Tuesday 31 May 2011

On... girl crushes

I'm prone to girl crushes.

Not in the breathless-adoration way (and I would never call anyone a 'goddess', what is with people doing that lately? It's weird), but when I see a woman who seems to have it figured out, I frown thoughtfully and nod in her direction, maybe do an hour or two of background reading on things she's done in the past, and then keep my eye out to see what she does next.

Wednesday 25 May 2011

On.... Mannerfrei

I have a copy of MANNERFREI, the German translation of The Dating Detox, in my hot little hands! (Actually, they're not hot, and they're manicured rather nicely with OPI Pinking Of You, but that's not the point right now.)

I thought I'd take a photo to share it with you. Cool, huh?

It's incredibly surreal seeing it in another language. Brilliant, I mean. But surreal.



And here's a photo of the book open to The Botanist chapter, with - just for the hell of it - a packet of matches from The Botanist, indeed. I was there on Sunday. The burger was absolutely exceptional and may have eclipsed Bar Boulud and Bumpkin in my Best Burger In London list. In case you were wondering.



If you have any German friends who are simply crying out for a bit of Die Dating Detox joy, you can order it here.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

On.... shoes, shoes, shoes

Every now and again I write a bloggy thing for the delightful fashionistics at SheerLuxe.

This is the new one.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

On... my next book

10 things I can tell you now about my next book.

1. It’s the first in a series of books called Union Street, about five twenty- something girls sharing a house in Brooklyn, that I’m writing for St Martins Press.

2. The protagonist is stylish, spoilt, sharp - and kind of awesome. I adore her. But I always adore the protagonist till I finish writing about her. Weird, huh?

3. I had the idea for the series as was ruminating on the fact that 21 to 30 is an extraordinarily tough, eventful and hilarious time for women, but I couldn’t think of any modern fiction that dealt with the entire period honestly and - most importantly - with humour.

4. The series was also inspired by The Group by Mary McCarthy, The Best Of Everything by Rona Jaffe and The Babysitters Club by Ann M Martin. (Trust me, it works.)

5. There will be more sex in it than there was my first two books. (Mother, don’t look at me like that.)

6. And wild partying and bad choices and drugs and drama and all kinds of good stuff. (Mutti. Seriously. You are really putting me off.)

7. I’ve just about finished writing it. Just icing the cake now.

8. Oh, the narrator of the first book is called Pia.

9. It’s about 120,000 words, which seems to be my magic number for some reason. (This is irrelevant but I needed it to get 10 facts.)

10.I really, really hope you like it.

PS Alas, I cannot tell you when it’s out just yet... but the moment I find out, you’ll be the first to know, kittenpants.

Sunday 1 May 2011

On... chicklit and humour

I’m trying to write a feature for Novelicious for International Chicklit Month. And I’m having trouble getting started.

Why?

Because the topic is Humour And Chicklit.