This is not a test...

Bonsoir mes amisI bring you news. Exciting news from London town. I have just finished the first draft of my next teen opus and it will be published in February of next year in the UK. It's also going to be called Nobody's Girl. Well, it is at the moment. I'm not sure that I love that title but have yet to come up with anything better. I'm not sure if I nabbed it from one of your shuffle

The beast, it wakes!

Photo by Sandra Löv.Sayonora, sweetlings!I'm back! I have survived the the mammoth revisions of the grown-up book and can say no more about the experience because it's too traumatising. I've also been doing a ton of magazine-y stuff, which I'll let you know about as and when it's out - though actually I think I have a piece in the new Grazia out tomorrow. But I feel liberated from the yoke of

A big, stinky ball of fear... or how to interview

I have a bit of time to kill this morning as I'm doing a celebrity interview, which has been put back by an hour and a half. As a lot of you know, when I'm not writing tawdry teen novels, I earn a crust or two by writing for glossy women's magazines. The weird thing is that I've been doing this for over a decade (!) but I still get in a right panic before an interview. I never sleep the night

Research 101

Happy Sunday to you my little darlingsIt's very soggy, chilled and grey here in London. I wish Spring would just hurry up and sprung already.As ever, thanks for all your comments, particularly about my new series Fashionistas. I can't wait for you to read the first book when it comes out in June. Or is it July? I never can remember! And thanks for all your other comments, though I have to remind

Give me the ability to rage correctly...

Sunny afternoon greetings, gentle readersBut though the sun is shining (which makes a change round London town), I have dark clouds in my heart. Nothing too serious though I am incandescent with rage at the curtains and blinds department of John Lewis in Brent Cross Shopping Centre. I had to leave a very angry message on someone's answerphone, which did contain the phrase, "It beggars belief,

A room with a view...

I managed not to update last week, mainly because I was buried under freelance commissions that had to be in for Monday morning. Being a writer is one of those jobs where inevitably you always have to hand something in on Monday morning and can never shake that 'back to school' feeling on a Sunday night.I've started the second book in my four book sequential series and that's ticking along in a

Praise be!

Hello pop tartsI emailed off the final draft of my book on Thursday night. Apart from a bit of line editing, i do believe that it's done. Of course, if the Powers That Be demand another draft, then I may well cry real tears. So, I did what any other writer in my situation would do and yesterday I started book two. (I'm writing a sequential series of four books and, no, I'm still not allowed to

These dark days of the soul...

Oh dear. I overslept big-time this morning. Until 11.30. And I can't really say that I'm raring to go and ready to take on the world. In fact, I'd rather just go back to bed.You see, I'm at that stage with my new book where the finishing line is clearly in sight but my legs have turned into two unwieldy things that won't keep me upright. I'm fixing my plotholes, amping up my emotional tipping

Insert amusing subject line right here...

I'm posting because I try to post every Saturday but I'm afraid I have nothing much to report.My deadlines have been pushed up so I'm racing to try and get the second draft of my new book (which I'm still not allowed to tell anyone about) done for early next week. The good news is that I had a breakthrough moment at precisely 11.56 pm on Wednesday night and the book actually has proper plot

Love in a freezing cold climate...

I can't believe that June is only three days away. London is wet and grey and I'm really going to have to turn the central heating on after I've finished my blogging duties.It's been a busy week. On Tuesday I was involved in two events as part of the Birmingham Young Readers' festival. I took part in a live debate in the morning - I was speaking for the motion that Text Speak Is Destroying the

A message from the bunker...

Hola!I'm in deep hibernation mode at the moment. I go to the gym in the morning so I don't actually take root behind my desk, then get home and stare at my computer screen for hours. I even write some words! At the moment I'm racing to get the first draft of my new book (part of a four book sequential series) done by about the middle of next week. It's meant to be 65,000 words, but will probably

Every day I write the book...

Happy Easter/Happy Passover LadiesThough actually I never understood the concept behind Jesus is risen so let's all go and eat eggs made of chocolate. It could be because I'm Jewish or it could be that I don't eat anything made of chocolate, but I just don't understand the connection.So, I'm slightly mopey on this Sunday afternoon because I have a Pilates-related injury and can't see a blessed

Stop, look and listen...

Obviously my vow to be more diligent about posting here went horribly wrong. But it's late Saturday afternoon, the central heating's toasty, I'm in my Old Navy micro-fleece PJ bottoms and the most wild thing I'm going to do this evening is order a Chinese even though I didn't go to the gym today. It's like emo never happened!If that sounds terribly unglam, I did go to LA a couple of weeks ago to

Well, I'm softer than my face would suggest...

Hello pop kidsFirstly, any US readers in the vicinity of Hurricane Katrina, I hope you guys and your families are all well and safe. After a very soggy summer, we've had two glorious days of sunshine in London. Yet, I'm sitting at home on this Bank Holiday Monday, trying desperately to clear up some freelance work. I've just recently started writing a column for ELLE UK called "I wish I didn't...

From your head to the page...

HelloIt's a glorious sunny day in London. I've just been for a walk through Highgate Woods with a friend and now I'm back at my desk getting ready to hunker down for the afternoon with the manuscript for Let's Get Lost. Really though, I want to go outside and play!Time to answer a question though. SweetSugarRush asked: I write stories, well try to, and i have great plots for them in my head but