Vote Manning, you know it makes sense!

Holla!

Just a quick post because I am drowning in book edits to let you know that the second Queen Of Teen awards is upon us.

If you're aged between ten and eighteen, you can nominate your favourite author, which is obviously me because you're reading my blog, having read my books, which automatically makes you intelligent, discerning and have I mentioned how especially gorgeous your hair looks today?

The link to nominate your favourite author (if you haven't been paying attention, that would be me) is here.

(Also, I an now going on an internet and technology detox for a week for a feature and so I can get some work done. I won't be Tweeting up a storm like I usually do, but normal service will be resumed in seven days. You can start following me on Twitter in the meantime and then I'll have a lovely surprise and feel huge popular when I do reconnect my DSL cable.)

Right, I'm off to bury my iPhone in a biscuit tin in the back garden.

Live on


Sarra x

Haven't done this for ages...

No, I don't mean updating my blog, though it has been an age, but doing one of those posts where I blather on about all the stuff I've been loving of late. First, a little catch up.

While I'm waiting for my editor to get back to me with her notes for my second grown-up book, You Don't Have To Say You Love Me (which will be out Jan/Feb 2011, no matter what it might say on Amazon,) I'm working on my third adult book. I've also been working on a new teen thing, but it won't see the light of a bookshop for a long while. I just wanted you to know that a part of my heart will always be teen. So, that's what I've been up to, now on to the good stuff.

BOOKS I'VE LOVED



I adored The Time Traveller's Wife and implore you all to read it, if you haven't already, though we shall never speak of the film version of it because then I'll have to cry and bang my head repeatedly against the nearest hard surface. So I've been anxious to read Audrey Niffenegger's second full-length novel and I wasn't disappointed. I don't think it's fair to compare it to The Time Traveller's Wife, as I feel that books on that kind of scale maybe only come along once in an author's career but Her Fearful Symmetry is a beautiful, beguiling and sometimes downright creepy read, in its own right.

It's a ghost story in the truest sense and it's largely set in and around Highgate Cemetery, which is very near where I live and one of my favourite places in the world and there is one sentence in it that is so thought-provoking and yet squicky that it will stay with you for ever.

"One Day by David Nicholls">


I read this book in a feverish gulp and went to bed far too late every night for a whole week, because I had to keep reading another chapter and then another chapter and then another one. Repeat to fade. One Day spans twenty years in the life of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew. It starts on the night before they graduate University and find themselves in bed together and revisits them on that same day, each year as they fight or grow apart or reconnect or find themselves in very different places in their lives. OK, you may not get all the pop culture references and you might think Dexter is an arse (which he is) but this book will grip your heart and not let go. And you will probably cry.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters">

To be honest, The Little Stranger may be a little too adult for younger teen readers of this here blog. Not that there's anything racy or rude in the book, but more that it might be too difficult a read. if that doesn't put you off, this this is another ghost story, which is beautifully written. I don't think there are many writers like Sarah Waters who can bend and twist words to such stunning effect. The tension and the sense of menace slowly seep into this story and I am a big scaredy cat who doesn't do horror or spookiness at all, but I stuck with it and I was glad I did. Though one night I dreamt about The Little Stranger and woke myself up when I screamed. For reals. You have been warned!

MUSIC I'VE LOVED

Miss Li

">

After Hello Saferide and Frida Hyvonen, I've discovered another kooky Swedish songstress that I've taken to my heart and myiPod. Say a big hello to Miss Li. I don't know that much about her but she's recorded a ton of albums and she has this throaty voice that sometimes sounds like a little girl on helium and other times, an old woman who smokes two packs of Senior Service a day. I hear a lot of different influences in her music; ragtime, folk music (like old European folk music with balalaikas, not Joanna Newsom folk) Brecht & Weill and summery, shimmery, sparkly pop. If you did want to buy one of her CDs after checking her out on YouTube, don't download for free(that should go without saying.) And don't go to the usual suspects who will charge you an eye-watering amount for an import album. I get all my Swedish pop needs here I would definitely recommend her Greatest Hits

She & Him - Volume 2



The second album from Zooey Deschanel and M Ward, this is a beautiful collection of sun-drenched, summery pop that's a little bit whimsical, sometimes melancholy and guaranteed to be your new favourite band ever. Trust me on this.

