Happy Eurovision Day readers
Tonight I will be going to a Eurovision Song Contest Party, as is my wont to do. There's going to be a Sweepstake though I will pick the country that only get a measly un point from the Slovakian jury. But I think you can either turn up your nose and be too cool for skool about Eurovision or you can embrace the cheese. I embrace it with both arms!
I also just want to remind you that I do have a MySpace and that also I've just bought a 50's clock from a charity shop, which ticks so loudly I can barely hear the TV. I just felt the need to share that.
But for now, I thought I'd post an author's questionnaire I just complete for my publishers in the run-up to the release of the first Fashionista's Book, Laura on July 17th. Be warned! I ramble on and on and on and on and on...
1. Do you consider yourself a Fashionista?
I consider myself a Fashionista of epic proportions. I love clothes and accessories. In fact, two hours before I wrote this questionnaire, I was racing round the new Primark in London's swinging Oxford Street on a seek and destroy mission for a black, broderie anglaise summer frock.
I love how clothes can transform you, how you can be whoever you want to be depending on your outfit. I'm not a diehard fashion victim, I have my own look (which I call The Lipstick Librarian) but I like adding new pieces (a lot of new pieces!) each season to bring my style up to date. And I have little truck with fashion rules, like curvy girls shouldn't wear horizontal stripes. Fashion to me is just another way of expressing myself creatively and my fashion rules are that there are no rules!
My most beloved items in my closet are a vintage fitted dress with lurex stripes and a skirt that foofs out in a delightful manner and my limited edition Marc Jacobs multi-pocket bag in peacock blue with red top-stitching. It was so expensive that I had a panic attack five seconds after I signed the credit card slip!
2. Which character in your books do you identify with the most?
I identify the most with whichever character I happen to be writing at the time. I think that there is a common thread running through all my girls of people trying to figure out who the hell they want to be and how they're going to achieve that without losing part of themselves in the process. That's how I felt when I was a teenager. I knew I wanted to be a writer and I knew that I wasn't like a lot of other girls my age because of the way I looked and the music I listened to, the books I read and the things I liked to do. When I stopped kicking against that and realised that it was OK to be different, I became a lot happier in myself. So I guess I could really identify with Isabel from Let's Get Lost – not just because my mother passed away just before I started the book, but because I was so prickly and defensive when adolescence began to kick in.
3. How did you become a "Teen Queen Extraordinaire"? Was it always your dream to be a writer?
I have no idea how I became a Teen Queen Extraordinaire! Just luck, I guess! Certainly when I was a teenager, apart from loving Just Seventeen magazine (which I went on to write for), I shunned teen culture. But as I got older, I found myself obsessed and excited with things like old skool Sassy magazine and the TV show, My So-Called Life. My theory is that I made such a hash of being a teenager first time around, that I'm trying over and over again to get it right. I still feel the same away as I did when I was 17 – still trying to figure out all the big, heavy stuff and maybe that's why it feels very natural to write from the point of view of a teenage girl.
And I've always wanted to be a writer. Ever since I learnt the alphabet and suddenly realised that you could make words out of the letters. Certainly there are people who knew me when I was eight who can remember me announcing that I was going to be a writer – though I had a brief flirtation with wanting to be in a band but as I have no musical talent whatsoever, it was a very brief flirtation!
4. What is your favourite book?
I refuse to pick just one! The books that I re-read over and over again are Girl by Blake Nelson, Fabulous Nobodies by Lee Tulloch, The Pursuit Of Love and Love In A Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford, all of the Jane Austens (apart from Mansfield Park because I think Fanny Price is a stuck-up little prig) and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Though I do read other stuff – anything and everything from Edith Wharton to Mills & Boon to biographies on Madame de Pompadour!
5. Who are your heroes?
Diana Vreeland who was a marvellous, idiosyncratic, eccentric woman who was editor in chief of US Vogue. I love the way she wrote about fashion and the wilful way she lived her life.
Coco Chanel because she liberated women by raising hem lengths so they no longer needed help crossing the road.
Courtney Love because she inspired me so much when I was younger. No matter what crazy stuff she pulls, there's something about Courtney and what she used to be that means I'll always be a little bit in love with her.
And Joss Whedon because he gave me Buffy and I'm probably more inspired by good TV writing than books.
I wish I had a few people in here who'd helped find a cure for cancer or campaigned for world peace, but I'm a very shallow person.
6. Are your characters ever based on people you know?
Not really. Usually it's people that I don't really know but there's something intriguing about them or what they're doing and I file them in my head and drag them out at a later date for a vignette or an incidental character. It sounds vague but for instance, I was in New York last November at a really cool restaurant called Bette's waiting for the loo next to this louche girl with the most sooty eyelashes I've ever seen and she was so full of ennui because she was beautiful that I thought, "Oh, you are so going into a book of mine!"
7. How do you get your ideas? Are they ever based on real life experiences?
They just happen. Diary Of A Crush was inspired by the two years that I spent at college after my school asked me not to go back to do A-levels. It was a time when I was changing and blossoming and that was what Edie was going through too – though I never had a Dylan. Let's Get Lost was directly inspired by losing my mother and thinking to myself how much worse it would be to lose a parent when you were a teenager and in the middle of that process of pushing your parents away so you can learn to be your own person. But Fashionistas, my new series, is inspired by everything that's going on around me in the world; from America's Next Top Model to car-crash celebrities to New York to the size zero debate to reality TV stars to Project Runway to walking past shops selling Saris to internet It girls to Agyness Deyn to post-Communist Russia! Everything inspires me and causes my imagination to almost implode and I wouldn't have it any other way.
8. What is your favourite band? Does music ever inspire your writing?
The bands I never, ever get bored of are Belle And Sebastian, Saint Etienne, Velvet Underground, Hello Saferide (a new addition but she's a keeper) and my Growin' Up Too Fast 60's girl group collection. At the moment I'm listening to a lot of Swedish bands and old French pop – I'm very Continental!
Music is a huge part of my writing process. Sometimes one song becomes a theme for a book (like Broken Social Scene's Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl was for Let's Get Lost) but I always make a playlist for my main character and listen to it while I'm writing. It's hard at the moment as I'm writing Irina, the third book in the Fashionistas, and she's a Russian girl who listens to rap music, which I don't know much about.
