Darren Shan's Blog, page 191
January 12, 2010
Definining the worth
I received the following email early in December, from a fan called Rachael. I meant to answer it earlier than this, but got sidetracked with one thing and another.
I was wondering if at some pont in your career, or at the beginning when you first decided that you wanted to be a writer, if anyone ever told you that writing was worthless and it would never get you anywhere? That's what's happening to me right now. My stepfather says that writing is worthless and it's never going to get me...
January 9, 2010
ZX81 to TouchSmart
Started my latest edit of the second Mr Crepsley book on Wednesday. I'm not ready to share the titles with you guys yet (though I should be able to soon), but I CAN now tell you what the working titles were!! When I wrote the first drafts three years ago, I had very simple titles in place. The four books cover Larten Crepsley's life from when he was a child up until when he met Darren at the Cirque Du Freak, and each focuses on a very different part of his life — the first looks at him when...
January 5, 2010
Ice, ice, baby!!!
Went to see Spurs play Peterboro in the F A Cup on Saturday. An easy 4-0 win in the end, though they put up a good fight for a team from a lower division. I was there with my uncle Derek. We used to go to Spurs with a nice group of lads, but most of them don't come as much as they once did — some have stopped coming completely — because of family commitments mostly. A shame, as I used to love those long match days when we'd start early and carry on late. But I guess you can't stop guys from...
January 1, 2010
Happy Yew Near!!!!
Happy New Year, everybody!!! And also, Happy New Decade!!! Hard to believe we're at the start of the second decade of the twenty-first century. I can still remember that last night in 1999 as clearly as if it was only a couple of years ago. Mind you, so much has happened to me since then, I shouldn't be surprised — there was no way I could have crammed so many books and tours into the space of two or three years!!!
We had a quiet party last night, to celebrate the end of 2009 and the start of...
December 31, 2009
Theatrical end to the year
Bas and I had pretty much a full day of theatre on Wednesday. In the morning we went and did a bit of shopping to prepare for our New Year's Eve party (this will be the third year in a row that we've held one in our London flat). Then we went to see a new revival of the musical Sweet Charity at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The show is packed with great songs ("Hey Big Spender", "If My Friends Could See Me Now", "Rhythm of Life"), and the cast were top-notch. The venue is great too — a...
December 29, 2009
Wolfen wedding
Got back to London safely on Sunday, and to our delight it was quite warm when we arrived — a nice 7 degres celsius!! We unpacked, caught up with some TV shows which we had recorded (I loved the Royle Family special this year), then had an early night. On Monday we went to a wedding — a friend of Bas's, called Jess, was getting married. It was a nice, hassle-free day — the ceremony went smoothly, the food was good, the venue was nice, and much dancing was done!!! I didn't drink too much...
December 26, 2009
Cheerio from Sharm!
Our holiday in Sharm El Sheikh is almost over — this is our final night, before we fly home in the morning. The week has flown by, and it's been one of the most relaxing weeks I ever had. Normally I like to do as much as possible on holidays, to see lots of sights, visit old monuments and buildings, climb mountains, etc. But this week we just lazed by the beach and pool, went snorkeling almost every day, had a few swims in the pool, lazily prepared for dinner in the evenings, ate leisurely...
December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas!!
Merry Christmas, everybody!!!! I hope you all have a fun time this yuletide, and aren't affected by the dreadful weather which has hit much of the globe this year. I've been chilling out here in Sharm, taking things easy. In fact, I've been taking things even easier than I had originally planned — we had a few excursions planned over the last few days, but we were enjoying our time at the hotel and pool and sea so much, that we ended up just staying here and taking things lazy!! I guess I'm...
December 22, 2009
An alleged thief of good taste!!
I read the following news article, about a man who allegedly broke into a library and stole some demonically interesting books, with great fascination today!! It appears that, whatever else, if he is indeed guilty of the alleged crime, he has excellent taste in books!!!
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091222/ARTICLE/912221027/-1/NEWSSITEMAP?tc=ar
All jokes aside, this article really touched me. It reminded me that, even with Christmas coming and most people getting excited and going on...
December 21, 2009
Greetings from sunny Sinai!!
Bas and I flew to Sinai on Saturday night, arriving very early Sunday morning. The flight was perfectly on time, and we positioned ourselves on the plane so that we could get through security swiftly, thus avoiding the long line that often builds. We were feeling quite smug when we were among the first people to get to the luggage belt, but pride, as they say, often comes before a fall — in this case, Bas's luggage failed to fall off of the belt!!! It had gone missing in transit, which meant...