Stephan Altman - If You Got To Know Me

Yes, it's the song from that Think Bike! ad where motorcyclists and mopeds drive about town with these great flashing neon signs attached to the bi-wheeled vehicles. I'm not ahsamed to say that I like a song from an advert and it's a great song. After much google-fu-ing, I can tell you that this song does not seem to have been released, however you can go here, which seems to be here and download it and decide how much you want to pay for it. I would suggest that you pay no less than £0.79, which is what it would cost on iTunes.

TV I Love



Glee

This can not be a shock to any regular readers of my blog. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Glee, how could I not? I love Kurt, I wish he was my lovely gay son. I love Rachel, in all her over-achieving, hitting high C, whininess. I really love Mr Shuester, especially when he did his Busta Rhymes moves and my God, I love Sue Sylvester. In fact, it's taken all my powers of restraint not to cut and paste all one hundred and eighty seven of my favourite Sue Sylvester quotes. And I haven't even mentioned Proud Mary performed on wheelchairs or the time they sang Imagine with the kids from the School For The Deaf and I almost had to squeeze out a tear or the mattress routine to Jump. I fricking love Glee.




The Delicious Miss Dahl


Might be in a minority here, but I really like Sophie Dahl's cookery show. I don't care that she's meant to be the new Nigella. I like that she's all fey and whimsical and twee (are Belle & Sebastian not one of my favourite bands?) I adore her shabby chic kitchen (even if she just borrowed it for filming and she doesn't actually live there.) I love that she quotes Dorothy Parker and goes to adorable little antique shops (if anyone knows where that shop is that she bought the art deco cocktail shaker from, then you HAVE to tell me.) And I especially love the food that she cooks and how it looks a bit ragged and messy, but is well within my capabilities and doesn't require any fancy utensils. There are lots of things I don't like about the show, but this post is all about the things I love and I kinda wouldn't mind being Sophie Dahl occasionally and seeing the world the way she sees it. (Though not the Jamie Cullen bits of her world because Jeesh.)


Random stuff I've loved

Lindt Lindor Eggs



I love the delicious, gooey-filled white, plain and milk chocolate eggs equally and without boundaries. It may, in fact, be the greatest love I've ever known.

My iPhone

Then again, I'm not sure my heart knew what love was until I went to my local Apple Store and took home a shiny new iPhone. It's a phone and yet it's an iPod. I no longer bother to talk to my friends when I go out, because I'm too busy Tweeting about them. I can hear a song when I'm out and go to iTunes and buy it and listen to it immediately by pawing at its screen with the tips of my fingers. The future is now. (So what are the cool apps that I should be getting?)

Tiger




Not the stripey, furry, claw-y cats but a truly adorable Danish chain of stores that have six branches in the South of England. They sell well, everything from little retro china dishes and pots and cups that you want to arrange in a haphazard yet artful manner on your shelves to fab stationery, bathroom gloops, alarm clocks, herbs and spices and sweets. And it's really, really cheap. Above is a picture of the swag I bought this afternoon.


So I guess I've reached the end of this mammoth post. Just want to remind you that I am on Twitter. It's the best place to find me as I Tweet about a gazillion times a day. You are also quite likely yo get an answer if you tweet me a question and we have such fun! You've already missed our heated debate on Toxic Boys and the opportunity to help me when I'm stuck on research (translation: too lazy to Google) and ask my readers insightful questions about their lives. So, come, join me. This is my twitter addy.

Anyway, I promise not to leave it so long between updates - I feel as if it's not the first time I've typed that sentence.

Live on

Sarra x

PS: I know the pics are weird sizes and some of the links are a bit messy, but people. friends of mine, this post has taken days to assemble...

Linky dink dink!

Bonsoir Mes Amis

Hope you are all peachy. As you know, Nobody's Girl is out in the UK now (and sorry, not a whiff of a foreign deal thus far) so I wanted to link to a couple of pieces of press I've done that may interest you.


Five things about France that are tres bon at Chicklish.

A guest blog on writing and loving toxic boys at Wondrous Reads.

(Much thanks to Luisa and Jenny for making this happen.)

I also read your comments about my Nobody's Girl Spotify playlist. Some of you can't get on to or afford Spotify (I had to beg for an invite code myself) so I am furnishing you with the tracklist. Not the actual tracks because uploading and downloading MP3's would result in this blog being wiped off the face off the interpipe. Anyway, here is the tracklisting and I want you to know that there was no way to copy and paste so I've had to diligently copy it out. I do it because I love you.