9. Do you have any regrets?
Yes, but it's for the things I didn't do, not the things I did. Which is just how it should be!
Showing posts with label let's get lost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label let's get lost. Show all posts
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Monday, January 01, 2007
Inaugural 2007 post
Happy New Year!
I crawled out of bed at noon today after a very late night. I had a little party where I stuffed my guests full of an ungodly amount of food. Then we walked up to Ally Pally (the second highest point in London) for midnight and watched all the fireworks across the city as we drank champagne. Then back to my place for more Cava and pomegranate juice cocktails – because I am old enough to drink alcohol! Anyway, I hope that however you celebrated New Year's Eve, you had a good time and that 2007 brings you everything you want from health and happiness too foxy boys and styling frocks.
As promised this is an excerpt from Let's Get Lost that didn't make it into the final version.
And Rob really had been the best of a truly bad bunch. At least he'd hit puberty. We'd drunk these two super-sized bottles of cider quickly enough to qualify for the world record before Rob had dragged me off in the direction of the hut behind the Crown Bowling Green. He'd fancied himself quite the raconteur and regaled me with all these stories about how he could break into a car in five seconds and steal the stereo and the sub woofers, whatever the hell they were, before anyone realised. He was quite the charming conversationalist.
"People are real twats," he'd sniffed. "Most of the time they leave the doors unlocked."
"You don't say."
"Yeah. I've never really talked to a posh bird before."
I arched one of my eyebrows. "And how's it working out for you?"
"Dunno," he'd said, after a minute's thought. "So you gonna let me feel you up then?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I'd caught a flash of pink and I knew Nancy was in the vicinity already to report back. "C'mon, then," I'd sighed. "You can kiss me if you like."
After Rob had thoroughly rinsed my mouth out with his tongue for a good few minutes while I carefully manoeuvred him out of the line of fire, I'd had enough. Then he'd mauled my tits like he was trying to tune in one of those purloined car stereos and I'd had more than I could stand.
I'd gently extricated myself from his octopus-like embrace and firmly removed the paw that was clamped around my left buttock.
"What did you do that for?" Rob had asked, trying to worm his leg between mine while I thrust my head back to evade any more spit.
"Don't get me wrong, this has been real and stuff but I have to go," I'd said very pleasantly given the extreme mauling I'd just suffered. "Maybe I'll see you around."
He'd reached for me again as I'd adroitly side-stepped out of the path of his questing hands. "You're tight, you know that," he'd told me furiously.
"Gosh, thanks awfully for enlightening me." He didn't seem to be getting the message that I'd rather have my skin removed from my body with a rusty potato peeler than kiss him again. He'd kept lurching towards me with his lips puckered and Jesus, those hands… They should have had a government health warning tattooed across the knuckles.
"You know you want to," he'd cajoled, grabbing my wrists and it's so annoying that even the weediest boy can overpower me. But even weedy boys don't have nails as sharp as mine or know how to use them.
He gave a girly squeak when I dug them into the back of his hands and finally let me go. "Sorry about that," I'd chirped. "Did I mention that I was a Mormon?"
And then I turned and ran while he was still scrolling through the empty files where his brain should be to understand what I was saying.
I crawled out of bed at noon today after a very late night. I had a little party where I stuffed my guests full of an ungodly amount of food. Then we walked up to Ally Pally (the second highest point in London) for midnight and watched all the fireworks across the city as we drank champagne. Then back to my place for more Cava and pomegranate juice cocktails – because I am old enough to drink alcohol! Anyway, I hope that however you celebrated New Year's Eve, you had a good time and that 2007 brings you everything you want from health and happiness too foxy boys and styling frocks.
As promised this is an excerpt from Let's Get Lost that didn't make it into the final version.
And Rob really had been the best of a truly bad bunch. At least he'd hit puberty. We'd drunk these two super-sized bottles of cider quickly enough to qualify for the world record before Rob had dragged me off in the direction of the hut behind the Crown Bowling Green. He'd fancied himself quite the raconteur and regaled me with all these stories about how he could break into a car in five seconds and steal the stereo and the sub woofers, whatever the hell they were, before anyone realised. He was quite the charming conversationalist.
"People are real twats," he'd sniffed. "Most of the time they leave the doors unlocked."
"You don't say."
"Yeah. I've never really talked to a posh bird before."
I arched one of my eyebrows. "And how's it working out for you?"
"Dunno," he'd said, after a minute's thought. "So you gonna let me feel you up then?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I'd caught a flash of pink and I knew Nancy was in the vicinity already to report back. "C'mon, then," I'd sighed. "You can kiss me if you like."
After Rob had thoroughly rinsed my mouth out with his tongue for a good few minutes while I carefully manoeuvred him out of the line of fire, I'd had enough. Then he'd mauled my tits like he was trying to tune in one of those purloined car stereos and I'd had more than I could stand.
I'd gently extricated myself from his octopus-like embrace and firmly removed the paw that was clamped around my left buttock.
"What did you do that for?" Rob had asked, trying to worm his leg between mine while I thrust my head back to evade any more spit.
"Don't get me wrong, this has been real and stuff but I have to go," I'd said very pleasantly given the extreme mauling I'd just suffered. "Maybe I'll see you around."
He'd reached for me again as I'd adroitly side-stepped out of the path of his questing hands. "You're tight, you know that," he'd told me furiously.
"Gosh, thanks awfully for enlightening me." He didn't seem to be getting the message that I'd rather have my skin removed from my body with a rusty potato peeler than kiss him again. He'd kept lurching towards me with his lips puckered and Jesus, those hands… They should have had a government health warning tattooed across the knuckles.
"You know you want to," he'd cajoled, grabbing my wrists and it's so annoying that even the weediest boy can overpower me. But even weedy boys don't have nails as sharp as mine or know how to use them.
He gave a girly squeak when I dug them into the back of his hands and finally let me go. "Sorry about that," I'd chirped. "Did I mention that I was a Mormon?"
