Somewhat after the event, but every day is chocolate day where I come from …. 🙂 Plain Jane – It’s National Home Security month, Dyspraxia
Plain Jane 190914: A megaphone, soapbox, and cheap-suited lackeys needed
Thank you to all those who have suggested that, further to my last column, I stand in the next election myself. My initial thought –
Plain Jane 050914: Of course Nigel Farage won the hustings, he’ll win the election too
Of course Nigel Farage was selected as our UKIP candidate for South Thanet. He was always going to be and I am surprised that those
Plain Jane 080814: From the art crowd to a new crowd and an old row
Margate is in the news again. Described as “the formerly gritty seaside town”, Margate has made its way onto yet another list, coming in at
Let Them Eat Cake …
Originally posted on The Romaniacs:
Let them eat cake…. (And we’ll have some too!) Jane Wenham-Jones, author of the revolutionary new eating plan 100 Ways…
Plain Jane 250714: Royalty, politics, tourism and how not to waste money
Originally published last week but I’ve been away teaching at the fabulous Chez Castillon… HAPPY Birthday Prince George and congratulations on being able to walk.
Express Newspaper features 100 Ways
Am pleased to have been recognised as a “diet expert” 🙂 Says she, with the chocolate nut cookie hanging out of her mouth… (Brazil nuts
Plain Jane 090714: Three cheers for poo-lice
ANDY Murray lost the tennis; the Germans won the football (so far). Type two diabetes is on the rise, standards are falling. Rumour has it
Plain Jane 130614: Is Thanet really only known for the shipping forecast?
Plain Jane: Is Thanet really only known for the shipping forecast? As regular readers will know, I am an ardent proponent of this fair isle as the
Plain Jane 300514: My view on term-time holidays
RECENT figures have shown that 24,000 children each day are taken out of school for a family trip. If I still did the school-run, it
Plain Jane 160514: So here’s to you Iris, best of luck with Thanet council
So another shake-up for our beleaguered local government. In-fighting and power struggles down at Cecil Street are nothing new, of course, but I am genuinely sorry
Plain Jane 010514: 11 years of writing about Thanet, and I’m not done yet
I have been writing this column for an astonishing 11 years – ever since I bludgeoned the then editor Mike Pearce, into giving me
Plain Jane 180414: Family tree research just to get my passport
Plain Jane: Family tree research just to get my passport If I can give you one small piece of advice this week – along with
The joy of Chez Castillon
April 2012 – the first time… You never really know someone until you live with them. A truth universally acknowledged by generations of women who’ve
Plain Jane 200314: I don’t like to complain but…
YOU know me, dear readers, I don’t like to complain – a regular little Pollyanna here, we are – but things have been, how shall
Plain Jane 200214: Who is worthy of NHS treatment?
SIR Andrew Dillon, the pleasant-sounding head of Nice (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), is expressing doubts about taking “wider societal benefit” into
Plain Jane 230114: Time for council to do some good, for a change
I am naturally thrilled to hear that Thanet Council have been hitting their targets, with a bullseye for 44 out of 58 “key projects”. I
Chipping Norton Literature Festival critique competition
Who dares? :- ) Be great to see anyone who can get here – to watch even if not to take part…. 🙂 jx
Plain Jane 090114: With five diaries, why do I keep missing things?
OK HANDS up – who’s fallen by the wayside already? You over there with the fag and the cream bun – weren’t you going to
New Year’s Resolutions for Writers…
By way of an intro I must tell you that I found these on my computer while looking for something else. They were written for
Plain Jane 271213: My review of the people and places of 2013
Regular readers of this column (God help you) will know that my final offering of the year has historically been a round-up of my top
Mike and Jane: Christmas Time, Mistletoe and Whine…
My latest Isle of Thanet Gazette column – the annual joint offering with fellow columnist, my mate Mike 🙂
Plain Jane 221113: I like Laura Sandys, but…
I like Laura Sandys. While not a natural inhabitant of the same neck of the woods, politically, as our good MP for Thanet South, (to
351: Jane Wenham-Jones books and writing advice
Originally posted on Authors for the Philippines:
ITEM: A copy each of Wannabe a Writer? and Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of? (Not to be…
Plain Jane 081113: Who says we can’t make our own entertainment?
