Teens, Tweens and Queens


When I first started writing longish stories, I thought I was writing for kids aged around eight. Then I was told no, these are 'tweenager' books. It was a term I hadn't come across, meaning in-betweenies, pre-teens, sort of 9-13ies. Then I started finding some of my books in the 'Teen' section of bookshops, and I started to think, hang on, how did that happen? Do I really belong alongside Jennifer Donnelly?? I think not. Then came 'Young Adult', and all of a sudden, 'Teen' started to mean 'Early Teen'. Are you with me so far? I said, are you with me so far?? Oh, you nodded off; sorry. The point is, it's all terribly confusing, if you ask me. And if 'Teen'+'Girls'=snogging, then I'm afraid I score pretty low down on the snogometer. It's not what my books are about.

So when I was asked along to the Queen of Teen awards, I thought, what the hey, okay. Not sure if I qualify, but why not? And if there are 'crossover' children's books that adults enjoy reading, then I'm sure it's possible to crossover from kids' to teen, and I'm only too delighted for that to happen, ladies.

Some are born pink, some achieve pinkness, and some have pinkness thrust upon `em: I literally had pinkness thrust upon me, in the shape of a satin sash; I was then installed beside a pile of copies of the second Lulu Baker book, Cupid Cakes (snogometer alert: one or two very tame references!!) after which even more pinkness was thrust upon me, in the form of the fabbishly attired young ladies you see above (who look a lot like tweenagers to me anyway!)


As a not-quite-teen writer (I'm still only twelve) I didn't expect to win; in fact, I wasn't even shortlisted. But Sophie McKenzie (left) and I were nominated, apparently, so our consolation prize, rather like at the Oscars, was to announce the winner, the truly magnificent Louise Rennison, author of all those Georgia Nicholson books with the wonderful titles like Startled By His Furry Shorts. Here she is (below) looking startled but as far as I know, not because Ted Smart was wearing furry shorts (he was perfectly decently attired when I saw him, in the pinkiest pinkest pink sweater I have EVER seen on a man).

Other nominees included the equally magnifique Dame Jacqueline Wilson and my personal fave, the very funny and gorgeous Diane Keaton lookalike Karen McCombie (left).

From Tiaras to Earrings
I had to run away early because – and this is going to sound appallingly luvvyish – I had a ticket for the West End opening night of the stage adaptation of a truly excellent book, Tracy Chevalier's Girl With A Pearl Earring. Go and see it! You'll love it. It stars Kimberly Nixon and Adrian Dunbar...no, before you ask, I'm not related to him either (see FAQs; previous posts). Although spookily, he is a neighbour of mine. I think I'm beginning to sense a thread on Dunbars I'm Not Related To...

The Telly Thing: an Update


You may remember a while back, I mentioned that some telly people were interested in making a sitcom series based on my Lulu Baker books, but that they'd been thinking about it for approximately three hundred years, and all the indications were that they would continue to do the same for another three hundred or so. Well, finally, I have Some News:

The Telly Thing is Happening

Yes! It's "got the green light", as we people in medialand like to say (and I get to say things like 'we people in medialand'...oh, shut up.)

Unfortunately the lead actress who starred in the pilot is now a forty-seven-year-old mother of five, so she may no longer make a very convincing 13-year-old grappling with evil stepmother issues. So I'm not sure who's going to star in it. But more anon. It's for a cable channel (Nickelodeon), but I don't know yet whether a terrestrial channel or whatever they call them nowadays will buy it too...in any case, it's not due to be aired until about a year from now, by which time you'll probably be all grown up and sophisticated, and more interested in reading Tolstoy and watching Newsnight, so apologies if that seems an awfully long way away.

I also don't know what they're going to do to avoid any confusion between this Jinx and Meg Cabot's book of the same name...or maybe they won't mind.

What I do know is that the telly thing WILL be very different from the book thing. I was a sort of consultant for about five minutes, but actually the series has very little to do with the books; it is a horse of a very different colour indeed...


If you are already a fan of the books, it may take you by surprise; if you haven't read the books but find you enjoy the show, I would definitely encourage you to read the books as well.

The Final Instalment

I've received a proof of the cover for the last title in my Silk Sisters trilogy, and here it is!


