April, 2002

OK Rachel from Australia - just for you, here's an update! I have to admit that all that rejoicing about One Hit Wonder doing so well does feel like aeons ago and an update was probably well overdue. Unfortunately I've done absolutely nothing of any interest since I last wrote to you all. Oh, except doing the Writers Special of the Weakest Link in February. I don't know if any of you saw it (please God, no). I was made up to look like a drag queen (wasn't that another special?). I know this for a fact because all the other female contestantslooked better after make up and I looked worse. And even my family said I looked bizarre.

I had intended to go out in the first round as I was terrified by the whole prospect and just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. I'm terrible at general knowledge (unless it's to do with celebrity trivia, I'm ashamed to say) and the prospect of getting a grilling from Anne Robinson was unappetising to say the least. But for some reason Brian Sewell who is at least, oooh, a thousand times more intelligent than me was booted off first. I lasted until the second round and was voted off unanimously (bar one - the lovely Jilly Cooper - thank you Jilly) and ironically, hadn't even been the Weakest Link of that round. But hey, I wasn't offended - it was just a huge relief to get off that podium and into the safety of the green room where my husband and friends Sarah and Yasmin were waiting for me with a bottle of lager and a few words of consolation.

Another consolation was that it wasn't just me who was a dunce - we were uniformly thick. Our team made a paltry £7000 for charity - the sitcom stars got twice that much on their special. Toby Young (one of the other contestants) wrote a very funny article about our experience in the Observer. Pathetic, eh? My theory is that writers weren't designed for TV - that's exactly why we're writers.

Talking of which - I'm still deep in the throes of writing book number three. It really has taken ages to develop any sort of momentum and I've still got a long way to go. Unfortunately I've only got another six weeks to finish it so I'm going to have to 'go' pretty bloody quickly. I'm not panicking about it - I have a friend who had a baby while she was supposed to be writing her second book and didn't even start it until three months before her deadline and she managed it - and it was a good book.

I haven't got anything as organised a synopsis for it at the moment, but it's about three brothers who all live in South London. Their mother thinks they're all fantastic and can't do anything wrong, but all of them are behaving monstrously in one way or another. It's strange for me to write about characters who are so deeply flawed - getting the balance right between being appalled by their behaviour and having some sort of sympathy for them is a real challenge. The working title is 'The London Brothers' and it's due out in hardback in February 2003 - so save those Christmas book vouchers from your Grandma - this is what they were designed for!

On the recommendation of a new acquaintance, Fraser I am seriously considering setting up a new page on my site, just as soon as I've finally finished this book. It'll be a journal type page where I bore you all silly with my ramblings and musings and general lack of social life. It's something I'll try to update on a daily to bi-daily basis and I think it might be quite good fun. I'll send an e-mail to everyone when it's up and running - probably some time this summer. More displacement activities - cool!

One more piece of news - I'm just about to sign my third contract with Penguin - hurrah! It's a three book deal, spread out over six years, which, scarily enough, takes me up to my 40th birthday. What a terrifying thought. But it does mean that I won't be publishing a book a year any more and you'll have to be a bit patient. Sorry about that.

Well, that's all there is to report at the moment (I told you I hadn't done anything interesting, didn't I?) I'll write again when I've finished this book and have got organised with synopses and journals stuff. In the meantime, here's some links:

Yasmin Boland the Queen of Bondi Beach, author of Carole King is an Alien and all-round inspiration.

Jenny Colgan the Queen of Fitrovia, author of Amanda's Wedding and Looking for Andrew McCarthy and a joy to know.

Blogjam I gatecrashed Fraser's party last weekend and he very kindly put a link from his site to mine, so I'm returning the favour. Look out for the Random Kitten Generator - unbelievably cute!

Penguin the ultimate publishers and a really cool website.

Pocketpig don't know why I love this site so, but I just do. Sabrina keeps a diary of everything she eats (with accompanying illustrations) and just general stuff about her life. It's nowhere near as self-indulgent as the other myriad 'me me me' journal sites and I get very upset when she's late posting her entries!

Friendsreunited Hugely popular so probably doesn't need any help from me, but if you went to school or college with me, please leave some details here so I can have a nose at what you're up to now!

Chicklit Cool, intelligent and lively site for lovers of fiction, chick or otherwise.

Girls' Night Out/Boys' Night In Great stories, good cause, please buy.

Lisa X

Previous updates:
November 2001
September 2001
July 2001
April 2001
September 2000