And then I turned and ran while he was still scrolling through the empty files where his brain should be to understand what I was saying.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Lagged of jet
I'm back from NYC and struggling with the dreaded jetlag. I'm going to bed late, really late, like 3.30 am late, not sleeping and then struggling out of bed at lunch-time. Oh dear!
But I had a wonderful time, so different from my London life where I live in jeans and spend most of my time in front of the computer. I went to lots of fashionable restaurants, an Edie Sedgwick book launch (I was obsessed with Edie Sedgwick when I was but a mere slip of a girl) at the swank Gramercy Park Hotel, a shop opening and tried to find the perfect vintage leopardskin coat at the Chelsea Flea Market, Fake leopardskin, I should add.
But mostly I shopped. I shopped and shopped until I could shop no more. I went slightly crazy in Anthropologie at their clearance rails, cleaned Old Navy out of pyjama bottoms and woolly socks and I don't even want to talk about what happened at Marc Jacobs. Though I managed not to buy a very expensive dress. I felt so financially and morally bankrupt that I had to have long walks in Central Park (I was staying at very posh hotel over-looking all the autumn foliage) to cleanse my soul of all the rampant consumerism.
I did also find time to go to Barnes & Noble on Union Square and sign a stack of copies of Let's Get Lost so if you still haven't got a copy and you're in the Manhattan area, that's the place to go.
Now I'm back in London, I should be working hard but actually I seem to be spending most of my time bidding on vintage cake tins on eBay and worrying that I've been contaminated by noxious poison like that Russian spy dude who's just died. Apparently, he lived just down the road from me and I do think I have a bit of a sore throat.
I've started to get the inevitable "will there be a sequel?" questions about Let's Get Lost. You know, in some ways I would love to. Against my better judgement, I re-read the book this week (it's a very painful read for me) to get myself back in the Manning head-space. I did find myself getting all over-excited about Isabel and Smith again but really, it's a complete work. There was the big mystery and the emotional conflict, but it was all resolved! So I don't really think that either of them have a story left to tell, much as I enjoyed writing about them. I'm pretty hardcore about my "no sequels" rules even if my editor (Hi Emily) would love to pin me down and force me to write a Guitar Girl 2, which would certainly not be suitable for teen readers.
But I am all about giving. I really am! And I haven't done a competition for a while. So, it's that time of year when I like to make a little mix CD of my favourite tracks of the year to send out with my Crimbo cards. And two of you could win a copy! All you have to do is write a Christmas message to one of the characters from any one of my books. It can be funny, heartfelt, heck, it could even be in rhyme! And I give top marks for the super-creative! Just leave your message in a comment with your email address and I'll announce the winners really soon.
Love
Sarra x
(Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
But I had a wonderful time, so different from my London life where I live in jeans and spend most of my time in front of the computer. I went to lots of fashionable restaurants, an Edie Sedgwick book launch (I was obsessed with Edie Sedgwick when I was but a mere slip of a girl) at the swank Gramercy Park Hotel, a shop opening and tried to find the perfect vintage leopardskin coat at the Chelsea Flea Market, Fake leopardskin, I should add.
But mostly I shopped. I shopped and shopped until I could shop no more. I went slightly crazy in Anthropologie at their clearance rails, cleaned Old Navy out of pyjama bottoms and woolly socks and I don't even want to talk about what happened at Marc Jacobs. Though I managed not to buy a very expensive dress. I felt so financially and morally bankrupt that I had to have long walks in Central Park (I was staying at very posh hotel over-looking all the autumn foliage) to cleanse my soul of all the rampant consumerism.
I did also find time to go to Barnes & Noble on Union Square and sign a stack of copies of Let's Get Lost so if you still haven't got a copy and you're in the Manhattan area, that's the place to go.
Now I'm back in London, I should be working hard but actually I seem to be spending most of my time bidding on vintage cake tins on eBay and worrying that I've been contaminated by noxious poison like that Russian spy dude who's just died. Apparently, he lived just down the road from me and I do think I have a bit of a sore throat.
I've started to get the inevitable "will there be a sequel?" questions about Let's Get Lost. You know, in some ways I would love to. Against my better judgement, I re-read the book this week (it's a very painful read for me) to get myself back in the Manning head-space. I did find myself getting all over-excited about Isabel and Smith again but really, it's a complete work. There was the big mystery and the emotional conflict, but it was all resolved! So I don't really think that either of them have a story left to tell, much as I enjoyed writing about them. I'm pretty hardcore about my "no sequels" rules even if my editor (Hi Emily) would love to pin me down and force me to write a Guitar Girl 2, which would certainly not be suitable for teen readers.
But I am all about giving. I really am! And I haven't done a competition for a while. So, it's that time of year when I like to make a little mix CD of my favourite tracks of the year to send out with my Crimbo cards. And two of you could win a copy! All you have to do is write a Christmas message to one of the characters from any one of my books. It can be funny, heartfelt, heck, it could even be in rhyme! And I give top marks for the super-creative! Just leave your message in a comment with your email address and I'll announce the winners really soon.
Love
Sarra x
(Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
Saturday, November 11, 2006
What's in a name
Guten tag my little strudels
My contact lenses are giving me grief so I apologise if this post is riddled with typos.
It's been quite a tumultuous week. I'm still reeling from the Britney and k-Fed split, not like it was any surprise. And even more importantly the Roland Mouret 10 dresses went into Gap, while at H&M was the quite wonderful Viktor & Rolf collection. Alas, the Viktor & Rolf pieces seem to have sold out before I could get my hands on them, but truly we live in wonderful times.
I've been super busy writing for British Elle, but I have just started the second draft of the second book in my new series (still not out until Summer 2007 in the UK.) This involves reading the first draft and being pleasantly surprised that it's not quite as craptacular as I thought it was. But mostly, I've been a whirlwind of organisation as I fly to New York next Wednesday for a short holiday, though I will be signing some extra copies of Let's Get Lost in a backroom at Barnes & Noble, Union Square, which will then be available to buy. And shopping. Lots of shopping. Century 21 has already been alerted!
