JMF Work on my novel 'The Lost and The Lonely' is now complete, a task which has seen me through much of this year, has been exhaustive, and great fun. I'm pleased with my work on it, and with proving myself capable of such a consistent work schedule, especially throughout what has been such a busy and important year for me. I'll leave any (minor) revisions until the New Year, whilst I'm looking for a publisher for the work. We celebrated the completion of the novel at one of my favourite restaurants - 'Felicini' in Bakewell, where I enjoyed a large rissotto with shiitake mushrooms, oysters and white truffle oil - and indecently-sized chocolate profiteroles to finish. I've been barrelling along this year at such a frantic pace that finishing my novel has brought with it something equally strange and wonderful - a couple of days off! I didn't intend to, but I've used this opportunity to take some kind of stock of my achivements this year, and been left feeling proud. I hope 2008 holds an equal measure of success, love and happiness. I'll no doubt be back at my desk writing again next week, but with the festive season well and truly upon us let me take this opportunity to wish all my friends a happy Christmas and New Year. Take care, everyone, and see you in 2008.

JMF I journeyed as far north as I've ever been in England recently, near Newcastle to collect my beautiful new BMW. A very festive fall of snow began just as I was setting off home in the car, and I also saw The Angel of the North sculpture for the first time in real life. I bought my first BMW when I was 21, and would find it difficult to own anything else these days. The new car looks and drives beautifully, it's just a shame that in a country which seems to spend so much of its time having the roads dug up and re-done, the surfaces are in such terrible condition for smooth driving...

JMF Attended a luscious staging of Verdi's opera La Traviata, the luxurious sets (mirrored walls and candlelight) and costumes were a dream, and indeed the whole show was very enjoyable, even if modern audiences seem to be increasingly lacking in any understanding of form and etiquette...

JMF October - in Suffolk.

JMF Recently I was fortunate enough to have a chance meeting with the thriller writer Chris Simms, a genuinely delightful fellow. We discussed research for books, growing up with M. R. James, and having to edit oneself on the fly when children appear unexpectedly in the audience at readings! Chris's latest book is 'Savage Moon' in which something mysterious and deadly is stalking the Saddleworth Moors, and I wish him the greatest of luck with it.

JMF My work pace has slowed a little over the late summer months, as a consequence of dedicating more time to my personal life and a fantastic new relationship, but I've been touring the country again this month and taking some great photographs in many of the locations. I started the month exploring the legendary Peak Cavern, in Castleton, which I'd been meaning to visit since 2002! I've journeyed across Yorkshire - including another stay in Leeds in August, and you all know how much I enjoy my times there! - explored the Lake District, found a fantastic new favourite restaurant on the riverside in Bakewell, and revisited some favourite haunted and mythical sites in the Peak District. In October I'll be returning to the Suffolk coast for the first time this year, to celebrate my 28th birthday and to contemplate moving back to the area full-time. Rest assured though, that my novel is still moving forward - if at a less frantic pace - and should still be finished by the end of the year, as I have only the big climactic scenes to bury myself in now!

JMF Sunday 16th September was the Opera Canolbarth Cymru's performance of my first favourite opera - 'La Boheme' at the Buxton Opera House. The show was outstanding - a very strong and spirited performance throughout, but especially Christopher Steele's Rodolfo, whose introductory song to Mimi ("Che gelida manina — Your Tiny Hand is Frozen") brought a well-deserved round of applause. A hugely enjoyable version of Puccini's classic from it's bawdy and genuinely funny start to it's tear-jerking tragic finish.

JMF After a recent celebrity dinner  I was accosted mid-flow in the men's room by none other than British actor Patrick Mower, who later told me about a ghost he'd seen in Harry's Bar in Paris and his audition for the James Bond role back in the 70's. Thankfully he washed his hands before shaking mine, and left me with an autographed copy of his recent autobiography so I could read more of his ghostly anecdote. Dinner, for those of you who are interested in such things (and I know a scarily large percentage of you enjoy my culinary adventures) was as follows: For starters Beetroot Gravadlax with Lentil and Tomato Salsa and Creme Fraiche, for main course Seared Salmon with Braised Fennel and Fondant Potato, and an unreasonably tasty Chocolate Brownie with Coffee Sauce - and actual coffee - followed. The wine was plentiful, and constantly being topped up by the very efficient hotel staff to whom my thanks!

JMF It was great to spend a few sun-drenched days in Brighton recently to catch up with my good friend Peter James (who kindly announced me as 'The Greatest Living Englishman - EVER!') as he launches his latest novel - the fantastic thriller 'Not Dead Enough'. The third book in Peter's phenomenally successful Roy Grace series of crime thrillers was celebrated amidst plentiful wine and fine company, and the Mayor of Brighton even dropped by to pay tribute to the man of the moment with a flattering introduction. I'd like to thank some people who made my time in Brighton all the more pleasurable - amongst them the chairman of Nottingham Rugby Club Ken Grundy ("that bugger in the blazer") and his beautiful family, Tony Balasz who was a charming and interesting dinner companion, retired Chief Superintendent Dave Gaylor (the very nice real-life Roy Grace) and Peter's delightful sister Genevieve. Brighton is full of happy memories and associations for me, it's certainly been good to me over the years, and I didn't want to leave; not least because my sprawling hotel room had a superb sea view and an equally superb jacuzzi. 

