There’s been a lot of hoo haa over the last few days about the supposed ‘fluffiness’ of chick lit, but the Guardian’s Decca Aikenhead revealed a lot more about herself than her interviewee, the fab Sophie Kinsella, in her piece this week. Why do the supposed ‘serious’ critics and journos get their knickers in such a twist about women – and especially a CAMBRIDGE graduate woman like Kinsella – writing supposedly ‘unintelligent’ books about romance? I get asked this quite a lot; do I mind being labelled under the chick lit genre, as if it’s something shameful and derogatory. Normally the ones asking have never even read one of these supposed CL books, because under the pastel colours and cupcake on the cover there are a fantastic array of bright, funny women writing across a variety of issues, some of them very poignant and serious. It’s time for these sniffy critics to get off their high horses; just because someone wants a light-hearted, entertaining read doesn’t mean they – or the author – are brainless morons. Why can’t you have the Shopaholic series on your bookshelf next to A Visit From the Goon Squad? Yes, literary snobbery highlights an insecurity about intelligence – but about the ones doing the damning. The rest of us are secure enough to know we don’t have to have a Kindle bursting with Tolstoy and Proust to show how ‘clever’ we really are. THAT’S real feminism for you.

*Does cartwheel of excitement* The fifth book in my Churchminster series is finally out! In the words of the great Miranda Hart I had SUCH fun writing it and I hope you love reading it. Which characters will float your boat this time?

Will be the lovely CARO and the beautiful BENEDICT, who’d do anything for the woman he loves?

How about feisty CALYPSO? Will she find the man she keeps declaring she doesn’t want?

And what about new girl KIZZY? Can she ever penetrate the heart of the brooding JAVIER, the gorgeous ex Olympic dressage rider with a dark and tragic past?

Ooh, I might have to go back and read it myself now! Enjoy. jxx

This is (nearly) the moment chaps. My fifth book in the Churchminster series HORSE PLAY is out tomorrow. I am so excited about all the sexy new characters as well as the familiar faces of Clementine and co. Who will end up with who? Who will fall out of the pub drunk? And WHO is that sexy, dark brooding bloke striding round in jodphurs in the distance?

The countdown begins…



P.S. New in the Churchminster section! Calypso’s Party Tips, Meet Nobby the horse and Kizzy’s guide to riding!

People talk about the January blues, I’m enjoying my whites and reds. #dryjanuary might be trending on Twitter but I can’t think of anything worse. A quick straw poll amongst my friends revealed the same. Haven’t we got enough to contend with at the moment? No money, howling winds, Pip’s Lips from Great Expectations a fading memory …  They say exercise is meant to be good for you, but the gyms are packed with sweaty coughing people and running outside could culminate in you being taken out by a flying wheelie bin. I say: Play it safe and stay in front of the telly with a glass* of something nice instead.

* Or even two glasses. Six. Ten. I’m not one to judge

Last Saturday I forwent my usual Christmas knees up in London with mates to do the best thing EVER. The annual Dragon Xmas Charity Sale in Oxford. The Dragon Sale is a gorgeous prep school in the heart of the city I can just imagine some of my characters at. My Xmas sales at Upper Caldecote Primary involved a few jars of chutney and a badly dressed Santa (not that I’m complaining) but this was on another scale. Plenty of fodder for my books with all the yummy mummies and dashing dads running round in red trousers. I was signing books in the prestigious Authors Corner (scribbled in by my heroine Jilly Cooper on previous years no less) with a whole host of literary heavyweights. And me. Robert Harris, Richard Dawkins, famous historian Roy Strong… but my favourite part of the day was morning coffee at the headmasters at which I got to share a living room with the two Jeremys. Clarkson turned up looking a bit bleary eyed, but Jezza Paxman WOWZERS! He bounded in like a red setter, looking very lean and jocular. I now have a bit of a crush, especially when he admired my sparkly shoes. Jeremy Paxman does sequins, who knew?