As ever, thanks for your comments, especially your thoughts on Let's Get Lost. Blue Floppy Hat asked if the title was taken from the Elliott Smith song, and actually it came from the original, Chet Baker version. Well, actually that's a little bit of a lie. Originally, many moons ago, when I started writing the book, it was going to be simply called Lost. Fast forward and there just happened to be a rather popular TV show of the same name that started in the meantime. I had lots of ideas as to what to call the book, some of them still scrawled on a Post-it note on my wall (Good, Bad, Whatever…, Crazy Mixed-Up Girl, A House Safe For Tigers) until I realised that Let's Get Lost was perfect. It just seemed to encapsulate Isabel's state of mind and her refusal to face up to what she was really feeling.
I also get asked for information for book reports every now and again. As ever, I just don't have the time to be of much help. One day I will have a proper website with a FAQ and links to all my interviews – or at least update my publisher's micro-site but until then, a simple Google search of my name, will turn up anything that you probably need to know for school assignments. There are quite a few interviews I've done that are up on the interpipe and that's the best way to find them.
Right now, I really need to jump in the shower (just back from the gym) and eat some lunch before my stomach stages a protest and walks to the fridge all by itself.
I won't be able to update next weekend as I'll be in New York, but I'll be in touch soon.
Love
Sarra x
(Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
My contact lenses are giving me grief so I apologise if this post is riddled with typos.
It's been quite a tumultuous week. I'm still reeling from the Britney and k-Fed split, not like it was any surprise. And even more importantly the Roland Mouret 10 dresses went into Gap, while at H&M was the quite wonderful Viktor & Rolf collection. Alas, the Viktor & Rolf pieces seem to have sold out before I could get my hands on them, but truly we live in wonderful times.
I've been super busy writing for British Elle, but I have just started the second draft of the second book in my new series (still not out until Summer 2007 in the UK.) This involves reading the first draft and being pleasantly surprised that it's not quite as craptacular as I thought it was. But mostly, I've been a whirlwind of organisation as I fly to New York next Wednesday for a short holiday, though I will be signing some extra copies of Let's Get Lost in a backroom at Barnes & Noble, Union Square, which will then be available to buy. And shopping. Lots of shopping. Century 21 has already been alerted!
As ever, thanks for your comments, especially your thoughts on Let's Get Lost. Blue Floppy Hat asked if the title was taken from the Elliott Smith song, and actually it came from the original, Chet Baker version. Well, actually that's a little bit of a lie. Originally, many moons ago, when I started writing the book, it was going to be simply called Lost. Fast forward and there just happened to be a rather popular TV show of the same name that started in the meantime. I had lots of ideas as to what to call the book, some of them still scrawled on a Post-it note on my wall (Good, Bad, Whatever…, Crazy Mixed-Up Girl, A House Safe For Tigers) until I realised that Let's Get Lost was perfect. It just seemed to encapsulate Isabel's state of mind and her refusal to face up to what she was really feeling.
I also get asked for information for book reports every now and again. As ever, I just don't have the time to be of much help. One day I will have a proper website with a FAQ and links to all my interviews – or at least update my publisher's micro-site but until then, a simple Google search of my name, will turn up anything that you probably need to know for school assignments. There are quite a few interviews I've done that are up on the interpipe and that's the best way to find them.
Right now, I really need to jump in the shower (just back from the gym) and eat some lunch before my stomach stages a protest and walks to the fridge all by itself.
I won't be able to update next weekend as I'll be in New York, but I'll be in touch soon.
Love
Sarra x
(Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Blow Up!
A cheery top of the morning (or afternoon to be more specific) to you, dear readers
I am freezing. I'm sitting here with my stylin' Marc Jacobs fingerless gloves on as I type this because the central heating has yet to warm up the Arctic conditions in my flat. Despite the fact that I'm fighting a cold, tonight I will be attending a Bonfire and Fireworks Extravaganza at Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally as it's known to we North London locals,) to celebrate Guy Fawkes day tomorrow.
Non-British readers may wonder what the heck Guy Fawkes is. But basically he was a dude in doublet and hose who tried to blow up the Houses Of Parliament many centuries ago in some international master-spy plot. (Obviously I'm paraphrasing here.) He got caught and in an ironic move ended up getting burnt himself. Guy Fawkes Day teaches British children that it is neither big nor clever to stand in the way of democracy by trying to blow up Parliament. Also that burning effigies of people in big bonfires and letting off fireworks that scare household pets is cool. And this paragraph is why I will never attempt to write a historical novel.
Anyway, Let's Get Lost is finally out in North America. Hurrah! I have no idea how it's being received (apart from a few lovely comments on this blog and MySpace.) If you feel inclined, reviews posted at Amazon and Barnes & Noble are always welcome. I will be interested to see how it's received, as American reviewers tend to fixate on how much alcohol my characters consume. While I would never condone underage drinking, it's legal to buy alcohol at 18 in the UK and I have a theory that people always start doing things about three years before they're legally allowed to. Not that I did. I was a paragon of teen virtue.
As well, as working hard on my new series – the first book has been copy-edited and we're just finalising the cover and the second book is almost finished – I'm writing a couple of articles for British ELLE and getting ready to visit NYC in a few days. Mainly for the purposes of shopping, and hanging out with one of my dearest friends who currently lives there.
Right now I need to transcribe an interview tape (which is the most loathsome bit about being a journalist) and make a huge vat of chicken soup to see off my sore throat.
I hope you are all wrapping up warm and remembering to wear a hat when you go out.
Love
Sarra x
(Cross-posted to A cheery top of the morning (or afternoon to be more specific) to you, dear readers
I am freezing. I'm sitting here with my stylin' Marc Jacobs fingerless gloves on as I type this because the central heating has yet to warm up the Arctic conditions in my flat. Despite the fact that I'm fighting a cold, tonight I will be attending a Bonfire and Fireworks Extravaganza at Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally as it's known to we North London locals,) to celebrate Guy Fawkes day tomorrow.
Non-British readers may wonder what the heck Guy Fawkes is. But basically he was a dude in doublet and hose who tried to blow up the Houses Of Parliament many centuries ago in some international master-spy plot. (Obviously I'm paraphrasing here.) He got caught and in an ironic move ended up getting burnt himself. Guy Fawkes Day teaches British children that it is neither big nor clever to stand in the way of democracy by trying to blow up Parliament. Also that burning effigies of people in big bonfires and letting off fireworks that scare household pets is cool. And this paragraph is why I will never attempt to write a historical novel.
