September 2000

Well - what an amazing few months I've had. I got married in July, which was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Ninety of our friends and family joined us for a weekend on the Italian Riviera (here's us on the steps of the town hall being pelted with risotto rice - it hurt). We partied and danced and drank the town dry and I think we've only just both come back down to earth.

When we got back from honeymoon, however, I had a read-through of the manuscript of novel number three, which I'd been working on before we went away and realised that it was appalling. I didn't like the characters, the storyline wasn't doing what I wanted it to do and it was all going horribly wrong. So I started again. My deadline is next January, so I'm now having to write very, very fast - twenty-five pages a week, to be precise. But it's nice to have a bit of pressure and I'm really loving writing it. It's a bit like Desperately Seeking Susan, about a repressed young girl from the West Country who comes to London when her older half sister dies and finds herself embroiled in her exciting lifestyle. It's a bit of a fairy story and it's chock full of quirky characters and off-beat scenes of London life. It's called One Hit Wonder and Penguin are hoping
to publish it in September 2001. I'd better get on with it then!

But as if getting married and re-starting my book wasn't enough excitement for one year, I've also just published Thirtynothing, my second novel. Unlike last year when I was convinced that Ralph's Party was going to be the greatest flop of all time, this time I had enough confidence just to relax and enjoy the whole process. There's been tons of exciting press coverage and some fantastic reviews (see Reviews), and just to cap it all off nicely, Thirtynothing has gone straight into the UK best-sellers at number four! Life doesn't get much better than this...

The War Child charity anthology 'Girls' Night In', to which I contributed a short story was published in July and is still doing fantastically well. HarperCollins have just presented the War Child charity with a cheque for a whopping £180,000, which is quite amazing. If you haven't bought it yet, you should. It's a great read and at £5.99 for thirty-one stories it's very good value for money, too.

For more information about Girls' Night In, you can visit the website at http://www.girlsnightin.org/

One of my co-contributors in Girls' Night In and one of my very best friends too, is Yasmin Boland. She was over in London for our wedding this summer, and while she was here she managed to find herself and agent and a publishing deal for her Australian novel 'Carole King is an Alien.' As she was the woman who persuaded me to write a book in the first place, this a lovely poetic happy ending. .

That's it for now. Thanks to everyone for all your support and come back soon (ish) for more updates.