Hi everyone,

Well, here I am again! The lost wanderer back home and ready to chat! GREAT NEWS, BORN BAD went to NUMBER 1! Great, eh? Thank you all for going out in your droves and emptying the shelves! There’s no holding you back is there?

First thing’s first. How are you all? It must seem like I was never coming back, but you know how it is for me and I’m sure you understand.

After a dizzy schedule, I went away with family for a much-needed break. My intention was to lie on a beach and soak up the sun, maybe dip my toe in the sea (not in too deep because I’m terrified a shark might be lurking beneath the surface, ready to gobble me up!) I can hear you all saying,

‘Don’t be stupid! Why would a shark be lurking, waiting for you? Especially when there’s barely enough of you for a tasty meal!’

But, I kid you not; I really am terrified of sharks! I can’t even look at a picture of a shark without my blood running cold.

Anyway, enough of that, let’s move on, eh? I need to tell you what I’ve been up to in the last month. Firstly, I was in London for the making of a trailer for DIVORCED AND DEADLY (the hardback of my online serial of Ben’s diary) which was hilarious! The poor guy playing Ben Buskin had to climb, almost naked, into a bath of water, surrounded by little ducks, sponges and other stuff we won’t mention! There was a huge mug with ‘size matters’ written on it, and we made sure the camera captured it in the video! The whole thing was done in three takes and then put onto a CD – I roared with laughter when I saw it! (Shame he got out of the bath and grabbed a towel before we could see what he was made of!)

Then there were a few other events and so on, which meant I was late delivering the new book. I needed to work long hours to get BLOOD BROTHERS finished and delivered to make sure it’s ready to hit the stores in February!

I have recently returned from Ireland, where I did a busy tour in Dublin – it was absolutely fantastic! I met some lovely people, much like yourselves and we had this really funny taxi driver who drove us to the TV studio, I’m sure he won’t mind me telling you about him… He was lovely and lively, oh and a bit naughty! He looked like he’d just got out of bed; his hair was standing up on end. And right in the middle of his crown he had the prettiest little pink patch where the hair was so thick and wild. He kept me and Moira, my Irish publicist, laughing all the way to the TV studio with his stories and jokes. One story he told us was about this poor family, with lots of children.

One day they were expecting visitors, who were much better off than they were. So that they didn’t show themselves up, the father managed to scrape together enough money to buy a small meat joint, just big enough for the adults. Before the visitors arrived, he told the children,

‘When we’re all seated at the table I’ll ask you children if you want some meat and you must all say “No, thank you Daddy, we don’t want the meat.”’

The father told them it was very important that they refuse the meat, because there was not enough to go round and they did not want to be shown up. When the guests arrived and father started carving the meat, he asked the children one by one,

‘Would you like the meat?’ and as instructed, each reluctantly answered in turn, ‘No thank you, Daddy.’

When the first course was cleared away, the mother brought out an apple pie she’d made for the visitors,

‘Please Daddy!’ the children asked excitedly, ‘Can we have some apple pie?’

‘No you can’t!’ he answered, ‘Because you didn’t eat your meat!’

On that note I’ll remind you that I desperately want all of you to come to the planned event in the spring. Please, please come and say hello, because I want so much to meet you all (more details on the 'Events' page).

Lots of love, as always and take care of yourselves,

Jo x