London report

A lot of people seem to think that being an author is a glamorous life. Hmm . . . Seeing me today back at my desk, tee shirt and tracky pants, no makeup, list of jobs as long as my arm to complete - you’d doubt that. But some days make it feel very different.

And sitting in the sunshine in the courtyard of a lovely restaurant, eating great food (red pepper salad, skate with tomato and cucumber and – mmm – honey ice cream if you want to know – and I suspect that you do) talking to the lovely editor who had her whip hidden in her handbag and didn’t bring it out to crack over me in public – has to be one of those days. Specially when you get nice news.

Nice news 1 – remember this guy ? Well Raul is now officially the hero of my newest book – title Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife which will be out in March 2008 – my first title in the important centenary year for Mills & Boon. I also had some other good news about certain Italian and another Spanish hero but I’m waiting for the official say-so before I’ll let you in on those.

And at least that day I was sensible and wore shoes that were comfortable instead of going with vanity and choosing brand new, not yet ‘broken in’ shoes which looked elegant but were not the most comfortable footwear. Which is the mistake I made on Saturday when I headed for Borders in Charing Cross Road and the launch of Wannabe a Writer. My lovely Spanish leather embroidered shoes looked wonderful and felt fine to start with but by the end of and hour and a half wandering along Oxford Street and then another 3 hours standing talking to everyone at the book launch were creating agony with every step.

Jane Wenham-Jones & Me

But in spite of this I enjoyed the afternoon tremendously. As always, when Jane is involved in anything, the whole event went with a swing – the publishers (Accent Press) provided refreshment – wine, water, orange juice, nibbles – there were large numbers of books on display – written by the authors who had contributed to Wannabe A Writer by answering Jane’s questions and now had their comments in the book and their names in the index.

I was delighted to find that I had no less than 7 listings and it was interesting to read what I’d actually said – most of which I’d forgotten, I’ll admit. Katie Fforde and Helen Lederer

Then there were the people – lots of friends to catch up with – Hi Biddy, Liz, Victoria . . .writer friends and acquaintances – Jane W-J herself of course, Katie Fforde, Lesley Cookman, Sue Moorcroft, Bernardine Kennedy, Lynne Barrett-Lee. And lots of other writers to make into new friends – Judy Astley, Adele Parks, Karen Howeld, Sophie King, Alice Jolly, actress and comedian Helen Lederer (who bought a copy of Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride – thank you Helen) , Tamara McKinley, Emily Dubberley, Daniel Blythe, , Margaret Kaine, Martin Davies, Kate Harrison, Ray Allen, Victoria Connelly, Erica James & Maria McCarthy . . .

Lynne Barrett-Lee, Sue Moorcroft and Martin Davies

I talked myself hoarse, laughed a lot and managed to forget about my feet until it was time to walk – ahem – hobble – back to the hotel. It was an afternoon I wouldn’t have wanted to miss and well worth enduring a blister or two was a result of my shoe vanity.

I’m including some of my own photos of the day and you can see more of them here on the Wannabe a Writer website itself. You can also read more about the book and its many contributors here as well. Erica James and Kate Harrison

Oh and as I mentioned that our hotel was right next to the Palladium – I should have said that each evening we were treated to rousing choruses of Climb Every Mountain or How do You Solve a Problem like Maria from the cast of The Sound of Music which is on stage there – and was an unexpected bonus to our stay.

So now it’s back to reality with the ‘To Do’ list, and a bed to prepare for the visitor tonight from the