Finished!

So I went to meet with lots of journalists at the Groucho Club last week for a 'sparkling evening' hosted by my lovely publishers Headline (who have a snazzy new website, btw). Well, it all made a rather nice change from my local caff. Anyway, I was under strict instructions from both my She-Devils to keep an eye open for the Rpattz or, at the very least, rub my hands on lots of door handles, not wash them before I got home, and make sure I passed on the hopefully collected - what, skin cells, DNA? - to the She-Devils. How odd.

I came to the conclusion, apart from meeting a very lovely bunch of journos from all kinds of publications - everything from weight loss magazines to the Telegraph to Soap mags to the glossies - that they are all incredibly young. And beautiful. And clever. My publicist Sam Eades (who is also those things) worked tirelessly with the rest of the Headline team to make sure the evening was a success and that the eleven female authors invited were circulated in a dizzy cocktail of champagne and ideas for features and articles. It was fun. As I always say about these nice events, it gets me out the house. It gets me in a dress.

In other news, New Novel is finished. It's printed. It's in the mail. Of course, a novel is never really finished at this stage, but it's now over to my editor to work her magic and make me see things that will no doubt have me believing I've been blindfolded this last year. As ever, I feel a little odd parting with the characters and not messing with their lives on a daily basis. It (title to be revealed soon) was a harrowing book to write yet, as ever, the intention with my novels, apart from hopefully being gripping and entertaining, is that they hold a message that makes my readers think, consider, worry, laugh, and feel grateful for life. Amazon has a blurb up and also says the hardback is available on September 2nd. I'm proud of this one and can't wait to see the cover, which I'll put up here in due course.

Meantime, TELL TALE paperback release day is getting closer. This is good news because, not only do I get to see another book in the shops, but it also means that spring is here as the publication date is March 18th. Of course, the hardback edition has already been available for a couple of months and reader emails tell me that it's being very much enjoyed - all over the world! I was alerted to a nice review in Canada's Globe and Mail recently by a well-respected crime reviewer and also saw it in the Bookseller listed in the key paperbacks for 2010 section with 'top-notch sales potential'. That's fine by me. The wonderful Book Club Forum also has a review up as well as an interview with me about the novel.

So now what? Well, on with the next book! I have had a number of readers email me over the years asking if I can 'write faster'. I will certainly try! The idea is there (several of them queueing up, actually) - and, even if I say so myself - this one's a corker (I shouldn't say that, should I?!). But I really can't wait to get started. A few admin tasks to catch up on and then a week or so planning, research and digging...and then write. Although...I bet I start writing tonight.

Sam x

PS. I seem to have been persuaded to give the whole twitter thing a go. Readers - come find me and see how sensible I am! @samhayes