RNA Summer Party 2011

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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...

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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

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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...

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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!

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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!

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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

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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 !

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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

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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!

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

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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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