Tagged by Poppy, so this is a chance to do the 6 random facts over again; the last ones were a cop-out.

1.
I have the most ridiculous things for breakfast; tradition has never made an impact on my life, except where porridge is concerned – salt not sugar. After the first (now, only) coffee I start to think about what to eat, and there are no limits; when I was a lush/drunk, in my thirties, it was often cold curry from the night before (lots of coffee) and craving for cold samosas would drive me around the west end of Newcastle searching little corner shops. I always have or try to do what I want, in the moment. I’m sitting here eyeing up the choice of:

White chocolate; orange Areo; toast; cream crackers and cheese; toast with sliced chicken; or marshmallows

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Pauline and Mavis, the Harper Collins PR girls assigned to my book, have chosen a party at Home House to introduce me to the publishing world. Their assistant, Lindsey, has been on the phone to me every day, and her excitement, unexpectedly, has rubbed off on me.

When I arrive at Portman Square, the black cabs and private cars are queuing to stop outside the velvet ropes. The passengers will only get out when their car is directly in front of the club steps and they will wait minutes to avoid walking twenty yards from further down the road. Suddenly I feel even more self-conscious than I was on the tube, sitting amongst the Saturday night indie kids and Goths in my wedding suit, complete with silver tie. I didn’t want to hire a tux.

The doorman looks at my ticket, then at me with a look that suggests we both know I’m a chancer. He gives the ticket back to me and steps aside with a wry smile. I thank him with indecent sincerity and finger the knot of my tie as I climb the steps where another bouncer opens a door for me. In my confusion, I pull my wallet out to tip him, then I pretend to put something in it and put it back in my pocket.

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So that's it, almost certainly: I've crawled through the proofs of A Secret Alchemy, finding every last misplaced comma, although it's also gone to a professional proofreader; I've picked up a couple of little anomalies that somehow between us we've all managed to miss; I've seen for the first time how the changes I made at the copy-editing stage integrate when I read it straight through; I've to-ed and fro-ed quadruple-checking the days of the week for one strand, and in another I've realised I've married the Duke of Buckingham to the wrong Woodville sister. The last real job is done, and the beast is face-down on my desk, waiting to go back to Headline, special delivery.

All being well, that's the end of my dealings with the actual words of A Secret Alchemy.

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Lord H and I have spent most of the day at Farlington Marshes, enjoying the glorious weather and admiring the birds. Bliss. New bird spotted today - linnets, hurrah! And what lovely birds they are - pink and grey and surprisingly bright. Rather like a long-tailed tit, but bigger. And without the long tail. We also came across black-tailed godwits, avocets, oystercatchers, skylarks and meadow pipits. So, all in all, a damn good day ...

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Forgot to say - yesterday I let in a car from a sidestreet into the queue to get into Guildford and was much cheered by the enthusiastic waving of the young, blonde driver. She - Gawd bless 'er - was driving a white mini, complete with two pink stripes across the roof and bodywork and a fluffy, nodding pink sheep in the rear window. Fabulous. Now there's someone who knows who she is and is proud of it. I'm quite tempted by the concept of a nodding sheep myself - maybe I'll get one in ginger ...

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Just had a phone call from the new editor at a literary agency I was in touch with last year. BIG crime agent. She's new in the job and working her way through correspondence she's inherited and wanted to know where I was up to with rewrites and what not. From what I could gather, she'd got me flagged as potential talent, which is rather lovely (as is she).

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Had a lovely facial and back massage at Clarins today. Charlotte says my shoulders are less stiff than they've ever been - a minor miracle surely as I've never really known how to relax them. Perhaps my attempt at lying on the floor and meditating for twenty minutes every day (a fairly recent and not always achieved development ...) is working? Who can tell. Though I am also trying to relax whenever I think about it (if that isn't a contradiction in terms), but it's hard to change a lifetime of social defence mechanisms all in a night. As it were. Mind you, I was much cheered by the fact that Charlotte's mother is reading Pink Champagne and Apple Juice and loving it apparently, especially the naughty bits. As well as wondering why she hasn't heard of me before. Ah, well, Mrs Charlotte, it's a mystery indeed. My Z-list authordom comes with its own special invisibility cloak. But so glad you're enjoying the read. Uncle John raises his glass of pink fizz to you. Chilled ...

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Actually, there is more than one wow today.

Wow #1.

Alicia Silverstone is, according to here, going to play the lead in a US adaption of best selling author and lovely person, Kate Long's The Bad Mother's Handbook. I loved the ITV one which aired last year (Catherine Tate played the lead in that one - pics here). Fantastic news. You can see the interview I did with Kate a couple of months ago here.

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Teen Book Review is running a series of guest posts by YA writers.

So far, you can read some thoughts by Melissa Walker, author of Violet on the Runway and Violet by Design, as she blogs about using her real life hometown in fiction.

And Luisa Plaja, author of Split by a Kiss, blogs about pants, trousers and knickers - well, teen fiction titles that feature them.


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