1. Poupee De Cire Poupee De Son - France Gall
2. La Valse D'Amelie (version Orchestra) - Yann Tiersen
3. Les Histoires d'A - Les Rita Mitsouko
4. Moi De Joue - Stereo Total
5. Madame Superman - Elisabeth
6. Oh Comment Ca Va? - Jane Birkin
7. Comment Te Dire Adieu - Francoise Hardy
8. French Disko - Stereolab
9. Ecoute Le Temps - Brigitte Bardot
10. C'est Bon - Adele
11. Ca Plane Pour Moi - Nouvelle Vague
12. Miss Tatouee - Ici Paris
13. Le Loco-Motion - Sylvie Vartan
14. Mathilde - Jacques brel
15 Je Suis Folle De Tant T'aimer - Arlette Zola
16. Un Homme Et Une Femme - Francis Lai
17. Les Cheveus Dans Les Yeux - Cosette
18. Amoureux D'Une Affiche - Les Cappucino
19. Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien - Edith Piaf

Phew, my typing fingers are totally seizing up now! Also, sorry I didn't put in all the accents and squiggles above and below the letters, but I think you get the general idea.

Thanks for all your comments about Nobody's Girl. I love reading them and I can't tell you how relieved I am that you like the book. (If you didn't like it, then I'm equally relieved that you haven't told me!) If you felt the need to blog, tweet or review it on Amazon or Goodreads or other places, I can't tell you how much this helps in spreading the word and maybe even getting some interest from foreign publishers. You can't see me right now but I doing my sad bunny face, which I'm only supposed to use for the power of good because it's THAT persuasive.

So, that's all about me. And now it's time to make my dinner before the double bill delights of America's Next Top Model and Glee. We all love Glee, right? Right?

Live on

Sarra x

Nobody's Girl officially released in the UK today

Morning!

Nobody's Girl officially goes on sale in the UK today. Available from all good bookshops and Amazon.


Bea thinks she's the most boring seventeen-year-old in the world. She's not pretty or popular or funny, unlike her mother who had Bea when she was 17. The only glamorous thing about Bea is the French father who left before she was born and lives in Paris.

She yearns for la vie Parisienne every moment of her dull existence. So when Ruby Davies, the leader of her school's most elite clique picks Bea as her new best friend and asks her to go on holiday with them, she's wary but delighted. If nothing else it's two weeks away from her over-protective mother.

But when the gang arrive in Spain, Bea is crushed to realise that Ruby and her posse have simply been using her. Bea wreaks vengeance on her so-called friends, and plans to decamp to Paris to find her father. But when she falls asleep on the train and wakes up in Bilbao, she meets a group of American students who are backpacking around Europe and bonds with them straight away, especially the gorgeous Toph who helps heals Bea's hurting heart.

Though Bea has a shock in store when they finally get to Paris. The 'City of Lovers' really works it magic on Bea and Toph who spend a week wandering the sun-dappled streets of Paris, talking, holding hands and falling in love. When it comes time to go home to confront her Mum about her mysterious father, the new version of Bea is determined that she'll never go back to her old, boring way of life - she's no longer Nobody's Girl; she belongs to herself and to Toph...

But with an ocean between them, will he wait for her?

Once you've read Nobody's Girl, please review it, blog about it, Tweet about it (if you liked it, that is!) it really, really helps.

Live on

Sarra x

Internet goodies for all!

I said, brr, it's cold in here. There must be some Toros in the atmosphere.

Ahem, don't know what came over me then. Anyways, hi! Hello! Greetings! How have you been?

Well, that's enough about you, let's talk about me. Although the official UK release date is February 4th, I think it would be fair to say that Nobody's Girl is out now. You can buy it on Amazon and it seems to be in the shops - even my local, tiny branch of Smiths, which has never, ever stocked one of my teen books before. So, please, go, buy, read, love it like a motherless child.

To celebrate such a momentous occasion, my publishers have made me a little webpage, to replace the webpage that I used to have. You need to go here, then click on the Cool Downloads to find Bea's recipe for chocolate mousse as well as some Guitar Girl and Diary Of A Crush goodies that used to be on my publisher-sponsored webpage, then mysteriously disappeared into the ether. They're PDF files, so I can't link to them. Your mouse fingers will have to do the heavy lifting.

And if you're a member of Spotify, I've made a Nobody's Girl playlist. It's a lot of the songs I listened to when I was writing the book, and a lot of songs that Bea would have listened to and name-checked in the book. Be warned: they are all in en francais! Just click on this link (To join Spotify, you need to find someone to give you an invite code or pay actual money and the site's only open to UK residents, I think.) If you can't access the playlist, but are still interested to know what the tracks are, leave me a comment and I'll post the full playlist.

