Strictly filler...

Hello pop tarts

Y'know, I realised I hadn't posted here for a while and now I'm staring at a blank screen and can't think of anything interesting to tell you.

Hmmm, well, Diary Of A Crush is being prepared for its US debut. The three books will be coming out in, I think, July 2006, just after Pretty Things is being released in paperback. You've probably read me answering questions about the Crush trilogy on this blog but you'll finally get a chance to read it.

This is the blurb that will go at the back of the book:

Sarra Manning says: "Diary Of A Crush started out as a fictional column for the now sadly defunct, J17, a British teen mag where I spent four happy years. I got to write about some of my favourite things in DOAC: art boys, vintage dresses and heart-stopping kisses and was amazed when I realised that the J17 readers shared my obsessions.

I think Edie struck a chord with so many girls because she's not perfect. She's awkward and shy and her hair never does what she wants it too. But she doesn't stay the same – during the course of the three books, she starts to grow up and take charge of her life and her relationship with Dylan, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I wrote Diary Of A Crush over four years and it was a wonderful experience that led to many amazing things, including a book deal and this moment on a sunny Sunday afternoon as I write these words and pinch myself at the thought that Diary Of A Crush is now going global and that American readers will have a chance to hopefully fall in love with Edie and Dylan."

The Diary Of A Crush trilogy are Sarra Manning's latest novels, preceeded by the books Guitar Girl and Pretty Things. Her varied career has included a long stint as entertainment editor on J17, launching and then editing Ellegirl UK, before becoming editor of BBC's What To Wear magazine. She now writes for many UK publications including The Guardian, ELLE, Red, and Grazia, and also works as a consultant for a number of UK magazine publishers.

Ms Manning lives in London with her disobedient dog, Dino, a mongrel whom she saved from an uncertain future.

And Let's Get Lost, or the Big, Depressed Teen Novel, as I like to call it, will be out in the UK in February and out in the States in November 2006 (in hardback.)

I'm prouder of this than just about anything I've ever written. It's quite dark and you probably won't like Isabel, the heroine, an awful lot at the start of the book. But I think she'll end up tugging at your hearts. This is the official description that will be sent out - you get to see here it first!

Some girls are born to be bad...Isabel is one of them. Her
friends are terrified of her, her teachers can't get through to her...her
family doesn't understand her. And that's just the way she likes it. See,
when no one can get near you, no one will know what keeps you awake at
night, what you're afraid of, what has broken your heart...But then Isabel meets
the enigmatic Smith, who can see right through her act. Bit by bit he
chips away at her armour, and though she fights hard to keep hold of her
cool, and her secrets, Isabel's falling for him, and coming apart
at the seams when she does...A poignant, sometimes dark, and utterly
heart-breaking novel, told with all the author's trademark wit and sharp observation...

Nothing else to say but that you should all go and see Serenity at your local picture house and I'll be at the Cheltenham Literary Festival this Saturday to run a workshop on magazine journalism. All the places are booked but if you're already in the workshop, don't be shy. And please laugh at all my crap jokes.

Love, love, love

Sarra x