I was watching the ‘Imagine’ documentary about Children’s Literature last night. Alan Yentob more than once referred to the ‘blurring’ of the boundaries between children’s fiction and adult fiction without once mentioning that there are writers working specifically in the zone between the two. The area that I mainly write in is called ‘Young Adult’ fiction (YAF) in order to differentiate itself from children’s fiction. YAF has been around for at least thirty years, yet many people are unaware that it exists. To be fair to Yentob, Malorie Blackman, who writes at the younger end of YAF, was given a couple of minutes, while Melvin Burgess, at the older end, got a couple of snippets in a 50 minute show. These ratios accurately reflect the…

Now that The eBay book is making its way in the world alone and England are out of the footy, my stress levels are down. I can’t think of many better ways to spend a summer evening than listening to the new Wilco album while investigating the joyous thing that is issue thirteen of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. This is a huge poster of a comic with a free, beautifully bound 264 page hardback book of top quality comic art and articles. I’d heard of McSweeney’s for years but, until the last issue, edited by Michael Chabon, it wasn’t published in the UK and cost an extortionate amount to subscribe to, so I read the online version (which is fun) instead. You unwrap the poster sized…

The book I’ve been working on since February goes to press this week, and is officially published on June 15th, with a launch at the Lowdham Book Festival on June 19th (a day of great free events). It’s my first non-fiction book, and it’s a guide to using the auction site eBay.co.uk. Why did I write it? I got an email from an old friend at the end of January. We’d discussed eBay on holiday last year. He asked whether I’d be interested in writing a guide. By the middle of February, I’d agreed to do it. From start to finish, the process will have taken four months, some kind of record for me. The book’s aimed at people who want to start using eBay…

Martin’s in New York and I’m jealous. Somehow, the fact that people can send me emails and update their blogs while they’re away doesn’t seem a positive development. Not when spring hasn’t sprung and I’m getting up an hour earlier than usual because we’re having the outside of the house painted and sleeping in the spare bedroom because we’re having the bedroom painted as well, to give the painters something to do when it’s raining… and I must remember to go and water Martin’s plants. Oh, enough moaning. This morning, there is no pressing university business and I got an email from the editor of my non-fiction book that, for the first time, didn’t give me any more work to do! Final proofs should arrive…

I didn’t hear the crash, or the scream. I was in bed, drinking my second mug of tea while Radio One described the problems people were having buying Glastonbury tickets. The festival web-site wasn’t working and the phones were constantly engaged. Then Sue yelled my name in a terrible, scared voice. I pulled on my dressing gown as I hurried downstairs. Sue was outside with two people. At first I thought they were our next door neighbours, who have a car that colour. As I got to the door, however, I saw that the front of the car at the end of our short drive was wrapped around the tree just to the right of our house. The young woman was sitting in the driver’s…