That's all I can type right now as my fingers are about to seize up due to extreme cold.

Live on

Sarra x

Drumroll, please! Chrismukkah poetry competition winners!

Feliciations, mes petites anges

Finally, I can announce the winners of my Crimbo poetry competition who will all be receiving a shiny, new copy of Nobody's Girl, plus a poster and bookmark, as well as having their winning poems posted right here, right now.

I had a lot of entries (especially after that time I had a leetle bit of a hissy fit, you remember?) and instead of having only five winners, I ended up with seven. Or maybe it was eight.

And keep checking back here, because I have lots of things to post in the next week or so as I have a little book coming out. Nobody's Girl from all good bookshops in the UK from February 4th.

Anyway, here are the winning odes, but, hey, you're all winners in my eyes!

Sarra x

From Kathryn

Her Royal Highness
Miss Princess Mopsyhead to
give her full title

Get a fortune on
E-bay for her but Molly
would not be impressed

Her Royal Highness
Miss Princess Mopsyhead the
real star of the book


From Stacey


Molly was simple,
Molly was pure,
Music was her outlet,
It was her cure,
For angst, for sadness,
For the cry of ever-waning attention,
To pass the time whilst she sat in detention,
But fame took all that, and left her broken,
She regretted the first words ever spoken,
To that demon, that angel, that beautiful boy,
That used her words and her heart like a toy,
Now she sits with Jane and Isabel and Smith,
Remembers that boy and his stolen kiss,
Thinks of how easily he was here and was gone,
And remembers his memory with the notes of a song.


From Ali

"Carter"
Messing with my head
Evil boy with a dumb name
Arrogant dickweed

"Paris, Je T'Aime"
Your silky black frame
Cascading, transforming me
Lovely magic dress

"Pretty Things"
Brand new kitten heels
Flowy, sheer, summery tops
Fluffy boylashes

“Magic Dress”
You caught my
Eye from the
Distance. The
Moment I saw
You, I knew
You were
The one
For me.


From Katy

For Charlie:

Charlie-boy, Charlie-boy
Your eyelashes are a joy
No need for mascara
No need for a curl
(It's such a shame you're not a girl...)

Love Brie xoxo

***

For Brie:

Brianna-girl, Briana-girl,
Next time you call me Charlie-boy
You will DIE!

Love Charlie x

***

To Charlie:

That doesn't even RHYME!

Love Brie xoxo



From Laura

sunday sun
shine on me
warm our skin
colour it toffee

enlighten the sheets
like smoke and cigarettes
chalk bright sunday
with us, there are no bets

they're off, the bets
like clothes thrown aside
and off like the rest
of the thoughts and the doubts in our minds

and sunday sun
shine on us
dazzle our eyes
close them and leave it to trust

your lips
the tips of your fingers
your kiss
the feel of it lingers on me

but sunday sun
dont leave us behind
keep us warm
keep us bright
and keep us intertwined



From Dearbhaile

Lost and Found (an ode to 'Let's Get Lost')

Sitting on a window ledge and waiting for something to happen.
Badges pinned on a t-shirt.
A broken arm.
When it feels like the walls are falling in,
There you are.
You are there.


From Brianna

A look, a glance, that's all it took.
To catch me like a fish on a hook.
I followed Edie through her crush.
I felt each touch, each kiss, each rush.
We packed for Paris, & got up late.
If we only knew what was to await.
I laughed when Mia's bag was tossed onto the street.
I smiled when Dylan did something sweet.
And when in the end they were together.
I thought that it would last forever.

But eventually, things didn't work out.
And I was there with Edie to cry and to pout.
During those long miserable weeks.
I violently loathed Veronique.
And when Carter finally came along.
I knew that things had gone all wrong.
Then Grace saved Edie from a terrible fate.
Of bumping uglies with a human ape.
And when Dylan got busy with polish and a brush.
It was enough to turn my heart to mush.

Soon after that we hopped on a plane.
And the first day in America was like a cold, hard rain.
But things got better as the trip went on.
Until suddenly one day, Dylan was gone.
After scary thoughts of all things bad.
Dylan introduced us to his dad.
I saw a side of him I thought I'd never see.
When he cried in bed beside Edie.
But eventually they had to go.
And I watched them on that fateful road.

But no matter the miles or distance apart.
Their story will always have a special place in my heart.


