Trashionista Review of 'The Not-so Secret Diary of a City Girl'

And if my night at the Melissa Nathan Awards wasn't enough, yesterday I read the lovely review by Elle at Trashionista for City Girl. She even gave it a five out of five - hoorah! To read the review, please click here.

The Melissa Nathan Award 2010

This was a truly amazing night. For starters, the event was being held at the Cafe de Paris, which was beyond glamorous; then there were the judges Jo Brand, Liza Tarbuck, Morwenna Banks, Sophie Kinsella and Joanna Trollope who are all, without exception, idols of mine; and finally there was the fact that the event is held not only to champion the genre of comedy romance (a genre sadly neglected by 'serious' literary people) but also to celebrate the life of Melissa Nathan - comedic novelist extraordinaire - and to continue the charity work she undertook during her life via the excellent Melissa Nathan Foundation: click here to see the work The Foundation does.

The evening began with champagne and canapes as the guests arrived: there were the other shortlisted writers to meet, old friends and acquaintances to catch up with and new friends to make - Melissa's family were there and I had two conversations with her mother who was wonderfully warm, encouraging and chatty. In fact the whole event had a lovely family atmosphere. There were two babies present: Shortlisted author Danny King ('Blue Collar')'s little girl who was ten weeks old and Sophie Kinsella's youngest, only eight weeks old. Also present was Melissa's son Sam (age 7) who, after the judges had summed up all six shortlisted books, gave an extremely moving explanation of the work of the Melissa Nathan Foundation that had most of the audience wiping away a tear or two.

We were called into the main auditorium where Jo Brand bounded onto stage to host the event. She was sensational. I saw Jo live in 1993 and my abiding memory was of my face aching with laughter - it only took about two minutes and it was aching again. We then had a performance from songwriter (and, as it turned out) singer David Arnold and then the judges each celebrated one of the shortlisted books. Jo Brand did mine, beginning by holding up a copy of the book featuring the image of my blonde, barrister heroine on the front and saying: 'As you can see, they put a picture of me on the cover...'

After a short interval we enjoyed a fantastic performance by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy who performed a selection of his songs ("I suppose you'll want me to do the one about the bus...") and then there was the announcement of the winner, who was...'Moon-Light in Odessa' by Janet Skeslien Charles. Huge congratulations go to Janet whose book Joanna Trollope describes as 'a book that stays with you for all the right reasons'. All the shortlisted winners received a beautiful trophy (mine is now proudly residing on my mantelpiece) and the evening ended with more mingling, canapes and champagne.

It was a real fairy-tale evening and I feel so lucky to have been part of such a wonderful experience. Melissa was a truly exceptional author and her Award and the work of her Foundation will ensure that she remains a powerful force for good for years to come.

Romantic Novelists' Association Summer Party

Last night was the 2010 summer party hosted by the Romantic Novelists' Association. As ever, it was a fabulous fest of old friends, new friends, sensational gossip, sensational shoes and the presentation of the 2010 Joan Hessayon Award for the best debut novel, generously sponsored by Dr David Hessayon and presented by the lovely Katie Fforde. This year the shortlist were:
Monique DeVere with her book 'Divorce Etiquette' published by Wild Rose Press
Georgia Hill with 'Pursued by Love' published by E-Scape
and Lucy King with 'Bought:Damsel in Distress' from Harlequin Mills and Boon.

The winner was Lucy King who, because she was both in Spain and imminently about to give birth, was not present to receive her award so she was telephoned with the news by Katie Fforde and we, the assembled, multitude shouted our congratulations down the telephone line to her! I wish Lucy - as well as Monique and Georgia - every success with her writing and hope she has a wonderful year as the Joan Hessayon Winner.

After that it was time for yours truly as last years' winner to do a little speech and, as soon as I'd got over the 'having to stand up in front of lots of people and make coherent words come out of my mouth' bit, I was able to really enjoy the party!
Lots of fabulous RNA writers were present and I also had a good chat with quite a few new authors who are currently on the New Writers' Scheme, run by the Association to promote and assist up-and-coming authors in the romantic genre. What a talented lot we are!

So, with the champagne, the shoes and the friends old and new it was another wonderful evening!

Chick Lit Reviews: Interview

Well, the sun is out, the sky is (less) blue (than it was now that the planes are flying again and there are vapour trails everywhere) and my interest in the General Election has increased dramatically since I found out we have Arthur Pendragon, the Once and Future King standing in our constituency as a candidate - although, as a friend of mine pointed out, does he actually need to be elected; can't some watery bint just chuck a sword at him and have done with it?

