And in the diary for today ...

Things are getting hectic around here.

For a crowded couple of weeks my diary is overflowing:

On Tuesday 15 May Never Coming Home is released in bookshops in Australia and New Zealand. To celebrate, I will be blogging with the Australian Romance Readers Association.

Wednesday 16 May I will be the spotlight debut author on the RT Book Reviews website. Morgan, my interviewer, came up with some great questions, delving into some of the most emotional parts of the book.

Thursday 17 May is the night of the RNA Summer Party and the Awards Ceremony for both the Joan Hessayon Award for new writer of 2011/12 and also the announcement of the Romantic Novel of the Year. It will be a great night, if a nail biting one, for Choc-Lit. Linda and I will be lining up for the Joan Hessayon, and Christina and Jane for the Romance of the Year. We are made of strong stuff, and will party on, regardless.

The full list of nominees for the Joan Hessayon includes some fabulous and varied debut books.

Scarlet Wilson    It Started With A Pregnancy                 

Tanith Davenport  The Hand He Dealt                            

Liz Fenwick  The Cornish House                               

Evonne Wareham   Never Coming Home                            

Lynda Dunwell   Marrying The Admiral’s Daughter         

Rhoda Baxter  Patently In Love                                  

Linda Mitchelmore  To Turn Full Circle                               

Gina Rossi  The Wild Heart             

And the week after? That's the week of Crimefest in Bristol, where I have a twenty minute spotlight to talk about mixing crime with romance. And guess what? I'm on stage immediately after Meg Gardiner.  Scary, or what? Will I hear a word she says?                     

Publication day! Or, where have I been this week.

I've had a spectacular week, and it's only Wednesday! Monday I was in London. Always a cause for celebration, but this was even better than usual because it was for the RONA Awards ceremony - the Romantic Novelists' Association's equivalent of the Oscars.

I spent a lovely sunny morning taking pictures of locations that appear in Never Coming Home - I'm planning a blog trail of places that feature - like a certain bench in St James' Park, where I nearly got run over by a lorry from the Royal Parks. Look out for that at a later date.

No - it's not mine!

Then I went back to my hotel, put on my glad rags and more makeup that I have worn in a long time and took the bus - number 176 - and a very pleasant journey it was, to 1 Whitehall Place for the Awards. Many people have blogged about that - you can see an account, and take part in the voting for the winner of winners, on the RNA's own site. Choc-lit had three nominations and won two of them. Hence the picture of the lovely glass star. That one is Christina's but Jane's is equally lovely. Much champagne and celebration.

And today is publication day for Never Coming Home. I have waited over a year for this, and it feels very strange. Like having a birthday. And there's more to come, as the official launch will be next week in Waterstones in Cardiff, when I will talk about the book. Shutting me up is always the problem. And there will be chocolate. I hope to see a lot of friends there. If you don't come, I shall be forced to eat the chocolate by myself. Which would be a tragedy.

You can tell I'm excited today - I'm babbling.

And a delivery man has just brought a parcel, from my publishers ...