WHO says we can’t make our own entertainment? This family, gathered round the kitchen table on a dark, windswept night, has just spent an enjoyable
How time flies… a big hand for Carole Blake!
How time flies… a big hand for Carole Blake! My small tribute to the Queen of Shoes and her Fifty Years in Publishing. It was
Doing NaNoWrimo??
I am not doing NaNoWriMo officially, but with a book to finish, another one to start, columns piling up, hundreds of emails to answer and
Plain Jane 251013: Why I’m welcoming Manston’s new owner Ann Gloag
SO MANSTON Airport has been sold for a pound. As the lovely Ed and I agreed, had we known it was going to be so
I couldn’t have put it better myself…
A lovely blog post here from the immensely talented Clare Mackintosh (watch out for her debut novel next year – it’s going to be astonishing)
Plain Jane 111013: Woe of Student Finance on deadline
I AM on a deadline or three. There’s a scarily half-done manuscript to deliver, and articles needed sooner. I have bills to pay, e-mails to
Plain Jane 270913: I flew to Manchester via Amsterdam and I’m not sorry
LAST week, much to the consternation of the local bloggers, I flew to Manchester. Via Amsterdam. Yes, I got on a plane at Manston, landed at Schipol,
Plain Jane 130913: Maturity has its reward, thank heavens
For those of you gagging to read my Isle of Thanet Gazette column without having to shell out 80p, here it is, hopefully better late
Part Two is here! :-)
A quickie to say please do watch part two and let me know what you think. Proper blog post next time… xx
Plain Jane 280813: Everyone has a book in them…
THEY say everyone’s got a book in them and I say: Sometimes it should stay there! The explosion of ebooks and self-publishing has made everybody
Wannabe Writers on TV
Originally posted on BRIDGET WHELAN writer:
Heard from two bloggers – Catherine Ryan Howard and Kathleen McGurl – about a pilot for a new reality…
Happy Birthday Morgen Bailey!
A quick post to say a Very Happy Birthday to the fabulous Morgen to whom I owe a great deal. This is the woman who
The Wannabe a Writer TV Show
Here at last…. Am all very thrilled – and not a little nervously twitchy 🙂 – to announce the launch of the first half of
Plain Jane 020813: My Top Parenting Tips
ALL together now, a great big ahhhhhh. I love a new-born baby (it’s the next 18 years that wears one down). And, together with the
Plain Jane: The heat is on, some tips for surviving the summer
SO THE heat is finally on – and has even reached Thanet – with temperatures predicted to soar into the thirties and stay there. Cue
Plain Jane in the Isle of Thanet Gazette from Friday 5th July
ONE of the things you learn as you get older is that whatever it was, it was always longer ago than you think. I was
Plain Jane in the Isle of Thanet Gazette from Friday 21st June
Bit late getting this up here as have been away to the Winchester Writer’s Conference where I had the enormous privilege of hearing Julian Fellowes speak!
Plain Jane, Isle of Thanet Gazette 07 June 2013: Council double-speak hides another waste of money
And now I AM on the new website… hurrah! But here is my latest Plain Jane for those who’ve got used to reading it here… And Happy
Plain Jane, Isle of Thanet Gazette, 24th May 2013: The Big Thanet Breakfast
The Isle of Thanet Gazette has a new website (Â www.thanetgazette.co.uk) but it’s not yet sporting my latest column. So, for the strong-stomached, you saw it
We have a winner!!!!
100 Ways to Fight the Flab Competition. Judged by Janie Millman, Morgen Bailey (and me). …. Â It was very, very difficult to choose. We wrangled
100 Ways to Fight the Flab Competition – Top 5
Following on from last weekend’s Top 12, we are pleased to announce the creators of the Top 5 Flab-fighting tips, complete with the tips themselves, again in
Plain Jane: With beaches like ours, why are we still languishing in deprivation?
