misc.
The New Character
The new character is coming along nicely. He’s a little penguiny creature, with a slightly anteaterish nose and an insatiable appetite. In my head, he’s not entirely unlike Edward Gorey’s Doubtful Guest, perhaps crossed with a little bit of hairy lurcher. Only I always imagined The Doubtful Guest as having quite a strong and somewhat [...]
What Should We Read After Twilight?
It’s the question on thousands of teenage lips, one I tried to bribe my daughter to ask her school librarian — as a test, and also because I was curious. A good librarian (ie, one who loves and reads books) should be able to answer even a really difficult question like ‘what should I read [...]
Writer? Ha.
‘How do you spend your day?’ People always ask this question with eager anticipation, and I know what they’re thinking. Up at 5AM, straight to the desk, write till the family emerges at 7, poached eggs on crumpets, a brisk walk on the Heath with the dogs, back to work by 9:30, book nearly finished [...]
Elephant’s Breath
They’re out of Elephant’s Breath in Islington. This will fail to surprise anyone conversant with all the Islington cliches about champagne socialism and gifted children. Still, it kind of takes the wind out of my sails. Having chosen that particular shade of not-white over all the other not-whites, I felt quite proud that it looked [...]
How To Get Published
I’m just back from doing a panel at the London Book Fair (with Lionel Shriver and agent Carole Blake, among others) entitled “How To Get Published.” When asked to participate, I admitted up-front that my theory is moronically simple: write a very very good book (i’m afraid I worded it somewhat more emphatically this afternoon). [...]
Reality bites
It’s been almost three weeks of holiday — and when you’re a writer with a 12-year-old, you get to take off school holidays too. Amsterdam was lovely as ever; the hotel, courtesy of lastminute.com, far more gorgeous and starry than I would ever normally have been able to afford; and my Dutch publisher (the wonderful [...]
most popular