It's at the printers!

Things are getting really close now...

I spoke to my lovely editor Sammia this week and she told me that my book is at the printers right now! That's my actual book being put together at the actual printers... It still doesn't seem real!

Apparently, I'm going to get an exciting box of books when they're done, which is brilliant and you can be sure that I'll be scaring random passers-by on the canal with my jiggly happy dance when it arrives. This won't be the first jiggly happy dance I've done this year, of course: when my page proofs arrived I was dancing around my living-room - which is on the first floor and visible to passers-by on the canal towpath - when I looked out of the window and saw a very surprised bloke on a passing barge staring up at me... Ah well, dignity's never been one of my highest priorities!

I always had a romantic dream about receiving the first copy of my book through the post - but it was more like in Little Women when Jo receives a beautiful, leather-bound volume with her name on it... Crazy, I know, but that's the kind of thing that you think is possible when you're little! That said, I LOVE my cover and it's so irresistibly sparkly and inviting that I just know it will stand out on the bookshelves in four weeks' time. FOUR WEEKS? Eeeeek!

Look at the swanky cover!

This is it!

The final incarnation of my debut novel Fairytale of New York in all its pinky-sparkly-New Yorky splendour!

And, finally, the 'happy-every-afters' typo is no more!! (Well, here, at least, although the older image is still up on all the online booksites (sorry about that...)



I've also posted a new blog entry for Authonomy here: with all the latest developments... There's more to come, so keep watching for lots of exciting stuff!

Phew - too exciting... Off for a lie-down and a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea decaf - my latest find and it's fab!

And so it begins...

OK. It's less than 50 days to 'P-DAY'...

So here's the official countdown clock... It will also live in its new home at the top right of my blog, but for some unknown reason it doesn't quite fit the border (any tips gratefully received!) - so here it is in all its flash graphic-y splendour!


MySpace Countdowns

Only in Great Britain...

Only the British would be crazy enough to do this...

Forget the cricket. Forget football. Forget tennis. We Brits officially rule the world in the only sport that matters: Human Mattress Dominoes! The BBC's Blue Peter programme broke the World Record with 100 human mattress dominoes... Revel in the full glory of the achievement below!

Whoa yes. Feel proud to be a Brit!

Quite the most awesome video...

Bit of a treat for you...

I've just been to the cinema to watch The Proposal with Sandra Bullock (fab as ever) and Ryan Reynolds (gorgeous, talented and semi-naked - what's not to love?!) and this video for Strawberry Swing, Coldplay's new single, played before the film...

It was stunning on the big screen but just as impressive on the little screen when I got home!

Whether you like Coldplay or not, I defy you not to be thrilled beyond belief by this awesome piece of film-making magic. Seriously. Forget it's Chris Martin and just watch the amazing animation...

Enjoy!

All finished!

Whoa yes. It's done.

Fairytale of New York is finally complete and on its way to the printers at last!

I'm not sure what the correct term for completing a book is... In the can? On the shelf? On the van on the way to the printers before it gets to the shelf? Whatever, it's done, finished, fin. I completed the final edits yesterday (a week early, quite chuffed with that) and sent it happily zipping off to its next big adventure in the land of print.

To be honest, I was dreading this edit because it had come back to me after a copyeditor had gone through it... Being a copywriter myself, there was a certain amount of professional pride at stake, so I was praying I hadn't made any glaringly awful grammatical errors that she would swoop on with cries of glee (an occupational hazard for anyone who works with words). But, to my surprise, I actually enjoyed this edit more than either the structural or dastardly line edits - because I actually got to read my novel! I've added so many new things over the course of the various edits that I hadn't really read the book in its entirety - so it was fabulous to see how it's grown and developed since the first draft that I uploaded onto Authonomy last September. Huge thanks to Yvonne Holland for finding all my daft mistakes!

I'm really proud of the finished result and can't wait to see what other people think of it. All the hard work has definitely paid off and I now have a finished story that I'm completely proud of. Roll on November 12th!

Just remind me of this euphoria when I'm stuck in line editing hell next year, won't you??

Is this the weirdest place to sign an autograph?

I've just signed my first autograph... but the location was an odd one!

When you're a writer, you dream of the scenario where someone asks for your autograph... You smile, blush slightly, and pretend with all your might that you haven't been practising your signature for such a time as this, honest...

I wasn't expecting to be asked to sign anything yet - especially as my book isn't published till 12th November. But at least, I thought, when it did happen, it would be in some swanky location with accompanying slow-mo camera, wind machine and string quartet.

As it turned out, this was not to be the case. I was, in fact, in Cubicle 17 of the A&E department at Russell's Hall Hospital, wearing a very fetching backless gown emblazoned with the legend, 'For Hospital Use Only' (I mean, as if you're likely to want to steal it... Take a deep breath, darling, I've a backless gown from A&E and I'm not afraid to use it!), awaiting the visit of a doctor to find out why the whole of the right-hand side of my body had swollen up and my pulse rate had rocketed.

Before the doctor turned up, a very nice student doctor arrived to take some blood (as you do) - in the process of it all she asked me what had happened to me and I explained that I'd been working stupidly for the past two weeks trying to get the edits done on my first novel. Turns out she's a massive fan of women's contemporary fiction and was really excited to hear about my book! So, when she was about to leave, she asked for my autograph and took the details of my novel!

In an ideal world, I would have preferred to be (a) fully clothed; (b) not swollen up and panicking because the nurses outside my cubicle were talking loudly about, "the suspected stroke in Cubicle 17"; and (c) in an altogether more agreeable location - but there you go.

Ah, the glittering world of showbiz, eh?!