Anyway, Let's Get Lost is finally out in North America. Hurrah! I have no idea how it's being received (apart from a few lovely comments on this blog and MySpace.) If you feel inclined, reviews posted at Amazon and Barnes & Noble are always welcome. I will be interested to see how it's received, as American reviewers tend to fixate on how much alcohol my characters consume. While I would never condone underage drinking, it's legal to buy alcohol at 18 in the UK and I have a theory that people always start doing things about three years before they're legally allowed to. Not that I did. I was a paragon of teen virtue.
As well, as working hard on my new series – the first book has been copy-edited and we're just finalising the cover and the second book is almost finished – I'm writing a couple of articles for British ELLE and getting ready to visit NYC in a few days. Mainly for the purposes of shopping, and hanging out with one of my dearest friends who currently lives there.
Right now I need to transcribe an interview tape (which is the most loathsome bit about being a journalist) and make a huge vat of chicken soup to see off my sore throat.
I hope you are all wrapping up warm and remembering to wear a hat when you go out.
Love
Sarra x
(Cross-posted to A cheery top of the morning (or afternoon to be more specific) to you, dear readers
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Lost in music
Salutations, my sweets!
I guess that some of you may be reading this blog for the first time, having found the address in the back of my new book, Let's get Lost. In which case, I say welcome! I try to update my blog weekly-ish with news, views and lots of ungodly whining.
And really, that's the main theme at the moment. Let's Get Lost goes on sale in North America (which includes Canada, yes?) tomorrow. And you should all go and buy it because it will change your lives in a myriad of amazing ways. Blah blah blah. Being British, I find the hard-sell a bit unseemly, so instead I will direct you to a little added value post I wrote for my Amazon plog, where I shared the playlist I listened to while I was writing the book. This is something I always try to do as a mood-shifter, a source of inspiration and a way of getting inside my character's head. I'm not saying that Isabel would know or even like all of these songs, but some of them are just so her. And certainly, she knows, loves and constantly listens to Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl by Broken Social Scene.
So, without further ado,
Broken Social Scene - Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl
Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes
Belle And Sebastian - Expectations
Ladytron - Seventeen
Blondie - Rip Her To Shreds
Camera Obscura - Suspended From Class
The Shins - Caring Is Creepy
Black Box Recorder - Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
Bright Eyes - Travellin' Song
Tindersticks - Tiny Tears
Thelma Houston - Crazy, Mixed-Up Girl
(Most of these fine recordings are available on iTunes and they're well worth checking out.)
You may want to actually follow this link to the Amazon plog because I did a nifty little website link for each artiste, because it was one click html coding. If I tried to do that here, my brain would explode.
In other news, I've just finished the first draft of the second book in my new series. The final draft of the first book is still in its padded envelope staring balefully at me, while I try to ignore it. Have I really talked about drafts? Would you like me to? What else would you like to know?
Finally, I'd like to say a big, shiny thank you to all the people who left comments in the lost post at blogspot – that's ,Caitlin, devann-dianna, madisonxxx, Caitlin (again?!) sarab3, Victoria, fairuh, lucy, and sinead – I'm really glad that the books meant so much to you.
OK, I need to go to the post office and drink more coffee.
Live on
Sarra x
(cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
I guess that some of you may be reading this blog for the first time, having found the address in the back of my new book, Let's get Lost. In which case, I say welcome! I try to update my blog weekly-ish with news, views and lots of ungodly whining.
And really, that's the main theme at the moment. Let's Get Lost goes on sale in North America (which includes Canada, yes?) tomorrow. And you should all go and buy it because it will change your lives in a myriad of amazing ways. Blah blah blah. Being British, I find the hard-sell a bit unseemly, so instead I will direct you to a little added value post I wrote for my Amazon plog, where I shared the playlist I listened to while I was writing the book. This is something I always try to do as a mood-shifter, a source of inspiration and a way of getting inside my character's head. I'm not saying that Isabel would know or even like all of these songs, but some of them are just so her. And certainly, she knows, loves and constantly listens to Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl by Broken Social Scene.
So, without further ado,
Broken Social Scene - Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl
Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes
Belle And Sebastian - Expectations
Ladytron - Seventeen
Blondie - Rip Her To Shreds
Camera Obscura - Suspended From Class
The Shins - Caring Is Creepy
Black Box Recorder - Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
Bright Eyes - Travellin' Song
Tindersticks - Tiny Tears
Thelma Houston - Crazy, Mixed-Up Girl
(Most of these fine recordings are available on iTunes and they're well worth checking out.)
You may want to actually follow this link to the Amazon plog because I did a nifty little website link for each artiste, because it was one click html coding. If I tried to do that here, my brain would explode.
In other news, I've just finished the first draft of the second book in my new series. The final draft of the first book is still in its padded envelope staring balefully at me, while I try to ignore it. Have I really talked about drafts? Would you like me to? What else would you like to know?
Finally, I'd like to say a big, shiny thank you to all the people who left comments in the lost post at blogspot – that's ,Caitlin, devann-dianna, madisonxxx, Caitlin (again?!) sarab3, Victoria, fairuh, lucy, and sinead – I'm really glad that the books meant so much to you.
OK, I need to go to the post office and drink more coffee.
Live on
Sarra x
(cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Covers and movies...
Hello Kitty-kats
Well, I'm back - did you miss me? Thank you for all your birthday wishes and condolences. It's been a very hard week, but now it's time to put on my brightest smile and get back into the fray.
I notice that on some of my Amazon reviews and in your comments, you ask about movie adapatations of my books. Sadly, the fact that I would LOVE someone to make a film of Guitar Girl or any of them, really, my wishing isn't enough to make it happen. Luckily, I have a great agent with a large film and TV department who send out my books to various studios and production companies. They will look at my books to see if they're able to make the transition to the big screen and fit in with any of their current projects or interests. But until then, all I can do is keep my fingers (and toes and any other available limbs) crossed. What I do know is it's a long, complicated process that doesn't always result in a finished movie being shown at the local multiplex.