From Katie

Soft clouds billow in,
Or maybe something less poetic...
My mind blurs, patterns and words like paintings and postcards...or fashion ads.
Then there's you. Only you.
Your eyes, your hair,
your hands, your skin.
Your lips on my'n.
Soft and slow,
My heads all fuzzy.
Bang.
I'm all tingly as your lips move down my neck.
Bang.
Your eyes pour into my'n in a prelude to another kiss.
Bang!
Okay, what the fuck is with the banging?
Bang. Bang. Bang!
Dream gone.
You woke me up with your fucking bongos!

One day to go!

Hey!

Just wanted to remind you that the Chrismukkah poem competition ends up at midnight tomorrow (GMT.) So you have a little more than twenty four hours to get your entry in.

Since I had my little hissy-fit on here I've had tons of entries and I'm loving reading them. Remember it has to be some form of POEM about someone or something in one of my BOOKS left as a COMMENT here and the five best entries will win an advance copy of NOBODY'S GIRL, plus a bookmark and a poster.

I will post the winning entries on this here blog. You also don't need to keep reposting your comments - I haven't accepted any of them but have them archived as email notifications because I'm sure you don't all want your email addresses published on the interpipes.

I think that's everything. Remember, I love quirky and I love things that make me laugh or, at least, make me chuckle wryly.

Live on

Sarra x

Snap to it!

C'mon people!

I expected a much better response to my amazing end-of-year competition to win an advance copy of Nobody's Girl plus poster and bookmark. I've had four entries so far (two of them from the same person) and it's really not worth my while going to my publishers to plead for prizes if no-one's that interested in entering.

I'm extending the closing date to 11th January in the hope of attracting a few more takers. Writing a five line limerick, or heck, a haiku only has 17 syllables shouldn't be that taxing. It's not like there's much on telly!

So anyway, you know what to do. I don't like using my stern voice this early in a new year.

Live on

Sarra x

Yes! Finally it's the Annual Chrismukkah/Festivus/Holidays competition.

Happy Holidays, dear sweet readers

I hope whatever your religious affiliations (even if it's to the Great God of eating so many mince pies that you hurl) you have a wondrous time over the break and that 2010 will be your best year ever. (By the way I'm calling the new decade The Terrible Teens, please join me!)

Anyways, onto more important stuff. I have a great competition lined up for you. There will be five (count 'em, five!) winners who will all receive a copy of my new teen novel, Nobody's Girl (which is out in February 2010, plus a Nobody's Girl poster and bookmark. I think that's pretty darn cool.

Obviously I want to make you work for it:

it's simple. I want you to write a poem about one of my books. It can be about the characters, the story, a dress, a kiss, anything. And the poem can take any form: limerick, haiku, sonnet, rhyming couplet, ode, er, that's about all the different types of poem I can think of off the top of my head. And yes, they can rhyme, but they can also not rhyme. It's up to you.

Leave the poem AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS in a comment. I will award points for originality, so I don't want fifty different versions of The Ballad Of Edie And Dylan, though if it was really off the wall and/or funny enough to make me snort hot tea out of my nostrils, then a poem about Edie And Dylan would be AOK.

Closing date is 5th January 2010. And open to all nationalities, creeds and genders.

Now, get to it! Of course, you can always pre-order Nobody's Girl on Amazon (especially as it's only coming out in the UK and available on import in OZ and NZ so far.) And you can follow me on Twitter, should you so desire.

Live on

Sarra x

Strictly filler post...

Just wanted you to know that a) I'm still alive and b) I will be posting news of my usual Chrismukkah competition very soon. You will collectively pee your pants when you find out what the prizes are. (Or at least I hope you will, but I'm talking about metaphorical pee, if you will.)

The reason for the delay is boring and technical. I use this comment aggregator thingy but now it's been bought by someone else and I need to find out how to uninstall it before I run the comp so I don't lose your comments.

You still awake at the back?

So, keep checking back here for details of the competition, OK?

Live on

Sarra x

Tweeting Nobody's Girl

Greetings my little choux buns

I have, not more than an hour ago, finished going through the page proofs for Nobody's Girl (out February 4th.) Then I got to thinking as I'm wont to do of a way to give you a teaser ahead of publication, so...

