Gawd, it's been ages, loves! I do apologise. (Sorry about the 'loves' - that's a throwback to the lovely Steve H and Marillion - another of my passions). It's been an 'interesting' time, due to the recession. Not the best of times to be a freelance author, but of course there's something about being a writer that just pushes you to keep writing, whatever the external circumstances, and as a result of that I've written several new children's novels, some which will never see the light of day and are sitting in The Folder of Doom, others being considered by agent/publishers, still others roughly drafted out in synopsis form and awaiting the Green Light of Economic Recovery from publishers. And there are exciting developments on Zelah Green book one, which I can't possibly reveal as yet but most certainly will do should they ever come to fruition....

Also saw the draft cover for Zelah Green: Dating Queen this week! It's really fab and I'll be posting it up here very soon. There are a few design tweaks to be done first, in particular the removal of what looks like an armless hand in a glove, as I don't want to frighten away my readers. But the cover is gloriously red in colour and very eye-catching. I think if I were still a teenaged girl (ho ho) I'd certainly pick it up and read the jacket blurb. The proofs of that book have also come in this week, so I'm busy re-reading the novel which is always a bit weird when you've not looked at it for well over a year - kind of a bit like reading a book by somebody else.

Other than that I've been relaxing in our beautiful garden and enjoying the fruits of my husband's labours (!) Summer is coming, which means that I get to steward down at lovely Monk's House, the house once owned by Virginia and Leonard Woolf, and to go on a three hour hike over the South Downs that she loved. Summer - full of good things and nice people...

I attended the prize-giving party for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize on Wednesday. The event took place in their flagship store in Piccadilly and all eight of the shortlisted authors were there, together with various publishers, agents, press people and friends/family. The venue was hot! That's not a compliment - it really was hot, in an airless, gasping-for-fresh-air sort of way. Mercifully I ended up standing by a window. It was also very, very noisy. Imagine more than a hundred buzzy excited people all talking in a cocktail bar not very much bigger than your average lounge, and you might have some idea of the noise. It was also very dim - I liked that. I'd been up since 5.30am. I was very pleased to be there - in fact I've been pleased for several months after hearing I was on the shortlist - but it turned out to be one of those occasions which seems far more enjoyable in retrospect. For whatever reason, I found it hard to live in the moment - it all seemed dream-like and overly-intense and high-speed. I already knew that I hadn't won (glum phone call from nice editor earlier in the day) so in some ways I was more relaxed, knowing I wouldn't have to give a speech. The winner did give a nice speech, but most of us couldn't hear it, the Waterstones personnel for some reason failing to switch on the very large microphone that stood on the tiny stage.  Sadly there wasn't enough time or shouting-breath left to speak to many of the authors on the shortlist - that was a shame, because of course most of us won't get the chance again.  But reflecting after the event, despite it's strangeness and the unfortunately coincidental onset of the worst bouts of acid reflux I've ever had (Canape? No thanks. Wine? No thanks. Water? Thank God), it still felt very good to have been asked along, and to have written a book that somehow captured the imagination of a few people I don't know.

Well - today, January 5th 2009, Zelah Green: Queen of Clean has finally hit the shops. I went out early to my local branch of Waterstones and found a small stack of 'em sitting neatly next to a novel by somebody else I know and also next to 'Beedle the Bard' by JKR, so I'm in pretty good company right at the moment. The good PR people at Egmont have already been asking me to contribute bits and pieces in the ways of interviews, pieces and quotations for various publications so it all suddenly seems very real and exciting. It's not at all a feeling of anti-climax, as I feared after waiting for nearly two years to see it on the shelves. Instead it's a sort of quiet feeling of happiness and also a confidence boost so that I can get on with writing further Zelahs and maybe one or two other ideas for series books too.

Anyway - if you've read Zelah and want to comment, please do use my guest book. I'll be reading it on a regular basis!