What else? The US version of let's Get Lost is now available for pre-order at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com. It's not actually available to buy until October 20th but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of the cover. I worked really closely with my US publishers on various looks and even clothes that captured the book and the character of Isabel, LGL's anti-heroine.
Let's Get Lost - US edition
And for interested parties, this is the British cover, illustrated by the ever wonderful Ray Smith. Ray also did the UK cover of Pretty Things and this picture first appeared in The Guardian Weekend Magazine where my UK publishers and I fell in love with it and begged to be able to use it for the book.
Let's Get Lost - UK edition
They're very different covers, but I think they both work visually to give the reader an idea of what they'll find when they open the book. I love them both, but for very different reasons.
And now for the disclaimer that I am going to add to tbe bottom of every post from now on: No more Diary Of A Crush books, like, ever!
(Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
Well, I'm back - did you miss me? Thank you for all your birthday wishes and condolences. It's been a very hard week, but now it's time to put on my brightest smile and get back into the fray.
I notice that on some of my Amazon reviews and in your comments, you ask about movie adapatations of my books. Sadly, the fact that I would LOVE someone to make a film of Guitar Girl or any of them, really, my wishing isn't enough to make it happen. Luckily, I have a great agent with a large film and TV department who send out my books to various studios and production companies. They will look at my books to see if they're able to make the transition to the big screen and fit in with any of their current projects or interests. But until then, all I can do is keep my fingers (and toes and any other available limbs) crossed. What I do know is it's a long, complicated process that doesn't always result in a finished movie being shown at the local multiplex.
What else? The US version of let's Get Lost is now available for pre-order at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com. It's not actually available to buy until October 20th but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of the cover. I worked really closely with my US publishers on various looks and even clothes that captured the book and the character of Isabel, LGL's anti-heroine.
Let's Get Lost - US edition
And for interested parties, this is the British cover, illustrated by the ever wonderful Ray Smith. Ray also did the UK cover of Pretty Things and this picture first appeared in The Guardian Weekend Magazine where my UK publishers and I fell in love with it and begged to be able to use it for the book.
Let's Get Lost - UK edition
They're very different covers, but I think they both work visually to give the reader an idea of what they'll find when they open the book. I love them both, but for very different reasons.
And now for the disclaimer that I am going to add to tbe bottom of every post from now on: No more Diary Of A Crush books, like, ever!
(Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Let's Get Lost - excerpt
I'm behind schedule on my writing, which means I've had to cancel all my plans for the weekend. So instead of a post telling you all of my thrilling adventures in typing, I thought I'd let you read this extract that was cut from the final version of Let's Get Lost. It came in at 20,000 words over, so a lot had to go.
This was a scene with Isabel and her clueless guidance consellor. Hope you enjoy it, even if you haven't read the book yet!
Only two things got me through Friday: Smith's unfeigned delight when I told him that I'd engineered a whole weekend together and the holdall I had stuffed in my locker which contained everything I needed to maintain his delight.
It even got me through another session with Claire who kept prodding and prodding at me as if I was a sleeping dog she was trying to wake up.
Thankfully she'd abandoned her little scheme to have me spilling my guts and copious tears all over her kilim rug and decided to talk about what a mean, old bully I was.
"You seem to have quite a fierce reputation among your peers, why do you think that is," she asked, gimlet eyes fixed steadily on me. I made a mental note to find out if Lily was seeing her too. "Sometimes when people are in pain, they transfer it on to those around them, don't they, Isabel?"
I crossed my legs and tried to decide whether I should wear my vintage little black dress or my other vintage little black dress when we went up to London tomorrow. It was such a tough decision that I could almost tune out the sound of Claire's voice buzzing vaguely around the periphery of my senses.
"… and you wrote such a beautiful essay about The Great Gatsby. Mrs Phillips told me that you have a very advanced understanding of the themes of the novel for your age. You're not immature, Isabel, quite the contrary, so I'd really like to know your thoughts on your behaviour over the last year. What do you think are the underlying reasons for your problems with socialisation?"
I blinked at her. Maybe the silent thing was getting old. And maybe I could befuddle her with some dense psychobabble. Because one thing was for sure, she didn't want to know the truth.
"I guess…" I began uncertainly and she leaned forward with an obscenely eager expression.
"Yes, Isabel?"
"Well, it's like in The Great Gatsby when Nick idealises Daisy as this perfect woman and she isn't. And she didn't ask for it, but she takes advantage of his love all the same. Nobody ever knows what someone else is like. Not really. They just end up projecting all this crap onto the other person, you know?"
Claire was staring at me blankly and it was pretty obvious that she didn't know. She was the Grand Pooba of cluelessness.
"I see," she said, nodding frantically and I stared at the box of tissues and wondered if I could get her to cry. It would be my greatest triumph.
"I don't mean to be rude, but have you actually read The Great Gatsby?"
That stopped her in her tracks. She fingered her spectacles chain and licked her thin lips nervously. "Well, many years ago. Or was that The Fountainhead?"
"The Fountainhead is by Ayn Rand, F Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby," I told her kindly. "They're two completely different books. Gatsby's about the death of the American dream and The Fountainhead is about the theory of objectivism and the strength of the individual. They couldn't be more different," I finished scathingly and I'd missed this.
Before, Dad would pick out novels for me to read, then he'd take me out to Mrs Hudson's on Sydney Street for apple pie and we'd discuss each book in detail. But it had stopped, after Mrs Cohen got all antsy that I was developing too far ahead of the curriculum because God forbid that I should actually be bored in class because I'd read the set text three times before and debated it with a Professor of Literature. And Mrs Hudson's had the best apple pie.
"Goodness, Isabel, you can be quite strident," Claire breathed. "Are you this forceful with your friends? Maybe if you were a little gentler with your opinions, then people would be less intimidated by you."
I think it was that patronising little speech that made me swear a solemn vow that I'd have her crying like a little baby before the end of term.
"Really? Do I come across as intimidating? How weird. Am I intimidating you, Claire? 'Cause if I am, I'm very sorry."
She gave a nervous laugh. "No, of course not. It's lovely to have you participating in the session."
"Why?"
"Why what, Isabel?"
