Oh what fun it is prowling the corners of my imagination; the new book will be called DELILAH. I've had a great time building this plan and look forward to writing it in November; I wonder if I'll be able to write right through to the end - something I haven't done with any book yet but they were never planned to this degree. Maybe I should return to the others, waiting in the wings, and give them this treatment so that when I continue them they'll fly right off to the end.

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Whether the how-to-write books are warning you about how agonising but necessary these days it is to be a performing author, or whether they're (more rarely) warning you of the risks of becoming a performaholic, what they don't say is how much time, beyond the edges of the event, each one takes. I had the most delicious time at the Daphne du Maurier festival, down in Fowey in Cornwall: a lovely audience, great questions, a wonderful walk, but the domestic fallout is considerable, and the writerly fallout is not negligible either, not least because there are one or two things going on which I can't blog about yet.

So, meanwhile, here's what had me doing the Happy Author Dance round the kitchen, despite the kind of weariness only seven hours of even well-behaved trains (blame Dr Beeching and his predecessors) can make you feel. It was sent by a kind friend because I missed it. Note no. 24...

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A little like this, perhaps.

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I talked to spiders a lot as a child. My mother says how she would often find me holding one in my little girl hand, chatting away and telling it stories. A conversation with a spider is necessarily a one-sided affair, the lack of reply compensated for by their great hanging around listening abilities.

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And by 'all' what I really mean is the price of the limited edition 20 Photographs & 20 Stories book I've been working on, with Katherine Elizabeth Lewis, over this past three weeks.

So as long as the proof we see on Monday is okay we should have copies, actual copies, to send and sell and everything later next week.

And those copies will be priced at £14.

So if you'd like one, either drop me an email (by clicking here) or go to my online shop (by clicking here).

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In most professions, people don't see fit to comment on how you are doing your job. You might have an annual review, but that's, at most, a slightly uncomfortable hour with the boss. Your colleagues in the office don't tend to lean across their desks and deliver a devastating precis on your plus and minus points, and nor do complete strangers tend to tap you on the shoulder on the bus and say that they've observed you through your office window that afternoon and that they think they could have been doing a much better job in your place. And that's just how it should be. But for us writers, the world is a rather different sort of place - something that has been particularly brought home to me in the past couple of months. Yes, I'm talking about reviews.

Most writers, once they've plucked up the courage, show their work to a trusted friend or family member once in a while. But the harsh truth is that the vast majority of friends and family members don't really review our work. They read it, clouded by the knowledge that it has sprung from the pen of someone they will have to face in social situations for many years to come. Perhaps they're blinded by its brilliance, simply because they can't believe that someone they know is capable of writing a book. Perhaps they think it's awful, but can't bring themselves to blurt the words out. Either way, the end result is usually much the same: a bright smile, an enthusiastic "I really enjoyed it!" and perhaps a couple of diffident criticisms about the odd comma here and there before boomeranging back to praise. All very nice, but not perhaps a robust enough preparation for the big bad world out there when you become published.


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On the other hand -think Guillermo del Toro and Pan's Labyrynth rather than Ken Loach and The Wind that Shakes the Barley - I do like a bit of fantasy for a change, not to mention some, dare I say it, beautiful screen images.



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So, there I was, sitting in work, talking to someone on the phone but scribbling down words that were falling into my head. After that call I noted all the names on my call sheet (only first names - and some of them not real). By the end of the shift I had planned a novel! Yes, another one.

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I woke up this morning, back in Israel, with a heavy cold, and, inspired by a friend, said to the Universe: "Surprise and delight me!". And, what do you know? It did. I was utterly bowled over to discover that my flash story, Come Back Tomorrow, originally published in Dogzplot, has been selected by Darlin' Neal for Wigleaf's Top 50 Very Short Fictions of 2009 (stories under 1000 words published in 2008 in US-based journals are eligible).

I remember looking at their first Top 50 last year with great envy! What a nice thing to happen of a morning. I am in amazing company in the Top 50, and in the long shortlist of 200 from which the 50 was picked, including Sarah Hilary and Aimee Bender! This is not just an honour but these lists are a wonderful resource for flash writers, providing a wealth of literary journals to read and submit to. Do go and have a look.

On that note, here are some upcoming deadlines - always worth getting your entry in early (which I never manage to do but always aspire to!):

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The first thing you need to know about the Fair is that it isn’t really for writers; it’s for publishing, rights and distribution deals to be thrashed out. Once you’ve accepted that, it’s a great learning opportunity.

My badge states Writer – I’ll choose Author after my second publication is in a bookshop. Writer tells the world what I do, without hyperbole or modesty. I’m a vital part of this industry and everyone here is my equal. They want successful books and I want my books to be successful.

Large publishers will ignore you, quite blatantly. One had a sign saying ‘Please don’t distract us from our meetings’. In the giveaway Bookseller magazine, someone talked proudly of spending the day avoiding unagented writers. Some stands offer submission guidelines and a treasured few – smaller organisations usually – make time to discuss what they’re looking for. And that’s all perfectly okay; it’s the nature of the business we’re in.


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