This is where I wish I'd said yes to that naked charity skydive...

My mammoth struggle with this book has seriously cut into my blog-browsing time (as well as several other areas of my life, like my lying-in-bed-at-the-weekend time, and my shopping-for-daughter #3's-birthday-presents time) so it took me several days to notice that lovely Kate Hardy tagged me to provide seven things that you might not know about me.

Now, the first time I did this (as part of the Scribes team) it was a challenge because I am an open book (a not very interesting open book with hardly any pages and very large font), the second time it was even harder and the third time I had to resort to cheating. However, that was ages ago now so I thought I'd give it another go in the hope that I've changed into an intriguing and mysterious person with a wealth of fascinating secrets in the last two years...

Sadly, I find that not to be the case. Here's what I came up with...

1. I’m a secret thumb-sucker. Not these days so much (although at deadline times my husband has reported nocturnal lapses) but definitely up until I was quite grown up and went to university. Healthier than smoking and cheaper than alcohol, as a method of stress reduction I’d thoroughly recommend it. (Not instead of alcohol, of course. Especially not over a romantic dinner.)

2. My chief ambition in life is to be able to put on lipstick on without a mirror – you know, in a deft, elegant flick at a restaurant table or in the back of a taxi. Penny Jordan can do it. (Wistful sigh. If I ever master the art of mirrorless lipstick application, my next ambition is to be like Penny Jordan in every other way.)

3. I absolutely hate coffee (unless it comes with added calories and sugar in the form of coffee cake). Tea, on the other hand, is essential to my ability to sustain normal function. In emergency any old teabag will do, but at home it’s always a blend of loose leaf Assam (ie. Indian) and Earl Grey. (Exactly.)

4. I wear perfume every day, even if it’s just me, Ruby the Airhead Cat and the computer and I look like Waynetta Slob. As long as I avoid mirrors it gives me a happy delusion of glamour. (This is my current favourite )

5. I am the least white-knuckle person I know. And the least competitive. Both the idea of willingly exposing myself to physical risk and the concept of trying to prove any kind of superiority over other people make me want to go and hide in a cupboard. I think Olympic downhill skiing would probably be my worst possible career choice.

6. The first romantic novel I ever read was Imogen by Jilly Cooper. I was ten years old and we were on holiday in France. One hot afternoon when the adults were sleeping off the wine from lunch I found my stepmother’s copy in the car and, having long since galloped through my own supply of Roald Dahl and the Pullein-Thompsons, started to read. Instant Road-to-Damascus type revelation of what life was supposed to be like.

7. I have a new review up at Cataromance! (I know, I know, this doesn’t really count, but it’s a good one and I was trying to find an excuse to casually mention it, OK?)

Anyway, moving swiftly on from my embarrassingly dull life, what is exciting is that tomorrow the fantastic PHS Book Club starts with a discussion about Powerful Italian Penniless Housekeeper! Come along and be brutally honest because that definitely makes the debate more interesting, so criticisms and bits that didn't work for you are very much up for an airing as well as polite comments. (In a book discussion group in our local library I once made an impassioned monologue slating everything that Charles Dickens ever wrote, so as a believer in the principle of karma, I'm ready!) Hope to see you there...