Captain Cook looks across the piers and lighthouses of Whitby to the North Sea. Born across the North york Moors in the small village of Marton he sailed in Whitby-built ships and carried its name across the world In many of Jessica Blair’s novels, of romance and adventure, the characters are set against a background of Whitby’s seafaring life of the 18th and 19th centuries when its sailing ships explored and hunted whales in the dangerous waters of the Arctic to add to the economic prosperity of the port.

It is hot, almost too hot to work but deadlines always beckon no matter how far away. This last fortnight I have found it too hot to be outside, until late evening, but I have benefitted because it has meant more time on the computer working on my latest novel and keeping me on the schedule I always set myself when starting a new novel. I work towards a final 100,000 words. I do not set myself a daily target but each time I work on the novel I do a word check so I know my progress towards my final goal. My contract gives a date when the manuscript has to be delivered and I aim to have the final word down a month before that so I have time for  checking and polishing. It is an interesting life!