Every day from now until publication, I'm going to Tweet a random line from Nobody's Girl on my Twitter. Here's the link. Of course, my tweets show up on this blog, but why not come join me on Twitter? It's the only place where you're guaranteed to probably get an answer to a question (as long as that question isn't 'Are you writing any more Diary Of A Crush books?!) and I'd really like to get up to a 1000 followers by the time Nobody's Girl is published on February 4th. Come on! Let's do this thing! Hell, yeah!

Anyway, that's quite enough pep from me.

Also, do any of you cool, young things have a spare a Spotify invite code lying around that I could have? Please? Be your best friend...

Live on

Sarra x

First look: Nobody's Girl cover

Hola!

Wanted you guys to be the firs to see the cover for Nobody's Girl. The cover that's circulating on the interwebz is not the correct cover. Sigh. Let's not even go there, otherwise I will have a rage blackout!

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Live on

Sarra x

Nobody's Girl synopsis and cover news

Just to let you know that the Nobody's Girl cover that's up on Waterstones and Amazon and the blogs is an early, rough version of the cover and not the finished product.

As soon as I get a jpeg of the right cover, I'll post it here! But here is the full synopsis:

Bea thinks she's the most boring seventeen-year-old in the world. She's not pretty or popular or funny, unlike her mother who had Bea when she was 17. The only glamorous thing about Bea is the French father who left before she was born and lives in Paris. She yearns for la vie Parisienne every moment of her dull existence.

So when Ruby Davies, the leader of her school's most elite clique picks Bea as her new best friend and asks her to go on holiday with them, she's wary but delighted. If nothing else it's two weeks away from her over-protective mother.

But when the gang arrive in Spain, Bea is crushed to realise that Ruby and her posse have simply been using her. Bea wreaks vengeance on her so-called friends, and plans to decamp to Paris to find her father. But when she falls asleep on the train and wakes up in Bilbao, she meets a group of American students who are backpacking around Europe and bonds with them straight away, especially the gorgeous Toph, who helps heal Bea's hurting heart.

And though Bea has a shock in store when they finally get to Paris, the 'City of Lovers' really works it magic on Bea and Toph, who spend a week wandering the sun-dappled streets of Paris, talking, holding hands and falling in love. When it comes time to go home to confront her Mum about her mysterious father, the new version of Bea is determined that she 'll never go back to her old, boring way of life - she's no longer Nobody's Girl; she belongs to herself and to Toph... But with an ocean between them, will he wait for her?

And the title is...

Peeps,

I can exclusively reveal that the title of my second grown-up novel will be:

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

Yes, after the Dusty Springfield song because Dusty makes everything better.

On the teen front, the synopsis for Nobody's Girl is now up on Amazon.co.uk

Also, if you are a serious producer interested in the film rights to any of my novels, you need to get in touch with my film and TV agent, Joe Phillips at Curtis Brown.

Sorry for the fly-by but word quotas need to be achieved.

Live on


Sarra x

So, how have you been?

You know you're long overdue a blog post when people are leaving gentle reminders on my Twitter asking me when I'm going to update. Ooops!

Anyway, here I am with a few snippets of news and links and some stuff for you to look at. I'm deep in the first draft hinterlands for my second grown-up book, which is not going to be called Lightweight anymore. It's going to be called something else but I need to check that TPTB are completely happy with the new title, before you guys can be the first to know what it is. I'm on a very tight deadline for this book so my whole world has shrunk down to chapter outline, whiteboard and word count.

Here's a picture of my lovely whiteboard, with the next few chapter sketched out. Main plot in blue marker pen, sub-plot in green, purposely taken from a long distance so I don't give away any secrets:



And here is my lovely word count envelope. Every day when I open up Microsoft Word, I look at my word count and then scribble the number down on the back of an envelope. I don't know why I can't just use a pristine piece of paper, it always seems to be the back of an envelope. You can see that some days are more productive than others.



Apart from frantic book writing, I'm getting the next teen book, Nobody's Girl, oven-ready. Just waiting for the copy-edited proofs to come in and the latest version of the cover - I can say no more than that, otherwise I'll probably start crying. And I'm percolating the teen book after that and the third grown-up novel. It's very busy in my head right now. But rest assured, there will be both teen and grown-up books in my future. As long as people want to publish them, I'll keep writing them.

Talking of which, I wanted to show you the French covers for Fashionistas: Laura and Fashionistas: Hadley.




Tres jolie, mais non?

There are also Brazilian editions of Fashionistas to come and Italian Diary Of A Crushes. There are no plans for foreign editions of Unsticky just yet, though the English edition is on sale in Australia, New Zealand and India. Global recession, don't you know. Let's not talk about that but move on to happier things like links!

