Well the new book Daughter of Siena comes out tomorrow in hardback – my first hardback ever, woo hoo! The cover is lovely so I hope it will leap off the shelves.

Also just finished and handed in the new manuscript – very scary. A bit like handing in an essay to your headteacher but about a million times more scary waiting for the feedback. This time I have three ‘teachers’ reading it – my agent, my editor and film producer, three scarily intelligent women who all know plot and character backwards. Aaargh. Might retire to the country and throw pots for a living.

Had a great and rare publishing jolly on Tuesday at the RNA lunch in Kensington this week – sat with a great bunch of gals from my agent’s stable and had a lovely time – the champers was flowing! Congratulations to all the nominees/winners especially great family friend Helene Wiggin (Leah Fleming) and thanks to my lovely neighbour Lisa Jewell for letting me cadge a lift in her cab.

Still, I refuse to be downcast. The UK proofs for The Botticelli Secret arrived in the post and now I’m starting to proofread. This is quite a fiddly process and quite painstaking, and will be impossible to concentrate upon fully til the kids go back to school, as you can’t copy out minute proofreading heiroglyphics while simultaneously trying to referee an argument about who’s got the most mini marshmallows on their hot chocolate. The fun bit is getting to read a book you haven’t read since you wrote it. If you’re lucky you’ll enjoy it and thankfully that’s the case here. I’m actually getting caught up in the story, so that’s a great relief. The plot is very different to my past books as it’s much more of a thriller/treasure hunt as the characters race to decode the meaning of a Botticelli painting. Its actually great to be in the company of my heroine again – Chi-chi, full time prostitute and part-time artist’s model – I love her so much I have a feeling I’ll be featuring her again some day.

One funny thing about a career as a writer is how your books begin to overlap each other. I’ve just been working on my fourth book, set in eighteenth-century Siena at the end of the Medici empire, and now I’m temporarily back in fifteenth-century Florence for Botticelli when the Medicis were at their most powerful. Plus, as The Glassblower of Murano has now just become available on iTunes (check it out if, like me, you find it hard to find actual reading time!) I’ve just been listening to the ‘voice’ of my very first heroine, set in modern day Venice. Confusing. Incidentally, Kate Magowan, who brings Glassblower’s Leonora beautifully to life in the recording, is married to John Simm, who I’ve just seen all over the Christmas TV as the scenery-chewing Master in Dr Who. So not only time periods but universes too are collapsing and colliding!

Earlier in the day I was at Warwick University signing copies of both books at a trade fair. It was great meet all the independent booksellers who have been supporting both books in what has been a very difficult economic year for small bookstores. I also was delighted to see Sara from Pocklington, and Christine and Jo from Colne, bookseller friends I have made at previous events. Thanks to Michael, Andy, Neil and all the Turnaround team who are responsible for physically getting the books out to shops around the country. Without you, I wouldn’t have the best job in the world!