Plain Jane with Jane Wenham-Jones: With beaches like ours, why are we still languishing in deprivation? I BLAME my colleague Mike Pearce. I go to
100 Ways to Fight the Flab Competition – Top 12
Taa-Raaa – we have the first set of results of the Fight the Flab Competition, judged by Janie Milman, co-owner of the fab Chez-Castillon, Morgen-with-an-e-Bailey
Isle of Thanet Gazette: Plain Jane 260413
If Thanet councillors don’t want people to see them brawling, they should behave with dignity YEARS ago, when I was young and passionate, I joined
The Ab Fab ChipLitFest :-)
Well what a lov-er-ley time I had at this year’s Chipping Norton Literary Festival – a treat indeed. You would never believe the festival is
Plain Jane 12.04.13: Iain Duncan Smith could live on ÂŁ53 a week – but that is not the point
Plain Jane 12.04.13: I am often asked to sign petitions and occasionally I do, but mostly I find them a pointless waste of time. And
With friends like Mike :-)
Whenever I give one of my friends one of my books to read (some  are too tight-fisted to cough up for one themselves :-)) I
Plain Jane in the Isle of Thanet Gazette
I can’t find this up on thisiskent.co.uk despite the invitation at the foot of the printed column – if you can, please do send me the
Would love it if anyone would like to follow the new FLAB blog. One hot (no pun intended) tip per week – you won’t be
A Very British Blog Post
*** Have been having a grand catch-up on my emails (just the 117 now left in my To-Answer folder) and discovered this British Blog Post
Plain Jane, Isle of Thanet Gazette, 15th March 2013: A heavy Pryce for us all to pay
Thought it was too good to be true. My Plain Jane column is up online but without my name on it. Again. But did write
Very pleased to have been interviewed by the lovely Catherine. She is hilarious. (And knows a bit about a bit too! Have a look and
RNA & Plain Jane 1st March 2013: The sartorial choices of the stay-at-home writer
Bit lax on the old blogging front lately but will catch up soon with the excitements of Richard and Judy at the book awards –
Plain Jane 15 Feb 2013: Lasagne? What’s the beef?
The trouble with writing a column five days in advance  and then not getting round to posting it for three more is that by then
100 Ways to Fight The Flab – Womag Review
100 Ways to Fight The Flab has its second review! “heartily recommend for all writers, both big and small” “I must say it’s quite brilliant”
er… not on the radio after all…
Quick one to say that they have technical problems over at Radio Litopia so I won’t be on this evening after all… Will post new
Shortlists and radio shows
There – don’t they look pretty? Prime Time with the covers of the other lovely books shortlisted for the Romantic Comedy category of the RoNas.Very proud
Today’s Plain Jane
Hello and  Happy Friday. We have progress of sorts. My column in the Isle of Thanet Gazette is finally online (hurrah) but does not yet
Guesting on Nikki Goodman’s blog
Those who are sharp-eyed and read my last author post with Peter Jones may have noticed that I failed to publish a post last Wednesday.…
Overly excited and thrilled
Am suitably delighted to report that Prime Time has been shortlisted for the Romantic Comedy category of the RoNas today. This is a massive honour  of
Plain Jane. Isle of Thanet Gazette. Friday 18th January 2013
Eat crisps to beat the flab The problem with having written a weight-control book (one can hardly talk “diet” when tips involves chocolate) is that
100 Ways to Fight the Flab
I know I’m a bit of a show-off but even I wouldn’t display my bottom without good reason. These photos were taken as possible cover
Top Comment-leaver of 2012…
Yes, excitement, drum roll, etc. I am pleased to announce that… Tony Tibbenham has the doubtful glory of being crowned the most-frequent-commenter on this blog in
My-Mate-Mike in the Isle of Thanet Gazette 28th December
Remember my excellent advice on coping when the old man is suddenly at home ALL BLOODY DAY? My esteemed fellow columnist on the Gazette, Mike
Plain Jane. Isle of Thanet Gazette. Friday December 21st 2012
This might not make entire sense to those not blessed with living on the Isle of Thanet but perhaps you would would wish for similar for
Plain Jane 14th December 2012: Coping with (his) retirement
As some of you may know, I write a fortnightly column – alternating with My-Mate-Mike (he who hovers just to the right of Genghis Khan and
Plain Jane: Playing the Party Season
As some of you may know, I write a fortnightly column – alternating with My-Mate-Mike (he who hovers just to the right of Genghis Khan and
Thank you Sarah Salway!
