The novel

2 lots of comments are back from readers, with publisher's comments to come by close of business tomorrow. I will let these compost while I'm orf at Byron (starting Sunday), then start rewriting on the following Tuesday (9 August).

It's 9 years since I published a full-length novel. I've tried writing a giant fantasy novel and a YA fantasy series since then - that's three-and-a-half books, all of which have fallen to pieces in my hands. They're not entirely in the waste-paper category, but they need so much re-thinking it's not funny. You could say I've become a bit toey about novels.

Little Peach is the first one in a while that has stayed steady in my head as I've worked on it, that doesn't feel as if it's going to collapse if someone asks it a question. And now I've got lots of questions, and lots of suggestions, and I can see the way ahead quite clearly and comfortably. Odd. Good!