On another matter lovely Leah from Chick Lit Reviews has just popped an interview with yours truly up on her site, and I thought I'd put a link up. To read what I have to say about writing, the books and plans for the future, click here.

My Name's Ben Elton...

Not the usual writerly stuff, but thought I'd get a bit topical and mention the 'Leader's (so-called) Debate' that was on ITV1 last night. Not that I watched all of it (or indeed most of it - well, what do you expect, it up was up against 'Outnumbered' on BBC1) but I thought the polictical commentary on it was so startling that it deserved a mention. All the pundits this morning were not discussing policy, or what will happen to the economy if Buggins' party gets elected or anything that actually MATTERS, they are all concerned with 'who did best'. And again, that is not 'who did best and will pull this country away from the brink of a double-dip recession without decimating the NHS in the process' but 'who did the voters like best'. Well, pardon me for getting a bit shouty, but is this what it's come down to? Trench warfare with no actual policies but the winner being the person who got their coloured worm to climb the highest up the ratings for the greatest amount of time??? It's no wonder we have an apathetic electorate. Probably including myself, here. I am aching for some debate, some issues, even - to hell with it -some vision that can inspire us and get us debating and talking about stuff for the first time in years, not all this bunkam about what are, in effect, political beuaty pageants. Where will it all end? Sam Cam and Sarah B staging a cookie 'bake-off' for the media as they do in the USA? Arggh.

Actually, I'd probably just settle for a return of that 80s staple, 'Spitting Image'. Apart from the pleasing prospect of a David Cameron puppet dripping with slime (an homage, perhaps to the Kenneth Baker snail of the later Thatcher years) at least SI had the knack of getting right down to the substance of the matter and presenting it in a way that cut through all the spin-doctoring and political mud-slinging.

Or perhaps that's the problem: there simply is no substance any more and the most important issue in the election will be who has the cleanest shave and the best tie.

Stop Press

As well as having lunch with my old mates Clive and Clare AND it being my brother's birthday, today was the day that the shortlist for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. Because I'm really clued up, I found out that 'Tug of Love' had made it on to the shortlist when I logged on to my FB page and found people congratulating me on my nomination. Nomination - what nomination? I said - and then spotted the name Melissa Nathan. That was about six hours ago and my hands are still shaking as I type this.

This is the press release:

THE MELISSA NATHAN AWARD FOR COMEDY ROMANCE 2010
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for 2010:
I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk (HarperCollins)
Wedding Tiers by Trisha Ashley (Avon)
Tug of Love by Allie Spencer (A Little Black Dress Book)
Love Letters by Katie Fforde (Century)
Moon-Light in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles (Bloomsbury)
Blue Collar by Danny King (Serpent's Tail)
The Winner will be announced at a gala evening in London on 15th June and we look forward to seeing you there for champagne, canapés, fun and entertainment. All the short-listed authors will receive a trophy, and the winning author will receive a cheque.
The Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance (MNA) is the UK's only literary award dedicated to comedy romance. The judging panel features the writer and comedienne Jo Brand, mega-selling novelists Joanna Trollope OBE and Sophie Kinsella, actor and comedienne Morwenna Banks, and actor and television presenter Liza Tarbuck.
The inaugural MNA was held in June 2007, and the winner was Marian Keyes for her novel ANYONE OUT THERE? In 2008 the winner was Lisa Jewell for 31 DREAM STREET. THE MARRIAGE BUREAU FOR RICH PEOPLE by Farahad Zama was last year's winner.

My gob is well and truly smacked. And wow. Thank you. Wow. (Stumbles off into incoherency...)

Radio Devon

Had a lovely few days down in Devon last week including another go on the BBC Radio Devon 'Good Morning Plymouth' show hosted by the mighty Gordon Sparks (who my brother - an ardent Plymouth Argyle fan - says is a god). As well as chatting about 'The Not-So Secret Diary of a City Girl', I managed to get the question about the theme tune to 80s computer games wrong, which just shows you shouldn't commit yourself on public record without checking your facts first: Manic Miner was 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' by Greig, and the Can-Can was (apparently) a game called Mr Ee. And if you don't have any idea at all what I've just been talking about, it's probably for the best.

To listen to my interview click here