An interview I did for the Australian magazine and website, Mindfood.

A lovely girl called Lucy made a trailer for Pretty Things using the characters from the show, Almost Famous. Yes, there's a bit of artistic license (never a bad thing in my book) but I think she did a fantastic job.

And as ever, I am on Twitter. I update far too much during the course of a day and this is the only place where you can get in touch with me and have a good chance of getting a reply. Though if it's to ask for sequels of anything or writing tips, then I will just direct you to the tags on the left hand side of this here blog, because there's only so much a girl can say in 140 characters.

One of these days I need to make a proper website with an FAQ but we're talking time, money and technical skills, none of which I have!

OK, I think that was everything I needed to tell you. Sorry I've been such a slacker of late but I'm all tunnel vision girl with writing the second grown-up book at the moment and nursing the big toe on my right foot. Had to have the toenail removed after too much working out at the gym, then stubbing my toe so hard that the nail lifted up. Hurt like a beeyacth, let me tell you!

If I haven't updated in a couple of weeks, nag me. I respond very well to the right kind of pressure.

Live on

Sarra x

It's been too long...

Hola! Holla!

I know I've been absent from this blog for a while. I wish I could tell you that I was doing all sorts of glamorous things, but sadly the truth is that my adsl has been wonky for weeks. In fact it's been one of those months where I should have taken to my bed and refused to move.

There's been flooding (my washing machine,) fire (someone set my fully laden recycling bin on fire so I had several firemen hosing it down at 2.30 in the morning,) a mouse (now sadly demised, I'm afraid,) taxes and other fun things. But it's nearly July and the sun is shining so nothing else matters.

I'm currently just finishing up some revisions on the next teen book, Nobody's Girl and am well under way with the second grown-up book, which is currently untitled. Or it did have a title but now it needs a new one so back to my iTunes shuffle I go.

Unsticky has been out for about six weeks now and it's selling very respectably considering that we're in a recession and we're all going to hell in a handbasket, blah blah, blah, repeat to fade! Thanks to everyone whose left reviews on Amazon or commented here or on my Twitter about what you thought of the book. I know I may come across as a little hard-hearted but it really means the world to me. (By the way, feel free to follow me on Twitter. I'm pretty good at replying to tweets.)

I leave you with links of some stuff that I've done recently:

A piece I wrote for the Dove website on body image.

An interview I did for the lovely Lisa Clark's Sassy Minx website

And some added value Unsticky bits and bobs for Hachette's Readers' Circle.

Anyway I'm off to the flicks to see a film about the legendary Joe Meek. I promise I won't leave it so long between posts again.

Live on


Sarra x

Unsticky out today in paperback!

Hullo!

Finally, the day is come when the paperback of Unsticky goes on sale in the UK! Hurrah! It is my first grown-up book and not wholly suitable for under sixteens but YMMV.

And I've just finished and delivered my next teen book, Nobody's Girl, so that will be out in February 2010.

Now, run, don't walk... in fact, don't even run but sprint full pelt to your nearest bookshop and buy a copy of Unsticky.

Live on

Sarra x

Mostly housekeeping...

Sunny salutations, sweet readers

Nothing much to report from round these parts. I'm a mere handful of days away from delivering my next teen book, Nobody's Girl, and am actually writing the first three chapters of my teen book after that, as inspiration has struck and I don't want to forget it all. But I will be writing my second adult book first.

I got my first proper paperback copy of Unsticky in the post today. It's out on May 14th from all good bookshops (and probably from some bad ones) and I'm hoping for some news on foreign deals soon. Again, Unsticky is a book for grown-up girls, 16+ and upwards, I would say. But that's between you and your conscience.

I'd also like to gently remind you that all the content on this blog is tagged. So if you're looking for writing tips or wanting to know when there will be a fourth book in the Diary Of A Crush series (that would be some time like never), then you just need to click on the right tag and the relevant posts will come up.

It's also worth bigging up my Twitter again. I have no time to reply to emails, but if you send me a Tweet, you're more or less likely to get a reply as it's quick, easy and I only have 140 characters to play with! You also get all the real time info you could possibly want about my drab, humdrum life.

One last thing: Rosie/Redheads rock - can you leave me your email addy? I screen comments so no one else will see it. Thanks!

Sorry to post and dash but Microsoft Word awaits...

Live on

Sarra x

This is not a test...

