The new book

I'm editing. Which means for the next couple of weeks I'll be cocooned in my writing room, with little exposure to fresh air and extremely limited human contact outside of my husband and me x 2. You see, after working for years in agencies, I can't help splitting my personality into Suit and Creative, and right now the Suit is 'handling' the Creative, so I'm surrounded by post-its, timing plans and action lists. There's also plenty of cajoling and doughnuts. When I/we emerge, around the beginning of February, I'll be smiling, I hope, because bar last tweaks and copy edits, Book Two will be nearly ready. I'm delighted to say that Book Two has a new title. Actually, it has two*...

A HEART BENT OUT OF SHAPE will be published in the UK in July 2013.
THE SWISS AFFAIR will be published in the US/ Canada in December 2013.

As soon as we have covers & cover copy, I'll be excited to share them with you here. For now though, I'm in lock-down. I enjoy the utter absorption of editing, and the focus of a looming deadline. I close the door, flip my blinds, flick on my lamp, and plug into my headphones. Music is essential. Sometimes I play it at such a whisper that tracks slip by without me noticing, other times I let it roar. I've been working on A HEART BENT OUT OF SHAPE/ THE SWISS AFFAIR for  about a year and a half, and some tunes have had more play than others. These tracks have become my soundtrack to the book; they've accompanied the writing of it but also, probably unsurprisingly, I think they go pretty well with the story too.

Nouvelle Vague - I Melt With You
Cat Power - Sea of Love
Beck - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes
Lykke Li - Sadness Is A Blessing 
Lana Del Ray - Born To Die
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Memoir
Blur - No Distance Left To Run
Miike Snow - Animal
Regina Spektor - Real Love
  
... and a bonus track, mainly because I've been feeling very grateful to my excellent editors, Leah and Erika, recently...

Editors - Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors   

Just as I've been living my book through music, I've been playing with pictures too. You can't keep a good mood-board down. Right, that's enough artful procrastination, back to the editing. The day/night is yet young.

*It's definitely the same book, so don't go buying it twice. Actually, what am I saying? Please DO buy it twice (my mum will be).

Guest blogs

I've just written a piece for my publisher Headline about my eventful first year as an author; specifically book fests and Book Slam. You can read it HERE.

On the subject of Book Slam, over on their site I extol the joys of finding treasure without a map... Those 'stumbled upon' books you fall in love with at first sight. You can read that HERE.