushy and not pretty at all...

but for the moment it's all rather beautiful.
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Longlist for Romantic Novel of the Year 2010

2009-12-15T07:09:00.005Z

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Longlist time! This is for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year 2010 and there are some terrific names on it.

Who am I going to be rooting for though? There are my RNACambridge pals Judith Lennox and Mary Nichols (how good is that - a tiny chapter and TWO longlisters!)

There are also chums Julia Williams, Jean Fullerton, Veronica Henry and Sarah Duncan.

And lots of other good books too. I foresee the Santa's Christmas book sack straining at the seams.

Full story on the RNA Awards page.
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RNACambs Christmas Lunch

2009-12-11T17:47:00.006Z

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Lovely RNACambridge Christmas lunch on Wednesday, with a whole bunch of talented mates, food, wine and a Secret Santa as well. I had every intention of taking photos, but then I got so involved with the million conversations all going on at once that I, er, forgot. So no pic of us in all our finery, I'm afraid. Or the beautifully wrapped pile of Secret Santa pressies. Sorry.

I did photograph the food though. My Xmas dinner at the top ... and Kate's Christmas-Vegetable-Omelette at the bottom. Look at it: carrots, parsnips, sprouts, the lot! Definitely not something you see every day.

Surprise review!

2009-12-09T10:15:00.004Z

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How lovely is my friend Kate Hardy! I clicked on her bog this morning on my usual round up and saw this!

Reading: Jan Jones, Fortunate Wager – read this in one sitting. I love Jan’s Newmarket books because she has the place spot on. I also love her characterisation (Caroline is a tad unconventional and utterly lovely – the kind you’d want to be your friend; and Alexander is just gorgeous), her dialogue, the way she writes the most horrible villains, and the rollicking good pace of her stories. (Jan, you’d better have the next one almost complete now. Impatient readers – i.e. me – want the next one…)

Thanks, Kate! And congrats to you for being nominated for "Best Presents"

(Oh, and the next Newmarket Regency is, er, in progress. Ish. Very ish.)
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Another lunatic plant!

2009-12-06T09:40:00.002Z

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This is such crazy weather for this time of year. This poor, deluded Daphne shouldn't be out until the Spring!

Fortunate Wager

2009-12-05T15:12:00.004Z

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Oooh, quick! Fortunate Wager is down to £13.69 on Amazon!