Bonsoir mes amis

I bring you news. Exciting news from London town. I have just finished the first draft of my next teen opus and it will be published in February of next year in the UK. It's also going to be called Nobody's Girl. Well, it is at the moment. I'm not sure that I love that title but have yet to come up with anything better. I'm not sure if I nabbed it from one of your shuffle selections or one of my own. If it was your's, please do let me know.

Some of you are very interested in my writing process so I will tell you what I plan to do with my first draft.

1. I read it as a hard copy. That is, as a paper print out rather than on screen.

2. As I read, I mark it up with corrections, crossing-outs, bits I want to add in and things I've changed my mind on. Like, for instance at the moment my main boy was studying Philosophy and has just done his finals. Now he's studying Anthropology and has only just finished his second year. I don't bother with spelling mistakes and typos as I usually do them as I go along and really concentrate on them for the third draft.

3. I will go through at least three red fibre tip pens from Muji as I do this.

4. I also scrawl big notes on a White Board that's propped up by my desk. This is for major stuff like developing characters and fixing whopping great plot holes.

5. As I start working on version two on screen, I add in a lot of new stuff that occurs to be as I'm doing it that I haven't marked up. For me the second draft is about making the story come alive, rather than just telling it. I call this process "sprinkling on the magic dust." I'm hoping to have a big delivery of the magic dust by Monday.

6. I'll also let you in on the fact that the first draft is a gargantuan 114,722 words. I'll be looking to cut about 25,000 words as I go. I know a lot of you freak out about how long stuff should be, but my books tend to be pretty long for teen fic (apart from the sparkly vampire books.) And I over-write. Boy, do I ever! I can take 2000 words just to describe my heroine's bedroom.

In other news, Unsticky is available for pre-order on Amazon now. I will state again, that I don't think it's necessarily suitable reading for under 16's but then I think of what I was reading when I was under 16 and it was all sorts of stuff that wasn't necessarily suitable! Luckily, my parents never minded about my reading material, though I'm not sure they knew exactly what I was reading. I will say that if you plan to pre-order it, get the paperback that comes out in May rather than the much more expensive hardback and trade paperback that come out in April.


I am also Twittering like a maniac. You'll see that I've started to show my tweets on this blog. (Look to the left hand side of the page.) I just don't have time to reply to emails or even send my standard bounce back email these days, so if you have a question to ask me or just generally want to represent (as you kids say), then sending me a Tweet is a good idea. It doesn't take me long to reply as I only have 140 characters to play with! Also, Twitter is the new Facebook (hate the redesign) so come and join me and find out what I'm doing in real time. Mostly eating fistfuls of muesli and railing about how crap fashion is at the moment. Harem pants? Bitch, please!

Also, I am obsessed with the She And Him (that would be Zooey Deschanel and M Ward) album, Volume One. Seriously, I'm listening to it as least five times a day. It's bloody gorgeous.

Live on


Sarra x

First look at the Unsticky cover...

Sunday salutations

I've been very quiet of late, I know. I have some family stuff that's taking up a lot of my time right now, but I am twittering frequently and you can follow my tweets right here.

I am still hard at work on my next teen opus and still mulling over titles, but mostly I'm gearing up for the publication of my grown-up book, Unsticky, which comes out in April in hardback and in May in paperback. Only a UK release so far, but I hope to have some foreign sales soon and will keep you posted.

Anyway, I wanted to show you my lovely cover:




And here's the back cover blurb:

STATE OF GRACE

Money makes the world go round – that’s what twenty-something Grace Reeves is learning. Stuck in a grind where everyone’s ahead apart from her, she’s partied-out, disillusioned, and a large five-figure sum in debt. If she’s dumped by another rock-band wannabe, squashed by anyone else at her cut-throat fashion job, or chased by any more bailiffs, Grace suspects she’ll fall apart..


GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

So when older, sexy and above all, wealthy art-dealer Vaughn appears, she’s intrigued against her will. Could she handle being a sugar-daddy’s arm-candy?


SAVING GRACE


Soon Grace is thrown into a world of money and privilege, at Vaughn’s beck and call in return for thousands of pounds in luxurious gifts, priceless clothes – and cash. She’s out of her depth. Where’s the line between acting the trophy girlfriend, and selling yourself for money? And, more importantly: whatever happened to love?


High fashion, high art, high expectations – this is Pretty Woman for the twenty-first century

This is definitely one for my readers aged sixteen and above, but, like I say, I'm working on the teen stuff every spare hour of every spare day!

Live on

Sarra x