My fifth bonktastic bonkbuster is out on Jan 19th (hint hint) but I’m already onto pastures new! My sixth Jo Carnegie tome is still set in the Cotswolds, but this time with a whole host of new characters and a gorgeous market town called Beeversham (I know). I have just spent a glorious day tucked away from all the wind and the rain writing about the beautiful blond naughty Beau and the curly-haired, flashing eyed Dylan. They are *dusts off cheerleading pom poms* H to the O to the T. Hope you like reading about them!

I’m being slightly dramatic. The actual buying, money-in-bank part hasn’t happened yet but the other part is totes true. At the moment I am living back at my parents in sunny Beds (I’m 37 rock on) and the other half is miles away over the Welsh borders in Cardiff. I’ve moved back home for a few weeks to write my book in the peaceful countryside, but also because I get my laundry done and a lie-in because my mum lets the dog out in the mornings. Did I also mention my boyfriend has a bar in the living room of his house? Anyway, after nearly eight years we have decided to rush into things and buy a place together. Great. Not so great when one of you is living in a different country and nice pads in Cardiff are going like Welsh cakes. So I said to Him, “If something comes up with fireplaces and you like it, put an offer in”. So he did. Yay/Eek. Cue a very nervous week for both of us until I went to Cardiff this week to see it. And…. I LOVE it. The boy has done good. OMFG! So solicitors have been instructed, surveys ordered and things are swimming along. ‘IBC’ (in by Christmas) has become the buzzword in our household(s). We’ll see. Meanwhile I’m off to look at fridges with icemakers and Moomin trays. All the important stuff first.

OK so my books are never going to win the Man Booker Prize…. but this year’s judge Stella Rimmington has come under flak from the literary establishment for wanting “readability” from the entries. I may have failed half my GCSEs and driving test first time, but am I missing something here? You READ books to get pleasure out of them, therefore READability is key. Who are these people? What do they actually DO with their books if they don’t rate reading them? Use them to swat flies? Build giant houses to crawl into and bemoan anyone who actually likes to understand their books? Gah, what a bloody waste of time and sensibility. There’s nothing literary about this lot in my opinion. Maybe they should dip their frigid toes into a bonkbuster and loosen up every now and again.

PS Well done for winning Julian Barnes. And once describing the Man Booker as “posh bingo”.

Today I started my new book. Woo hoo! The week before getting down to a new tome is always filled with excitement (about writing again) and fear (I can’t write!), but once I’m off the starting blocks there’s no looking back. With writing it’s kind of like training for a marathon without the hideous 26 miles at the end. There will be no socialising, no mid week white wine drinking, no daily browsing on ASOS. My mind is a lean, mean composing machine. I’m locking myself away from the world to escape into my new creation, the fabulous Cotswolds town of Beeverham. It’s not too far from C-Minster so a few old faces will be popping up, but I’m looking forward to writing about a whole load of new characters. While I am currently homeless at the mo and sleeping on a pavement near you, it will be a joy to call Beeversham home. So I’m off, into a sunbaked world of champagne garden parties and lots more hot men. It’s tough. I’ll only be coming out of my hermit cave once a week on Saturdays, for Strictly and X Factor. Oh, then there’s Sunday shows. And Escape to The Country. And loads of the random rubbish progs about celebrities, serial killers and animals I like to alternate between…

*has remote forcibly wrestled from grasp*

I had serious doubts about this woman. Too American, I said; too religious and so not fun at all. What on earth is Simon Cowell doing?…. Seriously? She is the BEST thing about X Factor. Tulisa, you’re so dead to me. But Kelly! So amazing! SO fun! Such a lovely glossy fringe! I’ll even forgive her for not wheeling out a pregnant Beyonce at the judges houses and giving us Jennifer Hudson instead. If I was in a fight, I’d want Kelly on my side. Those guns. She rocks. End of. The er, end.