I can't believe that June is only three days away. London is wet and grey and I'm really going to have to turn the central heating on after I've finished my blogging duties.
It's been a busy week. On Tuesday I was involved in two events as part of the Birmingham Young Readers' festival. I took part in a live debate in the morning - I was speaking for the motion that Text Speak Is Destroying the Engligh Language and lost, but I was blown away by all the schools who took part. I was shaking so hard I could hardly hold my microphone, but the teenagers who came on stage to speak for and against the motion were confident and articulate and impressed the hell out of me. And hi to Bethany and her friends!
I've also learnt to knit this week. I've been wanting to learn for years and I knew the only way I'd get round to it was to have a deadline. I'm so goal-orientated! So I pitched a feature about knitting to a magazine and was then told I had four weeks to knit "a really long scarf." I'm also writing something that may never see the light of the day and my main protagonist is a passionate knitter so it was a good way of getting inside her head. It was all going horribly wrong, I couldn't even cast on and then yesterday I had a crash course in the basics from a friend who used to be a knitwear designer. Now I can cast on, cast off, do knit stitch and purl and add in new colours of yarn. I think I might be hooked!
I also took delivery this morning of a hard copy of the first draft of what will be my new book. I always prefer to read on the page and my little printer certainly can't cope with 322 pages, so my editor prints it out for me so I can scribble all over it and scratch out great chunks with my scary red editing pen. I've got a lot of work ahead of me...
And next week I'll be recording a podcast for my US publisher (note to self: try not to swear!) and I'll give you all the details once it's up on the interpipe. I have a horrible speaking voice. I sound like I'm five!
One last thing, I got a comment from someone (sorry, I can't remember your name) asking if I see the covers of my foreign editions? The answer is no! I have a lot of input and creative involvement with my UK covers, get consulted on my US covers, but my actual foreign editions suddenly arrive on my doorstep and that's the first time I get to see the covers. It's just the way it is!
And actually this really is the last thing, anyone who wants to add me as a friend on MySpace, you don't need to ask, just go ahead! 99.9% of the time I will add you back but MySpace pages that take several millenia to load do make both me and my computer cry!
(Why do I feel the need to end all my paragraphs with an exclamation mark?)
Until next week, my sweets
Love
Sarra
(cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
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1 comment:
hey sarra,
Unfortunately I've been banned from my computer for frequent uses of graphic language, so I'm typing this so quietly that A mouse, and, I hope my mother can't hear. I just wanted to say, I can't waot for you new book to come out!! I'm filling with excitement, I've been sat since my computer taboo, reading the 'Diary Of A crush trilogy' about 24 times now, I can probably recite it for my LAMDA exam. But, sadly I must do verse and prose, and even sadder, I must revise. Good luck with the editing, hope you don't get those red ink marks on the tips of your fingers!
Love Ellie xoxox
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