Back to work

Remember the lovely Scattered Laura, who won the very first ARC of TORN? Well, she's gone and written a review, which you can read it here if you so desire. I recommend you do... Not because it's a review of my book, but because Laura is hilarious!

Yesterday I was back at my desk for the first time post-pup. It's been impossible to work with the little bundle of trouble distracting me, but now I am officially BACK ON IT. Now, how does this writing malarkey work again? Maybe a cup of tea will help. And a biscuit. And maybe I should catch up on my blog reading first...

Gratuitous pup pic

SPOOKY!

My dad's just read TORN. His verdict: better than ENTANGLED. So that's good. He phoned me one day while he was reading it and said, 'There's a cocker spaniel!' I'm ashamed to say that this was news to me. I hadn't looked at the text for well over six months and my memory is... ahem... poor.


It turns out I wrote a cocker spaniel into TORN way before I ever even considered getting a dog, let alone a cocker spaniel. SPOOKY, HUH?


The strange thing is, this isn't the first time this kind of thing's happened. When I was writing ENTANGLED, I randomly decided to give Grace a love of running. There was no real reason for it. I think I was probably just looking for something for her to do that wasn't moping around her bedroom. So I wrote a running scene. Now I'd never really run in my life, apart from the odd sprint for the bus and the obligatory cross-country hideousness at school (wearing nothing but a T-shirt and brown gym knickers... um... WTF?!). I imagined what it might feel like to run if you didn't hate running - if you loved it, in fact. Turns out it wasn't all that hard to imagine.


THEN I STARTED RUNNING! OK, this was maybe two or three years after I wrote that first running scene, but still! And the weird thing was, the feeling was exactly like I imagined it to be. 


This has got me thinking... what's next? What am I writing into the current WIP (UNDONE) that will eventually come true? I'm tempted to write a character who wins the lottery. Reckon that'll work?


So how about you? Have you ever written something that's come true? Or written about something you'd never experienced before, only to find out your imagination was pretty spot-on?

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Well, I think it's safe to say these have been the best entries EVER. You lot are truly awesome (and some of you are truly disturbed... you know who you are!). I loved the mentions of puppies and children - you certainly know how to tug at my heartstrings. Also, cheese! You know me so well!


Anyhoo, I had such a hard job picking a winner. So much so that I decided to choose a winner AND a runner-up...


The runner-up, with a last-minute entry that tickled my fancy, is... EMMA! She said:



*To the tune of The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be*

When I wake up, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the one who wakes up with your book
When I go out, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the one who goes out with your book

When I get drunk, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the one who gets drunk reading TORN
When I haver, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the one who's havering 'bout TORN

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the one that walked 1000 miles
To read your new book, TORN!!!

And if that hasn't swayed you, then maybe I could throw in an air freshner for your kitchen :D


Brilliant! I love The Proclaimers! Also, in case you're wondering, the air freshener bit is in reference to something I said on Twitter about Griffin pooing in the kitchen... honest. Emma wins a copy of ENTANGLED (or another book if she's already read it) from The Book Depository. Congrats, Emma!


And the winner is... drumroll and all that malarkey... SCATTERED_LAURA! Her answer:


How far would I go? I'd go FAR! Seriously far!

In fact, I would go all the way over there! *Points to a spot which is rather faraway* Honest I would. Now that might not seem like much, but you have to understand that I am lazy and I very much enjoy sitting down at my computer. The distant dot on my horizon (cough... I might have pointed at a tree about 500 meters away...) at least SEEMS very far away.

A journey of that distance would be no easy task. I would have to:

Get up
Turn off my computer
Try and get my hair to look less... "special"
Find a pair of shoes which actually match
Ponder whether I can emerge in public in PJs with an unsightly zit on my chin...
Decide that I can NOT emerge in public in PJs with an unsightly zit on my chin
Put on real clothes
Find cement which might cover unsightly zit
Have a little bit of a sit down... all this hard work will have made me sleepy.
Leave house.
Walk across the park, dodging the teenagers who like pointy things.
Reach the distant point.
Then...the journey home would begin.

See? You see how far I'm willing to go for your book!? Frodo's got noting on me! Surely such a quest deserves a reward?!


This made me laugh A LOT. Especially the Frodo reference and "special" hair. Genius!


That was a fun contest. Thanks so much to everyone who entered... I reckon I'll have to have another one sooner rather than later.


Before I go, here's an unnecessary pic of Griffin looking... um... green:

HARK! TORN ARC! CONTEST!

Don't worry, it's not actually torn. I can vouch for its 100% intactness. Fnar fnar.

So who wants to get their grubby mitts on this little beauty? The lucky winner will be the first person in the whole wide world to read TORN! (Well, the first person in the whole wide world apart from me, my agent, my editor and some friends... but still!)

To be in with a chance of winning, please leave a comment below answering the following question:


How far would YOU go to win this book?*


I'll pick a winner on Monday morning. That gives you the whole weekend to come up with a wild and wonderful answer. This contest is open internationally, and you don't have to be a follower to enter.


GOOD LUCK!


*Thanks to the lovely @mattlibrarian for the contest idea!

Pupdate part deux

I'm afraid I really don't have anything to talk about that's not pup-related. Griffin is taking up all my time. Well, Griffin and the occasional episode of Supernatural. And maybe an episode or two of Fringe.

So... Griffin news! He's made a friend! A gorgeous labrador named Amber, belonging to the lovely Nicola Morgan. The meeting went swimmingly apart from a slight Griffin-squishing incident. I think you can tell from the first pic here that it was love at first sight for Griffin. Not sure Amber was quite so enamoured.

In other news, I really should be checking the page proofs for TORN... but I have a puppy! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ANY WORK?

Pupdate

See what I did there? PUPDATE!

I have no coherent thoughts. My brain is pup-addled. Here are some pics of the Griffmeister. He charms everyone he meets and saves all his naughtiness just for me.

Some thoughts

1. Have you read AMERICAN GODS, by Neil Gaiman? You probably have. According to Twitter I seem to be the very last person in the known universe to read it. And if you haven't read it, what are you waiting for? It's bloody brilliant. I read the 'author's preferred text', which is something like 12,000 words longer than the original book. I'd be very interested in comparing the two versions and may well do so one day. Unless one of you has read both and can save me the time?

2. I somehow got involved in a Facebook conversation about fanciable cartoon characters. Any favourites you want to tell me about? You tell me yours and maybe, just maybe, I'll tell you mine.

3. I've ventured into the world of Google+. Am liking it muchly so far. There's something very satisfying about putting people in circles. I hope the arrival of Google+ will force Facebook to buck up its ideas, especially regarding privacy.

4. This song is rocking my socks off right now. Bwani Junction are going to be BIG.

5. Last, but by no means least... This little fella is arriving tomorrow:

That's all from me. What's going on with YOU?