It's been a long time coming. This is partly because I was so STUCK on what to call it. I mean really stuck. More stuck than a stick Superglued to another really sticky thing. More stuck than a room full of Stuckists. I was stuck for weeks...months. It invaded my dreams; it very nearly turned me into a teapot. I filled page after page of my notebook with random words that might go well with 'gold' (I knew all along that there would be 'gold' in the title) and also have some relevance to the plot.

I had wanted to call it 'Aurora Gold', but the publishers wouldn't let me. (It's OK, we're still talking to each other.) I think they thought my readers might have difficulty with 'Aurora'...and they may have a point (what do you think?) This reminds me of possibly the funniest ever episode of 30 Rock
(Tina Fey! We love her) in which Jenna thought she'd got her big break in a movie called The Rural Juror, which was awful and a complete flop, not least because saying the title makes it sound as if you have a speech impediment.

ANYWAY...we got there in the end. And how it happened was this: having worked my way steadily through every gold, orange and vaguely yellowish thing under the sun (another yellowish thing) I finally hit on Tiger-Lilies.

Yes! I called up my publisher and yelled, 'Tiger-Lilies! They're an orangey yellowy type thing!' (yes, this is the sort of certifiably lunatic behaviour title crises can lead one to).

Silence.

'Kirsty? Are you there?'

'Fiona,' came the response at last. 'Your story has nothing to do with tiger lilies.'

'Well!' I said. 'we can work on that.'

So I did. Funny how things can sometimes evolve in such unexpected ways. I hope you like the result. Unfortunately it won't be in the shops until next spring (will let you know the date when I have it), but for now you can at least admire the cover.

Endangered SpeciesI'm talking, of course, about librarians. They are disappearing at an alarming rate, and if they are allowed to become extinct, here's what will happen:
– Your local library will turn into a BLOCKBUCKS. This is an alternative to libraries, and is a combination of Blockbuster and Starbucks. Yes, libraries need to move with the times, but these are exciting times where the written word is concerned, full of possibilities. We need to E-X-P-A-N-D choice, not limit it. Think of all the gazillions of books that have been published since 1439, not all of them by Jacqueline Wilson.
– Your school library could disappear overnight. Yes, this could really happen! For all I know, it has already. You need your school library; where else are you going to hide when you haven't done your maths homework?
The good news is, you can do something about it! Check out Alan Gibbons' blog for more info about his Campaign for the Book.

Me and JK Rowling
I know about the Campaign for the Book because I went to a big conference for children's writers at the weekend. We were in a large hall full of some VERY FAMOUS children's writers. Like Philip Pullman! Michael Rosen! Ann Fine! And many, many others, all together in the same place. Just imagine.

Well anyway, I mention this because I'm always being asked if I know JK Rowling. And the answer is no, I'm afraid I don't. In fact, I don't even know anyone who knows her. I think she only hangs out with the Queen and Stephen Fry. But I do know some other wonderful writers and illustrators, and here to prove it are some pics of me with them. That's me with Kath Langrish, Jane Ray and some teacups...

And here I am with Catherine Johnson, Dee Shulman and invisible teacups.

Among other things, I got to hear from Celia Rees about how she does her historical research, and learned all about William Nicholson's career as a novelist and screenwriter. It was tremendous! Oh, and Joyce and Polly Dunbar were there. I'm still not related to them.

Midgets
This is a long post, because I was away in Scotland with my family. A friend told us not to go to Scotland, because it was full of midgets. I said, 'that's OK, I'm vertically challenged myself.'
Then someone else said the same thing.
Then we found practically everyone we met was saying, 'don't go to Scotland, it's full of midgets'.
And I started to feel sorry for all those Scottish midgets, so lonely up there in the blustery braes, with no-one visiting them because everyone's telling them not to. So we jolly well went. And it was FANTASTIC.
We climbed down this (we came back up a different way!).
...And this is what the beaches are like:


But what about those midgets? Well, as those of you who've been to Scotland in the summer/live there will already have guessed, all those people were talking about midges. Yes, there are those too, but it's Not That Bad! And other places have mosquitoes. We had a wonderful time.

We even came across the odd endangered species (see what I did there? Back neatly to my opening theme). Here I am with one very rare beasty:













And finally, here I am with one very wee Scottish person (but not a midget). Her name is Isobel Gunn, she is my oldest cousin, and she is lovely. She ran a shop in Kingussie for sixty years, and still sings in the church choir.