Clue: don’t do as I’ve done. Twice.

When I finished my last book, Diary of an Unsmug Married, it had no sooner gone to print than I remembered loads of people I’d meant to thank for their help while I was writing it.

By then it was too late to add any names, so I vowed to be far more organised about remembering who to thank in my next book.

Famous last words. I never learn.

I started as I intended to go on – by keeping a list of everyone who helped me with research, ideas or just with life in general – but, as soon as Would Like to Meet went to the printer, I realised I’d forgotten to update my “thank-you” list after completing my final edit. Probably because I was so overwhelmed with relief at being able to see the finish line at last, but that’s NO excuse for such monumental dingbattery.

Anyway, what all this means is that I’ve again missed out several very important people from the acknowledgements of Would Like to Meet, so I’m going to try to make up for my latest cock-up here.

(I know being thanked on my website isn’t half as good as having your name in an actual book, but I hope it does at least show how grateful I really am to the people who weren’t mentioned in the book itself.)

So, my sincere thanks are also due (in no particular order) to:

• Jo Marino and her team at Way to Blue for their creative thinking, helpful emails in the middle of the night and at weekends, and for generally being so encouraging and supportive of both me and my books.
• Helena Sheffield and Phoebe Morgan from Avon Books for their great ideas and enthusiasm.
• Julia Kitt, fabulous hairdresser and equally-wonderful friend, for listening to me ranting about my neighbours, my book, and anything else I can think of, every time she cuts my hair. Also for never losing her temper when I say, “I need a fringe”, followed “WHY did you let me have a fringe? I need to grow it back – right now.”  She also provides a seemingly-neverending supply of sympathy and encouragement – albeit more in relation to my writing than my fringe-related indecision.
• And last, but by no means least, the lovely Niamh Hilditch, not just for putting up with my almost-constant moaning about the trials of writing Would Like to Meet, but also for her brilliant suggestion about changing the order of the tagline.

Thank you all, so much. (And I’m REALLY sorry I’m so forgetful. I blame either the menopause or pre-senile dementia. Or maybe both.)