Remember, remember the Twelfth of November...

... for this hallowed date is when my very first novel will be hitting the shops!!

More details when I get them, but I found this out yesterday so I wanted to let you know. One major thing is a big change to the title... I'm announcing it on my blog posts for Authonomy, so keep your eyes peeled for that any day now. Once it's out on there I'll be making a massive noise about it on here, too. It's been a thoroughly mahoosive decision, but I'm pretty convinced it's the right one, so hopefully it will make my book stand out when it hits the shelves on November 12th...

Did you get that, by the way? November 12th 2009... Why not put the date in your diary now, just so you don't forget??

(If you think this is cheeky, wait until Autumn when I'll be getting really nervous!!)

Having a publication date has made the whole thing feel a bit more real - with each stage I go through it is slowly dawning on me that this is actually happening... Wow - odd or what?!

The Prince's Rainforest Project

I'm not usually one for sign-up campaigns, but this is a good 'un...

...not least because it's cool to see Prince Charles doing a myspace video message! Seriously, this a fab campaign and well worth a look.

(Watch out for Kermit in the video, too!)

Check out my new blog look!

WOW... how cool is this?!

Many, many thanks to Hilary from Simply Yours Designs for this fantastically girlie-groovy-gorgeous design!!

What do you think of the new look for Coffee & Roses? Let me know!

It's all happening...

I'm one busy bee at the mo...

The book is coming along very nicely, with the last set of edits due back from my editor today - so I'm a little bit nervous about how those will be when they arrive, but excited too!

Also - and this is incredibly exciting - I'm finally being able to put my album together!!! I've been self-funding the album project for the past couple of years or so, and with all that happened last year with losing my job, the whole thing had to be put on the back-burner. Now I have a little bit saved I'm finally able to fund the last few bits so I should hopefully have a sparkly album all finished in the next couple of months or so!!! Keep watching the blog for more on this as it happens!

Talking of music, two of the tracks going on the album are songs I created with the very talented Mr Reuben Halsey... He's just remixed a song by Orbital and created a brilliant video for it, so I thought I'd share it here... Enjoy!!

COMING SOON: A new look!

Coffee and Roses is getting all swankyfied!!

In the next few days, my lovely blog is undergoing a bit of a spring-clean and will emerge all sparkly and gorgeous very soon...

Keep your eyes peeled and let me know what you think...

Editing and the importance of perspective...

I now have a Schedule, darling...

...which is soooo scary! It's only one sheet of A4, but on it are the dates that will determine the next few months as I start to go through the editing process for Kowalski's. It's all good and I'm still completely blown away by it all, but every now and again the enormity of the task ahead dawns on me. Not only do I have to produce the best novel that I can, I then have to hope and pray that people will actually like my book - something I have no control over whatsoever...

When you're writing just for yourself, whilst you long for others to recognise your ability and like your writing, it doesn't really matter if nobody does - because you write for yourself, first and foremost. I always want to be like that, no matter whether I sell one book or a million. (I'll sell at least one because my Mum & Dad will buy one, so I'm at least assured of that sale!) So even though I'm currently editing and writing new sections for Kowalski's, I'm still writing it for myself - the only difference to before is that I now have an awful lot of other people counting on me to write something worthwhile. It's brilliant, really, when I stop to think about it - so the work is the best fun (just as long as I don't try to think too far ahead to the whole 'will people like it' scenario!)

I watched a programme tonight about celebrity chefs and so many of them referred to their cookbooks as their 'product'. I hate that: no matter how famous you get, you should never, ever lose the thrill of producing something that you've created yourself. Call me naive, but I'm convinced there must be a way of retaining that spark of joy, even if others around you are focussed on the sales figures.

I read an article about the actor Bob Hoskins once, and the writer said that even though he is one of the hardest working actors in the business, he still wanders around set on each new film he embarks on like a kid in a sweet shop. Crew members always comment that he appears to be blown away by the whole thing - not least because he's a part of it - and to the casual observer it would appear that this was the very first movie he'd ever worked on. I want to be like that - no matter whether my books sell or not.

And so, you have my personal permission to slap me if you ever see me being diva-like about writing. I don't intend to ever lose the thrill of reading the words wot I wrote - no matter what the future holds!

Oim on the telloi, loike...

I'm on the telly!

A reporter from BBC Midlands Today phoned me on Tuesday after I'd been a guest on Phil Upton's Breakfast Show on Radio WM, to ask if they could come to my house.

My house? Are you sure?

Having just come back from holiday in South Devon (so lovely that I didn't want to come home), my tiny flat was disappearing under the usual post-holiday detritus that I hadn't had time (or inclination) to tackle yet... Thus followed two evenings after work of manic cleaning, sorting, binning, dusting and vacuuming - leading to me sleeping on the sofa the night before the TV crew were due because I had so much stuff piled up and generally shoved into my bedroom that I couldn't actually get to the bed! Still, I now have televisual evidence that my flat can be tidy...

You can watch it here...

Needless to say, I am now convinced I look like Jabba the Hut's slightly overweight sister and am resorting to the Ryvitas!