ANGEL KISS COVER!

 

Angel Kiss has a cover!

I'm so excited to share it with you guys. Click on it to get a better view! 

I love it. I think it captures the mood of the book perfectly. I really like the colours, especially the blue on the spine. And the girl on the front looks scarily similar to how my main character looks in my head! 

I'd love to hear what you all think! 

Angel Kiss will be published in May 2011 by Razorbill - Puffin's teen imprint. 

Living for the City

"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
Virginia Woolf 


Hey Everyone!


So I've been living in Dublin for a week and a half now, and it's been fun so far. I'd planned to write in the library most days, but I've found that I work much better at home. Cosy bedroom environments just seem to result in more words. Libraries and cafés are fine for blog posts and edits, but I can't see myself writing any new fiction in them. Which is weird, because I don't mind noise. I just think my brain works better in a room it can call its own. I guess Virginia was right! Do you guys write better at home, or do you like to be out and about?


Since I've been wandering around the city quite a bit this week, I thought I'd share a few of my favourite places in Dublin:


Trinity College
I have a crush on the Trinity College campus. I've loved it ever since I was very young. It's in the centre of a bustling city, but has such a calm and positive energy within its walls. I especially like walking through it at night, when it's quiet. 


The Gate Theatre
Parnell Square
I adore the Gate Theatre. Their productions are so good. If you like theatre and are living in or visting Dublin, you have to go to a show here. My favourite past productions include Hedda Gabler and Conor McPhearson's Shining City. I still think about these plays years after I've seen them. Tickets are a little on the expensive side, but they are worth it (and you can save money if you have a student card, of if you see a preview).


Lemon
Dawson St. and South William St.
The ham and cheese crepes from here are heavenly. They do a great selection of both sweet and savoury crepes, and a very nice cup of tea! 


Hodges Figgis
Dawson St.
Words cannot express how much I love this bookshop. From its fabulous fiction section to its emerald green tote bags, I adore everything about it. 


The Oxfam Bookshop
Parliament St.
If you're looking for a bargain then this is the place to go. They have a very nice selection that's updated regularly, and if you go in often you're sure to come across some gems. I got The Complete Novels of Jane Austen and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - a Trilogy in Four Parts, for five and four euro respectively! 


Paperchase
Arnotts on Henry St. and Awear on Grafton St.
I've imposed a stationary ban on myself, (I reluctantly decided that food and heating are slightly more important), so I won't be going in there for a while...


Penguin HQ
St. Stephen's Green
Where I go to meet my fabulous editor, and the rest of the amazing Penguin Ireland team.

Sunday Writing Playlist

I'm writing this blog post from the sitting room of my new Dublin house! It's my third day here and I'm finding it great so far. The weekend involved girlie movies, cupcakes and popcorn, dancing in Whelans, and dinners mainly consisting of pasta. My three housemates are off at roller derby now. They think I should join, but I have the worst balance in the world and am generally terrified of contact sports, so I can't see that happening any time soon! 

Here's my Sunday morning writing playlist - 

Pack Up - Eliza Doolittle
The feel-good song of the year.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. 


Friday I'm in Love - The Cure
I love this song.  I know it's not Friday today, but oh well! 


God and Satan - Biffy Clyro
This reminds me of Edinburgh because it was always on the radio there.  


Closer to the Edge - Thirty Seconds to Mars
Random fact I just discovered when double-checking how to spell his name: Jared Leto (actor and lead singer of Thirty Seconds to Mars) uses the Dr. Seuss character Bartholomew Cubbins as a pseudonym when directing music videos. How cool is that?!


In The Sun - She and Him 
She and Him are perfect for Sunday morning lounging.


Tainted Love - Imelda May version
I've yet to get Imelda's new album, but I heard it the other day in my friends car on the way to a photography exhibition, and it sounded great. I especially enjoyed her cover of Tainted Love.


Hope you all have a lovely Sunday. 

A little update...

Another writing deadline has been reached. And I managed to stay surprisingly calm. I was just saying the other day how much my attitude has changed around deadline time -
'Hey, I wasn't at all crazy this time. I should get, like, a reward or something.'  To which the person I was speaking to replied:
'Laura, nobody rewards me for not being crazy.' Fair point.


September is traditionally a month of change. Best of luck to those of you starting a new school or college year! September will be a month of change for me too, because I'll shortly be moving out of home. I'm moving into a house in Dublin with three lovely artists (one of whom is one of my best friends in the world!). I've lived away from home before, during college, but haven't been away in a while. It's both exciting and scary.  


It's also traditionally a month of stationary. I feel like September wouldn't be the same if I didn't buy at least one item of stationary. So I got the diary pictured above. I also bought Kelly Link's short story collection Pretty Monsters. I've heard good things about it, and the blurb sounded great - she had me at 'duelling librarians'.


I'm starting back volunteering at Fighting Words tomorrow, a creative writing centre in Dublin's city centre.  It was set up by Roddy Doyle and is modeled on Dave Eggers' 826 Valentia. They're currently looking for new volunteers, so if you live in the Dublin area and enjoy writing and have some time to spare, you should check it out.  


Angel Kiss is moving along nicely. I was working on my author bio this week for the advance information sheet, which I believe is sent to book buyers in bookshops and the like (it tells them a bit about the book and its author). Writing the author bio was almost as difficult as writing the book (I have zero interesting hobbies).  AND the cover designers are working on the cover at the moment. I'm SO excited about this! When I get the final cover you guys will be the first to know!

Cannot Wait To...

Read

Fragments from Marilyn Monroe - a collection of rarely seen musings by Marilyn about life, love and literature. It will include reflections on her third husband Arthur Miller, and references to works by James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and others. It will also include poetry by Marilyn, some of which has been reported to be quite beautiful. The writings date from when she was a teenager, to near the end of her life. I am a big Marilyn Monroe fan, so I can't wait to read this. It's released October 12th.

Listen to
Speak Now by Taylor Swift
Taylor's new album is out October 25th. Her new single Mine is just fabulous, so I have high hopes for this. I really enjoyed her previous two albums, I think she's a great songwriter.

Watch
The Inbetweeners - Series 3
Hilarious sitcom about four teenage boys living and going to school in a suburb of London.  E4 really are excellent at making teen comedy and drama (I'm also looking forward to the return of Skins and Misfits). The Inbetweeners comes back to E4 on Monday September 13th at 10pm.

"The only way out is through."

Hey Everyone,

I know I've been very quiet lately... I've basically been spending all my time writing the extra words needed for Angel Kiss. This involves reworking chapters and adding in more thoughts and description. Rewriting is such an integral part of the writing process, but it can be tough. You know when you start to clean out your room, and halfway though it looks even messier than when you started? That's what happens to me when I'm rewriting chapters.  It gets worse before it gets better.

Over on his blog, John Green sometimes does 'Question Tuesdays', during which anybody can ask him a question related to writing or reading. I recently asked him if he had any advice for someone who'd been rewriting her novel for some time (i.e. me).  He said:


"I spent more than two years revising Looking for Alaska after it sold to Penguin, so I am probably not the guy to look to for advice. I am reminded of the great Robert Frost observation, though: The only way out is through."


Robert Frost is one of my favourite poets, so I think this advice is great. And over the past few weeks, whenever I've felt like I was struggling, I've repeated this quote. 


I know from reading your blogs and comments that some of you are rewriting at the moment.  And I want to say to you guys: keep going! Help your book or short story or script or poem get to it's best, most magical version. It's hard, but it will be worth it in the end.