A little bit of good news today when my agent emailed me to say that he thought the second draft of The Gifting was a lot better than the first, hurrah! He’s promised to be in touch with me later in the week, after the wild traumas of the London Book Fair, so I shall gird myself for more edits to come. No doubt.

This morning, I’ve spent vast swathes of time sorting through the meetings for the coming year, and they’re all slowly slotting into place, like some kind of giant and very alien jigsaw. Still one or two pieces that are floating in the ether though … And I’m back to typing the boss’s changes to various sets of minutes and publicity, so the schedules are filling up, ho ho. Ooh, and I’ve signed an educational online petition and had a confirming email from 10 Downing Street – how very exciting! At last I am mixing with the Great and the Good – if only virtually …

Read Full Post

You receive an unexpected bill that you can’t pay; burn a green candle, mark a copy of the bill with money oil, visualise yourself paying it, ask the gods to help you. Add a piece of Sympathetic Magic by writing PAID on it, then burn it and send your request to the universe.

Angel, Shan and I were pondering the question of money oil; what was it?

Read Full Post

I'm not feeling so great today, as the temperature climbs ( we are in sharav season - a scorchingly hot, dry desert wind which blows from the Arabian Desert - which means it's getting hot hot hot), my body is refusing to cope. Lethargy has taken hold, and a rather unpleasant dry cough. I was trying so hard to stay well and not to pick up every germ going. Two months isn't so bad, I guess. My head is too foggy to do much but play Scrabulous and surf the web.

However, the post just came, and with it some very welcome new reading material to cheer me up:.....

Read Full Post

In spite of the rain, Lord H and I have made the effort to go out today, and ended up at the chocolate festival at Polesden Lacey. Mmmm, lovely. Though we were noble and did the house first - our attempts to dodge the Room Dragons were fairly successful, thank goodness. Mind you, there were children around so no doubt they had other things on their mind ... We also had a lovely walk across the always stunning grounds and the sun even shone for a while, astonishingly. Then we hit the Chocolate Tent, and were quite restrained, well for us - though I did have to drag Lord H away from the chocolate fountain before he plunged into it. And I discovered a really wonderful chocolate & courgette cake (yes, you are reading that right), with cinnamon. Lovely. We had it warmed with ice cream as pudding today, and even have some left over for tomorrow. It's the healthy option after all - no doubt being an extra portion of vegetables for the day ...

Read Full Post

Unrequited didn’t make the shortlist at the Lambda Literary Awards (US) but I have to say the nomination came as an unexpected surprised anyway, so I’m not too fussed. Good luck to whoever wins!

In other news, I’ve just reached the home strait of the WiP. I mean, there is still quite a bit to write, but I’m definitely at the endgame, which is, of course, the most exciting part to write! I’ve had so much fun with this novel, it will almost be a shame to finish it...

Read Full Post

A very quiet day today. We haven't done very much. Good Lord, I haven't even left the flat, though Lord H has done a spot of shopping and brought back lunch and a paper, hurrah. I've been attempting to get to grips more with Facebook, which continues to remain more of a mystery than MySpace is. Perhaps it's an age thing, I don't know, but I do prefer MySpace as a networking tool. Too many applications on FB really.

That said, I have started up a Goldenford page on Facebook which you can find here (see full post for links). It's very lonely being the only fan of a publisher which produces the best books in the south, so if you are a Facebooker at all, please do come and join me. I promise not to bite. Well, not for the first few days anyway. I've even set up an event for our forthcoming Goldenford talk on Writing from our Roots on Wednesday 14 May at 2.30pm in the Guildford Institute in North Street, to which one person has already suggested they might come (thank you, Julia!). Gosh! Indeed I am so modern. Ho ho ...

Read Full Post

Dear Kitty

Why does my penis hate me?

I met this wonderful girl and things were going really well and then, in the middle of having sex, I couldn’t keep it up. I’m not talking about my witty repartee.

We tried again the next day. Nothing. She’s being all, “honey, it’s not a problem”, but I’ve seen that look in her eye. The one that says ‘fuck me now or it’s goodnight Vienna.’

But I can’t! My penis won’t let me. Now when we get in the bedroom it practically crawls back in on itself. Conversely, my blood pressure is through the roof.

What am I going to do?
Peter, Southport



Read Full Post

We have two copies of Tommy Sullivan is a Freak by Meg Cabot to give away!

For a chance of winning one, please email us at chicklish @ googlemail.com (take out the spaces) with TOMMY in the subject line. We'll contact you in two weeks' time (23rd April 2008) if you're a winner.

"Katie Ellison can't believe it. Just when she's having the most outstanding summer of her life, Tommy Sullivan arrives back in town. Why's that so bad? Because just about everyone hates Tommy for what he did four years ago. And Katie's boyfriend, Seth, has the biggest reason of all to hate him. Even being seen around Tom Sullivan would make Katie a social pariah - so falling in love with him would be the like the kiss of death."

You can read an extract here.

This giveaway is only open to UK residents, but don't worry if you live in another country. There will definitely be more giveaways open to all! We're aiming for a different prize book every two weeks now on Chicklish.

Read Full Post

Another fascinating point that Linda Grant made in her Guardian piece, which I mentioned in Rogues and Vagabonds, is that

"The writer sits alone in a room, writing. The reader sits alone in a room, reading. Neither is ever likely to meet the other. Literature is an act of solitude and privacy. Never mind if it's about me; is it about you?" [my italics]

And though I know in the abstract that a novel is as much something that a reader puts together, from black marks on a page, as it is something a writer has made by setting black marks on a different page, I've never thought of it quite like that.

Read Full Post

An early golf session with Marian today - before which I was greatly thrilled by the reaction of the club receptionist to Thorn in the Flesh: which was "Fantastic! I loved it! Can I have another one?" Hey, that's the kind of reader response which makes me smile! So I have promised to pop in with Pink Champagne and Apple Juice, signed naturally, when she's next in. Fabulous - it's honestly made my day ...

Read Full Post