After a long break (I can't believe I haven't been on here since OCTOBER!) I would like to say I'm back with a bang but the truth is that this author is not 100% at the moment. Still working and still writing, but doing too much else has seen me flagging for a while. I know I'm my own worst enemy but I'm expecting that some long over-due surgery is going to sort me out. After all, you can't keep a good woman down!

I did attend the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Novel of the Year lunch at the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington yesterday. It was 50th anniversary of the RNA so we were welcomed with pink champagne and the level of noise as so many writers congregated and shared news had to be heard to be believed!

The meal was fantastic and Barry Norman of TV fame was brief but very funny and he stayed around to hand out the awards. There was an increase in the number of categories this year, which made the whole thing much more interesting, and how marvellous it was to see so many athors doing so well. You see, it's not all doom and gloom in the publishing world as some would have us believe!

I left with a goody bag containing a book and chocolate and a new resolve to see one of my novels up for an award before very much longer.