"Why is it lovely to have me participating in the session?" It was a fair question because it wasn't lovely for me. It ranked somewhere below rectal surgery.
It was a totally moot point, which one of us was more relieved when the final bell sounded.
"4 o'clock already?" Claire cried, scooping up her papers and almost falling over her Earth shoes in her haste to put as much distance between us as possible. "Have a wonderful weekend. I'll see you next Friday."
I stayed sitting down long enough for her to start getting this haunted look at the possibility that I might want to stay and chat, before I slowly uncoiled myself out of the chair. Then I sauntered towards the door, taking my sweet time about it and it wasn't until I closed the door behind me that I let myself break into a mad sprint so I could throw my books into my locker, grab my bag and get the hell out of Dodge before The Trio Of Doom caught up with me.
Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning
This was a scene with Isabel and her clueless guidance consellor. Hope you enjoy it, even if you haven't read the book yet!
Only two things got me through Friday: Smith's unfeigned delight when I told him that I'd engineered a whole weekend together and the holdall I had stuffed in my locker which contained everything I needed to maintain his delight.
It even got me through another session with Claire who kept prodding and prodding at me as if I was a sleeping dog she was trying to wake up.
Thankfully she'd abandoned her little scheme to have me spilling my guts and copious tears all over her kilim rug and decided to talk about what a mean, old bully I was.
"You seem to have quite a fierce reputation among your peers, why do you think that is," she asked, gimlet eyes fixed steadily on me. I made a mental note to find out if Lily was seeing her too. "Sometimes when people are in pain, they transfer it on to those around them, don't they, Isabel?"
I crossed my legs and tried to decide whether I should wear my vintage little black dress or my other vintage little black dress when we went up to London tomorrow. It was such a tough decision that I could almost tune out the sound of Claire's voice buzzing vaguely around the periphery of my senses.
"… and you wrote such a beautiful essay about The Great Gatsby. Mrs Phillips told me that you have a very advanced understanding of the themes of the novel for your age. You're not immature, Isabel, quite the contrary, so I'd really like to know your thoughts on your behaviour over the last year. What do you think are the underlying reasons for your problems with socialisation?"
I blinked at her. Maybe the silent thing was getting old. And maybe I could befuddle her with some dense psychobabble. Because one thing was for sure, she didn't want to know the truth.
"I guess…" I began uncertainly and she leaned forward with an obscenely eager expression.
"Yes, Isabel?"
"Well, it's like in The Great Gatsby when Nick idealises Daisy as this perfect woman and she isn't. And she didn't ask for it, but she takes advantage of his love all the same. Nobody ever knows what someone else is like. Not really. They just end up projecting all this crap onto the other person, you know?"
Claire was staring at me blankly and it was pretty obvious that she didn't know. She was the Grand Pooba of cluelessness.
"I see," she said, nodding frantically and I stared at the box of tissues and wondered if I could get her to cry. It would be my greatest triumph.
"I don't mean to be rude, but have you actually read The Great Gatsby?"
That stopped her in her tracks. She fingered her spectacles chain and licked her thin lips nervously. "Well, many years ago. Or was that The Fountainhead?"
"The Fountainhead is by Ayn Rand, F Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby," I told her kindly. "They're two completely different books. Gatsby's about the death of the American dream and The Fountainhead is about the theory of objectivism and the strength of the individual. They couldn't be more different," I finished scathingly and I'd missed this.
Before, Dad would pick out novels for me to read, then he'd take me out to Mrs Hudson's on Sydney Street for apple pie and we'd discuss each book in detail. But it had stopped, after Mrs Cohen got all antsy that I was developing too far ahead of the curriculum because God forbid that I should actually be bored in class because I'd read the set text three times before and debated it with a Professor of Literature. And Mrs Hudson's had the best apple pie.
"Goodness, Isabel, you can be quite strident," Claire breathed. "Are you this forceful with your friends? Maybe if you were a little gentler with your opinions, then people would be less intimidated by you."
I think it was that patronising little speech that made me swear a solemn vow that I'd have her crying like a little baby before the end of term.
"Really? Do I come across as intimidating? How weird. Am I intimidating you, Claire? 'Cause if I am, I'm very sorry."
She gave a nervous laugh. "No, of course not. It's lovely to have you participating in the session."
"Why?"
"Why what, Isabel?"
"Why is it lovely to have me participating in the session?" It was a fair question because it wasn't lovely for me. It ranked somewhere below rectal surgery.
It was a totally moot point, which one of us was more relieved when the final bell sounded.
"4 o'clock already?" Claire cried, scooping up her papers and almost falling over her Earth shoes in her haste to put as much distance between us as possible. "Have a wonderful weekend. I'll see you next Friday."
I stayed sitting down long enough for her to start getting this haunted look at the possibility that I might want to stay and chat, before I slowly uncoiled myself out of the chair. Then I sauntered towards the door, taking my sweet time about it and it wasn't until I closed the door behind me that I let myself break into a mad sprint so I could throw my books into my locker, grab my bag and get the hell out of Dodge before The Trio Of Doom caught up with me.
Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Let's Get Lost goes on sale in the UK tomorrow!
I'm proud to announce that Let's Get Lost is available to buy from all good bookshops tomorrow, including Ottakers where it's Book Of The Month.
Although I love all my books equally, I'm especially proud of Let's Get Lost as there were times when I thought I'd never finish it. I guess this is the book that most made me feel like a proper writer as I put so much of myself in to it.
It's about a girl called Isabel who doesn't seem very likeable. She's one of the popular girls at school, the meanest of the mean girls. She rules her friends with an iron fist and a divide and rule philosophy. Despises her family. Keeps herself heartless and hard. Then she meets a boy called Smith and begins to unravel. All of us like to present a front to the world and keep the undesirable stuff hidden, but Isabel has it the wrong way round. And Smith finds her gooey soft centre, stirs it around and all of her secrets start spilling out.
I started the book about three months after my mother died and it was too painful and difficult to write. So I took a break to get Diary Of A Crush ready for publication, wrote Pretty Things and then took another look at Let's Get Lost. It's taken me three years to write, gone through about ten different drafts and if I'm brutally honest I cried every day as I wrote the last three chapters. But it's not all doom and gloom and woe is me. Like, all my books you'll find enough to make you smile including caustic one liners, smirky, know-it-all boys and tons of references to The OC.
