I have just written 'THE END' on the first draft of my new book. Hurrah! It's a bit longer than expected - nearly 50k words - so now all I have to do is re-write and dump all the cringe-worthy badly written bits (about a quarter?!!) and it will probably be the right length!! Then I have to pluck up the courage to send it to my sister (most honest critic) and members of my writing group, for comment. Scary! Then I'll probably keep changing it and re-writing until I'm tearing at the walls... and finally, finally - in several frenzied weeks time - decide it's good enough to send to my publisher. Super-scary! But also wonderful. Much as I find this whole process a supreme challenge and very, very hard work, I LOVE IT! Writing is the best job in the world.

Some very cool links... Download EXCLUSIVE Scarlett Dedd doorhangers @ Wondrousreads http://bit.ly/aVD6vE
and
The most marvelous indie bookshop on the planet have Scarlett Dedd as their home page. Yay Barton's! www.bartonsbookshop.co.uk

Scarlett came to tea today. Here she is in my living room. Actually, it's Scarlett's cardboard cutout! Cool, huh? She's already asked if she can watch some of my horror movie DVDs and has requested pizza for supper (no mushroom).

Lot's of Scarlett Dedd events are looming over the horizon. How exciting! The first will be publishing day (2nd Sept - pre-order your copy now), the next is a visit to our friends at Waterstone's Epsom on Saturday 4th. Then the biggie - Scarlett's Party... I mean FUNERAL (above) at Barton's Bookshop, Leatherhead (after school at 3.30pm on 9th September). Visit www.bartonsbookshop.co.uk to sign up to the guestlist and get more info. Then we're at Waterstone's Dorking on 11th September - Yay! Click on the Events tab above for more...

Friday 13th and I KNEW today would be awesome and spesh! Just finished the third video for Scarlett Dedd (still intend to do at least another 2) and you should be able to watch the first (a trailer) next week. Also coming soon to a screen near you: 'Cuddly Bunny Meets the Hair Salon Slasher', 'Zombie Saturday Checkout Girl' and 'Video Evidence of the Existence of Ghosts' by Rip, Taz, JP, Psycho and Scarlett. Plus 'Sunshine Street' by Wolf and Mandy. Exciting!

Woo hoo! Look what my lovely postman just delivered! I opened it to read the first page and was still standing in my dining room 45 mins later. Must be good as I've read it about 1,000,000 time before!

Well, August has hardly started and I'm already planning going back to school! But, it's okay, I've not gone bonkers! I simply can't wait for the first week of term because that's when SCARLETT DEDD will hit the bookshops and I start two months of school visits, workshops, parties and signings. The coolest event will be Scarlett's After School Party on 9th September from 3.30pm @ Barton's Bookshop, Leatherhead, Surrey, to which all my readers are invited! If you can't make it, click on the Events tab above for more opportunities to chill with Scarlett...

True to my motto, 'Life is too short for housework', I decided that rather than vacuum up the dust bunnies that have been procreating all over my floors, I'd adopt them instead. Here are Derek and Darren (baby dust twins inhabiting the dining room). I've been monitoring the progress of 'the site' and the peaches too (not to mention that freaky alien pumpkin) and thought I'd share. Don't I have an interesting life?!!!

I spent the day away from my desk today. Mistake? Big mistake. My head was on a completely different planet. I kept getting plot twist ideas (in the bank and WHSmiths) and my characters were yelling snappy dialogue at each other in my head (in Sainsbury's) which was very off-putting. So, I came home with a bag full of scraps of paper with illegible scribbles all over them (Tsk!) and a feeling that my behaviour may have been viewed by fellow shoppers as a bit loopy. Am I the local weirdo... or just a writer?!

Excellent! I've just been writing the scariest scene so far, while a thunder storm rumbles outside my window! What a marvelous soundtrack! Wish I could have that playing when my readers get to that page. Ooo, that's a thought... illustrated books with soundtracks... and animations... and vibrations... and smell-erama... and a big, friendly hug at the end! I'd defo read one of those. Might need rather sophisticated multi-talented e-readers though! (P.S. This image is a bit of a fraud because it doesn't depict the scene I mentioned, at all. I just rather like it!)

Spotted some Scarlett Dedd fans today... in my sketchbook!

Just written 'Chapter Thirteen'. Yay! Don't know why, but the 13th always seems to be the most exciting chapter. But, perhaps writing that has just jinxed it. Maybe it'll now turn out to be the dullest. Anyway, the scary bits are about to happen. The whole story has flipped over from comedy to thriller and it's a good old roller-coaster ride from now on. Excellent! I know I'm really into a book and its characters when I forget to eat and today, I've had nothing since a cup of coffee at 6.30am. I was wondering why my stomach was talking to me just now!

I've been scrutinising my Scarlett Dedd Book Tour schedule and wondering if I should start a training and diet programme to build my strength for it! Only a month to go before the mayhem begins and I'm not at all prepared. So, as well as keeping to my '1,000+ words a day' plan, I'll also try to do a daily workout from now on and cut down on fats and carbs... although I may not have time every day to exercise... and I have some rather delicious cold sausages in the fridge.