I've posted about this in a writing forum because it's intriguing me. I'm finding I can learn more about the value of emotional tension - and balance - from an hour spent with my seven year old than I can from any amount of reading or writing.

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Ooooh, the scene I've been pondering these last few weeks suddenly fell out of my head last night at work. I had to get this bad character out of his flat after a row with his mother, and thanks to a prompt from my Flash 2 group it all came together; I often use their challenges with on-going projects. So, I was very happy to discover this character tearing the pages out of a bible and throwing them out of a window.

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My mother's sole remaining cat has gone missing. We suspect she went away to die, the way old cats do. She wasn't ill or anything, but she demanded to be let out of the house at 2am and there's been no sign of her since. My mother says she never left the garden, and she's not there. None of the neighbours have seen her. The cat would have been eighteen next week, so she was a good age, as they say. Her brothers died recently, one last year and the other the year before. I guess it was her time.

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Last night I had dinner with my American editor, who's over for the London Book Fair. In the last two years or more we've spoken on the phone and done lots of emailing, but I've never actually met her in person before. We had a really meaty conversation about A Secret Alchemy and all sorts of other writing things, as well as life and the world in general. I only hope I'm that compos mentis when I'm that jetlagged. And then today a friend said that their agent had suggested they meet up for a drink to discuss the new novel, although it's a bit of a trek for her to get to the agency offices. Was it worth it, my friend was wondering; could it not be sorted out by email or on the phone?

It's true that if what's being exchanged is notes for revision or a list of copy-editorial points, email is great: you can print it off and work through it methodically. And if there are certain, fairly self-contained things that need discussing, then the phone is fine, though satellite delay doesn't help and nor do time differences: my US editor's brisk mid-afternoon is my nearly-bedtime. But when you meet face-to-face there's something more going on, and I think it's related to another conversation I had recently, about how characters evolve.

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Paris was fabulous. We walked an average of four hours a day. Breakfast was good strong coffee, lunch was salad or an omelette, after which we didn't much fancy dinner so just ate an ice-cream on the hoof (or, in Milly's case, chocolate mousse with bananas and milk).

We walked all around the Latin Quarter (Rue de Bac is my favourite street) and visited Le Marais for the first time. One day we did nothing but shop. Particular treasures we brought home included coriandar bath salts (they smell divine) and a box of novelty sugar lumps for my mother, in the shape of tiny colourful buttons and figures. My better half bought shoes, and Milly got a whole new spring wardrobe of pretty clothes. Paris brings out the girl in her, which is rather lovely. On our last day, we stayed out late and walked through St. Germain after dark where we saw Greek diners smashing plates and a juggler with a glass jar of goldfish on his head. Milly wanted to know, 'Is this a dream?'


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Hello, am new to this kind of thing, so please, be nice!
Anyway, I have recently decided to write a children's picture book. I know its going to be hard, and i am not one of those people who say, " lets make a quick buck, I'll write a picture book!" I want to do this because I love writing, and I REALLY LOVE picture books.
Now that's cleared, I would like to know how to format my book. I understand the stuff on margins, and my title page, and cover letter.
HERE ARE THE Q'S
Do I need to double space the writing, seeing as it's a picture book?
Do I need to number the pages or show page breaks?
Do I send the whole block of text, or do number or...?
Do I need to leave notes for the illustrator?
Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you!
Sade x

Yes, I won the Cool EP T-shirt, which is, naturally, very cool. And I have plans for it. Yes I do. As soon as I hear back from a certain someone I'll let you know what those plans are (if the email comes back as a 'yes' that is).

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Goodness me, a sunny day today. How shocking. None of us really know what to do about it and are staring out of the window with our mouths open. What a very pleasant image. Still, it won’t last – the forecast for the rest of the week is rain. Followed by rain. Best make the most of it then.

I’m struggling with working out my travel expenses for travelling to the York conference in the new system. Apparently I’m allowed extra money per passenger – and as I took one person up to York and brought two people back (hey! I made a friend!), the maths is beyond me. I can see I shall have to rely on weeping and Ruth. Again. Must be my hormones ...

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I got home from Paris last night (a lovely week we had) to find my author copies of MO: Crimes of Practice waiting for me. It really is a beautifully produced book, acid green spine, smoothly-bound, clean white pages. I'm a little in love with it, just as an object, and looking forward to reading it in full.


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The Irish Nomad (from my links below) has got me thinking about death; she blogged about the Irish writer Nuala O'Faolain who has just been told that cancer is killing her. My mind leapt to Julia Darling; she continued writing in her blog until she had no energy left - this is what a writer does, in my mind. I have added a link to her website, straight to the blog, which I've already reversed so it's easy to read from the beginning; before she even knew it was called a blog!

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