I'd really love to know what you think of the book and Isabel, in particular. Be sure to review me on Amazon and/or leave a comment here. And Let's Get Lost will be out in the US and Canada in October, I think, of this year.
Smith walked fast with a loping gait, almost bouncing on the soles of his sneakers and I liked that he was so free, so unaware, not knowing that I was looking at him. Like when you’re on the bus and you stare into someone’s front room and you see them watching television or slumped on the sofa and it’s like you’re taking a tiny piece of them home with you.
He ambled into a couple of charity shops and rifled through battered piles of vinyl records and tattered paperbacks. I loitered by the racks of musty smelling polyester dresses - I was going for this whole melting into the walls vibe but I just looked really shifty if the suspicious attention I was getting from the blue rinse brigade manning the tills was anything to go by.
I hadn’t been able to get a good look at him before. It had been dark and there had been quantities of alcohol involved but daylight softened out the slant of his cheekbones and the hard lines of his jaw, so he looked less thuggish. Didn't know anything to lessen the effect of his nose. If you were being kind you'd call it aquiline, if you weren't, you'd call it beaky. And I could see those lips that I'd kissed - how they looked as pillowy as they'd felt. His hair was still ridiculous, he'd obviously never got intimate with a pair of straightening irons. But what I liked about him (and I did appear to like him, even though he had a stupid name and needed to stop kissing girls at parties because he thought they were other girls he'd kissed at other parties) was his serenity. There was something utterly calm about him, no matter how fast his elegant hands leafed through records or pored over books. It was if everything was out of focus except him.
He brushed past me on his way towards the door and I pressed myself against a rail of coats. I waited for the door to shut behind him, then cautiously slunk out in time to see him disappearing into the newsagents next door.
Luckily, I could pretend to read the ads for exotic Swedish massages while I peered through the window and watched Smith buy a packet of cigarettes and some chewing gum. As he was walking down the length of the shop, I realised my cover would be blown so I dived into the nearest doorway, which happened to be a hardware shop and looked with feigned interest at the display of screwdrivers and oooh, power saws. Imagine the damage I could do with one of them.
At first I thought it was the wind brushing against me, but then it happened again, someone was tapping me on the shoulder. Even before I turned round I knew it was him.
I’d forgotten how blue his eyes were. I wanted to compose sonnets in my head about ocean depths and cloudless skies because I was obviously suffering from severe sleep deprivation. He was frowning at me, this little furrowed line popping up between his eyebrows.
I felt like I’d finally been caught shoplifting. My cheeks were burning traffic light red as he fixed me with an intractable look. “Are you following me?”
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Stop, look and listen...
Obviously my vow to be more diligent about posting here went horribly wrong. But it's late Saturday afternoon, the central heating's toasty, I'm in my Old Navy micro-fleece PJ bottoms and the most wild thing I'm going to do this evening is order a Chinese even though I didn't go to the gym today. It's like emo never happened!
If that sounds terribly unglam, I did go to LA a couple of weeks ago to write a piece for British ELLE. It took almost a day to get threre door to door, I stayed in Hollywood for 48 hours, then took another day to get home. And woah, the jetlag!
At the moment I'm working on an outline for my next book. I know a lot of you are interested in being writers so you might find this useful but when I want my publishers to approve my next idea I give them a chapter by chapter synopsis of what the book will be about and also use that as my outline for when I write the book. I start off with the title, then the basic premise (which is a paragraph summing up the entire book in a couple of lines) and then do a really detailed breakdown of what happens in each chapter. This is a really good way of getting your idea right and thinking about how you want to layer the plot and build the suspense. When I'm doing my outlines, I usually find myself coming up with actual bits of dialogue and stuff (why, yes that would be the technical term!) that usually end up in the book too.
The basic premise for Let's Get Lost was this:
This is a poignant but snarky story about losing your mother, when you’ve just started the necessary process of pushing her away in order to discover who you are. It’s not page after page of weepy moping and whining. Isabel is queen bee of a posse of teen divas, in embroiled in a dirtybadwrong love affair with an older boy and has a bratty little brother to deal with. But her biggest stumbling block is a father who can’t handle a teenage daughter and always observes a six inch personal space bubble every time they’re in the same room but at the heart of it all, is a story about a girl trying to find sense in something that is completely senseless.
Talking of Let's Get Lost, the cover is now my user pic. And the book is available for pre-order on www.amazon.co.uk. And that's about all the news that's fit to print...
Love
Sarra x
If that sounds terribly unglam, I did go to LA a couple of weeks ago to write a piece for British ELLE. It took almost a day to get threre door to door, I stayed in Hollywood for 48 hours, then took another day to get home. And woah, the jetlag!
At the moment I'm working on an outline for my next book. I know a lot of you are interested in being writers so you might find this useful but when I want my publishers to approve my next idea I give them a chapter by chapter synopsis of what the book will be about and also use that as my outline for when I write the book. I start off with the title, then the basic premise (which is a paragraph summing up the entire book in a couple of lines) and then do a really detailed breakdown of what happens in each chapter. This is a really good way of getting your idea right and thinking about how you want to layer the plot and build the suspense. When I'm doing my outlines, I usually find myself coming up with actual bits of dialogue and stuff (why, yes that would be the technical term!) that usually end up in the book too.
The basic premise for Let's Get Lost was this:
This is a poignant but snarky story about losing your mother, when you’ve just started the necessary process of pushing her away in order to discover who you are. It’s not page after page of weepy moping and whining. Isabel is queen bee of a posse of teen divas, in embroiled in a dirtybadwrong love affair with an older boy and has a bratty little brother to deal with. But her biggest stumbling block is a father who can’t handle a teenage daughter and always observes a six inch personal space bubble every time they’re in the same room but at the heart of it all, is a story about a girl trying to find sense in something that is completely senseless.
Talking of Let's Get Lost, the cover is now my user pic. And the book is available for pre-order on www.amazon.co.uk. And that's about all the news that's fit to print...
Love
Sarra x
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
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
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
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