Saturday, February 25, 2006

He likes to read books written for girls...

Salut, ma petits anges...

I'm practising for my trip to Paris. My first ever press trip where I'll be doing a bunch of interviews (with a translator because I think doing an interview is a bit more hardcore than ordering une verre du vin blanc, s'il vous plait) and appearing at Salon de Livre on Saturday March 18th to do a signing. If any of you happen to be in Paris then, please come along!

In other news, I've now started writing my next book. In fact, I've written 5003 words exactly. It won't be out until next year and it's the first novel in a four book series. I think it's safe to tell you that, though unfortunately I can't go into more detail as yet. What I can tell you is that you'll get three books from me next year and the last book in the series at the beginning of 2008. If I stick to my deadlines. But as I'm pretty goal orientated I'm hoping that won't be a problem.

And of course, Diary Of A Crush and Let's Get Lost will be out in the States in June and um, October respectively.

But if you're missing my 'bitching' prose style (yes, those were sarcastic quote marks), I do write a monthly column for British ELLE, as well as various features for them. And there's a review and a short interview with me at the end of it, here: http://www.pink-world.co.uk/zine_readinggroup.html Please follow the exact link (you'll have to cut and paste it), otherwise you'll end up on a porn site!

So, onto your questions:

girl_with_the_most_cake: The LGL preview is a PDF file. I'm on a Mac so it just opens immediately but you might need to open the PDF application and then manually open the LGL chapter in that. I hope that makes sense. As far as I know there are no plans, as yet, to preview DOAC. That would be up to my US publishers.

Paint_box_pastel: Hopefully I've already answered most of your questions. You can find out more about the mysterious Emily Strange at www.emilystrange.com. Google is our friend!

So, that's it from me this week. I love that I'm sticking to my weekly updates

Live on

Sarra x

4 comments:

Paint_box_pastel said...

Wow, Emily Strange looks kind of dark and gloomy!!!!!!!!!

Can't wait or the books to come out and have fun in Paris.

J
xx

Paint_box_pastel said...

Thanks for the web adress bout Emily Strange, it's kinda freaky!!!

Can't wait for the books to come out!!! have fun in Paris.

J
xxx

Amy Green. said...

Ha. I knew this account would come in handy someday.

Dear Sarra, or Ms Manning, or Mrs Manning (I don't know why, but I have the feeling you'd like to be called Sarra. So, I'll call you Sarra.)
I am the average teen, I suppose. I can have an hour's detailed discussion on Marissa's (From the O.C's) outfits this week. I heart the White Stripes, and I'm still waiting for Jack White to leave his beautiful model wife and decide he would like to share a life of Buffy marathons and clothing crises with me. I hate school, but go to keep up appearances, and have spent the past 16 maths lessons (My teacher has counted) reading Vogue and considering whether or not I can pull off bangs. I consider this a much more valuable use of my time. I mean, hello? In my adult life am I going to suddenly spring from behind my desk and shriek 'I simply must calculate the radius of this room!' Is having the pythagoras theorem down cold going to help me write an article about whether Palazzo pants are making a comeback this spring? I don't think so. I also have issues just like every other girl, I hate my body, I hate my friends, I hate my parents, I love Arrested Development, but they cancelled it. How could anyone understand my suburban angst? And then I saw your book. I was in Ottakars, bitching as usual because no-one has the new Gossip Girl, and it caught my eye, just as I was about to throw a hideous tantrum in teenage fiction. I picked it up, read the back and read the first page and within seconds I was diving into my imitation Louis Vuitton wallet and searching for cash. Why? Because the EXACT same thing happened to me a few days ago. Disastrous experiment with my hair, tried to straighten it, ended up looking as though I'd been dragged backwards through the 80's. But nevermind. I ended up having a lovely evening watching Zoolander and sulking under my duvet. And over the past 2 days, I've just been reading your book. And I love it. Because you get it. You get the pain of liking someone, and not being sure if it's love because how could you tell? You get how sucky it is for stupid little teenyboppers to 'develop eating disorders' because it's totally what everyone in Hollywood does, and showing everyone the tiny little scars on the wrists because a freakin' parade couldn't provide them with all the attention they crave. You get how stupid the emo 'poems' (always with words like 'torment' and 'despair') are, because they are not expressing themselves at all, just the music they listen to and try to scrape their own emotions out of. And you get how it feels to watch all this when you are dealing with this stuff for real.
It's so hard to be a teenager, because the lucky ones don't realise how lucky they are, and your parents try to downplay how you feel, because they've been through so much more then you have. I mean, they finished school and university and got jobs and lost boyfriends and maybe helped their friends through the same things. But really they are muddling through just like everyone else (So what?) and you feel lost and confused and you have your whole life ahead of you, but really you're not even sure what that means. At least that's how I feel. And your book was the 1st book I've ever read that made me feel like I wasn't alone. That this stuff was normal. I'm sorry I'm gushing on, it's just that your book really meant a lot to me, because I was feeling the exact same way as Isabel. I may have lost something that was love, but there is a chance it's fixable. And I do want to fix it. I just needed a little push.

I wonder what would have happened if I had gone to that party?

Love, Amy
(16...well, for the past 2 days anyway)

PennyLane said...

Hey. so im having a vote on my blog for best movies. id love it if u could add some to the list. so anyone who reads this www.thehotelcalifornia.blogspot.com
be there or eat square. :P
have fun in paris *seething jelousy*
XOX -S.