JMF Dinner with Jilly Cooper today, a lovely and genuine lady! The very nice meal began with confit of roasted herb flavoured cherry tomatoes with Greek feta cheese and black olive dressing. Main course was roasted fillet of salmon with Champagne sauce, and for dessert came a Raspberry fruit cheesecake with strawberry coulis, and coffee. The white wine, bizzarely, went unidentified...

JMF Another great show - the first night of the UK branch of Meat Loaf's current world tour. A fantastic two-and-a-half-hour set with a performance that was at times literally jaw-dropping in its intensity, including hits from the past 30 years and showcasing some great current songs. Indeed the only downside was when I tried to order a bottle of champagne in my hotel bar only to be told that they hadn't one. Setlist: All Revved Up With No Place To Go/Paradise By The Dashboard Light/You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth/Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire/Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back/I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)/Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are/Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through - interval with videos for Cry Over Me and Alive - Seize The Night/The Monster Is Loose/Bad For Good/If It Ain't Broke Break It/Blind As A Bat/It's All Coming Back To Me Now/Bat Out Of Hell - encore - Black Betty/Mercury Blues/Give Me Shelter

JMF I attended, and enjoyed, a performance by the New Opera Company, Derby, of one of my favourite operas - Puccini's 'Tosca' at the delightful Buxton Opera House. On a gloriously warm and sunny Spring evening, it was a pleasure to spend some time in the town's beautiful Pavilion Gardens - a 23 acre, Grade II listed park which is at the side of the opera house and which was a fine prelude to a thoroughly enjoyable show. Puccini's intensely dramatic score evokes the conflict between love and lust, patriotism and power, trust and treachery was well-staged, with a particularly noteworthy Cavaradossi.

JMF A return to my 2007 UK tour and another - brief - break from doing any real work. One of the more enjoyable places I visited was Leeds, where I got to stay in one of my favourite luxury hotels and treated myself to caviar and champagne for a couple of evenings. Leeds itself is a place I'm liking more and more, and on each visit I'm finding more hidden treasures and delightful corners, shops, bars and restaurants to while away the beautiful sunny days and evenings in. The following week I found myself in Carnforth, famous for being the train station in Noel Coward and David Lean's 'Brief Encounter' - a film I've always liked very much. The station - and indeed much else of what I saw of the town beyond it - is a delight. A wonderful surprise for me lay in wait in the fantastic second-hand bookshop there, where I discovered a 1st edition Algernon Blackwood book almost 100 years old, for only £4! This almost made up for the hell on earth that was Preston train station, where I found myself unhappily stranded for far too long when I tried to leave the North...

JMF Lots of people wonder what I get up to when I'm not at the desk, or dreaming up fresh horrors to terrorise people with... I spent today learning about bomb disposal, in my ongoing quest to become a real-life action man! This is yet another thing that's nothing like in the movies - real-life operators will try wherever possible to deal with the bomb from a remote distance via sophisticated equipment rather than squeeze themselves into a tight spot with the device and wonder whether to cut the blue wire or the red wire! I'm not sure that this knowledge will ever come in useful in my work (you don't get many explosive devices in supernatural fiction), but it was good fun all the same and might come in useful for dinner-party conversation one day! What next? I'm determined to fly a helicopter in coming months, so watch this space.

JMF Thursday 22nd March my presence was requested at the launch of some hideously over-hyped piece of trash by a charmless and largely talentless loss of a first-time author. Being a gentleman negates me from dropping names in this particular newsflash, of course, but I can't pretend I was in the least bit impressed. Still, I forced myself away from my desk for a day (I was being paid, after all) and along to indulge in some of the free champagne on offer and catch up with one or two old friends, and even passed along some advice to the 'author' in question regarding readings of his work...

JMF Work on my novel continues to go well, and my thanks to all those who've shown their interest. I've been quiet about it up until now, but here's a taste for you from the end of a recent chapter (first draft), in which one of the main characters is trying to escape from something unpleasant he has glimpsed in a near-empty cinema...

The aisle seemed so far away, but there was nothing to stop him reaching it. He could be there within seconds if he just kept moving, if he didn’t look down, if he didn’t stop. When he heard the thing under the seats dragging itself excitedly, scurrying forwards at a speed it shouldn’t have been able to manage for its size as though aroused by the chase, he almost gave up. He’d taken only one more lurching step towards escape when the long white fingers came out from beneath the seats and grabbed hold of his ankle. This time, he did fall, and only his bulk stopped him from smacking into the floor. He became wedged between the seats, but his discomfort was far outweighed by the terror that was squeezing his heart as though to drain out the juice of his life. He saw the hand that clutched his ankle, and then the rest of the thing that pulled itself out into the narrow space between the seats and begin to swarm up his body towards his face, as it was trying to form its own. By the time it reached him it had formed enough for a mouth.

JMF Just returned from a greatly appreciated holiday and a tour of England's green and pleasant areas. I started off indulging in the delights of York (I must write and thank her properly...), finished up in Buxton and sometime in between ended up in Sheffield, where I was given the whole first-floor VIP area of a bar and restaurant to myself  in which I finished off a fine day. Back to the hard work though now, honest...

JMF The start of the year finds me embarked on a mammoth journey - the writing of a novel, 'The Lost and The Lonely', which should be finished by August. This means that the release of my collection 'The Truth About The Night' will have be set back, as there's still some work to be done on that when I can find the time. And I've given up smoking too, which is about one of the best new year's resolutions a person can make. I don't start of the year by going easy on myself, do I?