Very pleased to be featured on Sarah Salway’s website and thanks Sarah for the plug for Thursday’s event at Canterbury, Waterstones too. Also thank you Edith for
Plain Jane column 16 November – public speaking & event with Lesley Cookman
As some of you may know, I write a fortnightly column – alternating with My-Mate-Mike (he who hovers just to the right of Genghis Khan and
And the teapigs’ winner is….
The winner, ladies and gentlemen – picked at random* from all those who left a comment on my tea-tastings, who receives, courtesy of the good
For those who don’t like tea…
You’ll be glad to know I have found one I don’t like either. It has to be a thumbs down for the teapigs‘ exotically-named tung
jasmine and tea flakes
Well of course, I’d always rather be on the fizz cos it means there’s something to celebrate (or there isn’t, but there ought to be)
pure lemongrass, silver tips white, but no mint thank you…
I used to drink so much coffee it gave me blotches. In the decade that I gave it up entirely (I now have the odd
Tea(pig) anyone?
Those nice teapig people did a spot of sponsoring at the Guildford Book Festival – where I first discovered the teabag-with-real-tea-in-it – and have now kindly
Plain Jane – Isle of Thanet Gazette
As some of you may know, I write a fortnightly column – alternating with My-Mate-Mike (he who hovers just to the right of Genghis Khan and
Guildford Day Six
Yes a bit of a delay there but Saturday I was doing a workshop in HMP Send, Sunday I had taken to my bed with
Guildford Day Two
The end of the second day of Guildford Book Festival and tonight was Peter James and Ann Cleeves. Fab interviewees both – and both with
And off to Guildford….
It’s begun – I am here in my Guildford for my annual stint in the interviewing chair and. as always, thrilled at the prospect. Last
Back from Chez Castillon….
I came back on Saturday, in fact, but it took  the rest of the weekend to sort the faint air of bachelor pad – why
Slacker
Am all behind on this blogging lark – as I am on so many things – but I have a small array of excuses. Been
If it’s good enough for Harry….
Of course he was pictured in the Sun with his kit off and I’ve only made Writers’ Forum (and am still wearing a laptop) Â but
A quickie for Thanetians
Or anyone within distance of. Just flagging up tomorrow’s excitement – RAMSGATE’S GOT WRITING TALENT – the annual literary bunfight that could win you lunch
Room for a little one…
Room, indeed, for two little ones – or even two quite big ones (bedroom sizes generous). Due to a cancellation, there are now a couple
Hot tips for Writers – am in the spotlight with Writer’s Choice
The nice people at Writer’s Choice have put me in their ‘spotlight’. Thank you PDR! 🙂 If there’s nothing much on TV, you can read
Greetings from (not-so) sunny Swanwick…
Actually it has been sunny but just happens to be p***ing down as I type. I am here at the long-running Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in
Feast or famine
So who saw the Horizon programme on Monday about fasting? Review of it here. Seems that arranging your life in alternate “feed” and “fast” days
And the winner is…
Malcolm Chisholm gets a signed copy of PRIME TIME in the books-for-comments draw. Email me your address Malcolm and the novel shall be yours. Winner
Short story – Carla’s Gift
Here by popular demand (Tony said he liked it, Morgen said we could alway pop it up on the blog….) is a short story for
Freebies and bargains …
Someone was asking somewhere – but I can’t find the comment – when Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of? was going to be cheap on
your free gift today
Is a copy – totally gratis – of my third novel ONE GLASS IS NEVER ENOUGH (and it often wasn’t, when I was writing it…)
Dancing on the table…
Yes, I’m afraid I did. I wasn’t going to. Thought I’d grown out of it, and all that. But as the boys told me, it’s
A night with the choir
The last night of Writer’s Holiday is the biggie. Wonderful to see all the chaps again. Below is a quick snap of the glorious Cwmbach
Barry’s on the ball…
To my talk at Caerleon and a spot of audience participation from Barry Adams who gamely agreed to attempt to balance on my exercise ball
Greetings from Sunny Wales
And it really is sunny! Am here in Caerleon at Writer’s Holiday  where  yesterday people were dropping by the wayside with heat exhaustion cos nobody’s
text from terry
Text comes in saying “great review” (see yesterday). Also adds “let’s hope you sell as many as Fifty Shades of Grey…” Terry is a mate
Happy Git
Nothing like a lovely review to put a smile on one’s face… Long Live Sara Lawrence at the Daily Mail…