Where did the time go? (en welkom op mijn Nederlandse lezers)

Veronica, Jojo, Sue, Matt, Me at Guildford Festival

Bless me, dear blog-readers, for it's been six weeks since my last blog post. And I have probably sinned a lot. Though in truth it's hard to remember quite what I've been up to. I know that I had another book published (The Secret Shopper Unwrapped), ate and drank rather too much to celebrate its birth, went to the marvellous Mostly Books in Abingdon to talk vampires vs nice guys (a very lovely event indeed!), gave a workshop about writing romantic comedy with the wonderful Matt Dunn at the always fabulous Guildford Book Festival, followed by a talk with fellow New Romantics and dazzlingly glam writers Veronica Henry and Jojo Moyes (see picture above, with birthday girl Sue Locke in the centre ), caught up with some lovely friends, and a whole lot I have almost certainly forgotten...

The Secret Shopper's Revenge has also been published in Holland, which is a big deal for me, as I spent three years in the Netherlands as a child. I adore the cover (and her eyes are exactly the same colour as mine, weird!)... though I am confused about the title, Koopwoede. I think it means Shopping Spree, but I'm not 100 per cent certain, despite Google Translate: it's quite sad, actually, as further evidence of how poor my memory is, because I went to school in Holland and once spoke the language fluently.

Maybe it's time for me to learn it again, although as I am currently learning Spanish from scratch, that seems a high risk strategy. Anyway, if you're reading this from Holland (and particularly if you're near Rijswijk or Nieuwkoop, where we lived), then HALLO!

So, what next? Well, the 'director's cut' of Old School Ties is out in two weeks, and I'd love to know what you think. I will post soon about the process of rewriting my first book. I've also embarked on Secret Shopper 3 (haven't chosen a title yet), due for publication in early 2011 (oh, I do hope I don't jinx my progress by mentioning it...).

I will try to be back soon, but if you've read this blog a few times, you know what I am like... However, I'll be hosting the very, very talented Cally Taylor, author of Heaven Can Wait, on her extensive blog tour very soon, and if you're craving other stuff, try my Read Like a Writer Blog for a new post by another tremendous debut novelist, Jessica Ruston.

All that's left to say for now, then, is... tot ziens!