Cast Your Vote

I'm STARVING.

I decided it was time to eat lunch, like, an HOUR ago, and I'm still at the computer. And what am I doing now? I'm writing a blog post. Tssh.

Okay then, what have I been up to? Well, the Tanith novella, as you may have guessed. I have another week of writing on that and then I'll pretty much launch straight into Book 8, provisionally titled Skulduggery Pleasant: People Gonna CRY. But I digress.

On Halloween I did an event in Dublin with my editor Nick Lake and cover artist Tom Percival. It was the first time we'd been on stage together and it was basically a big chat about how the books get made and the process behind it all. Plus I mocked people. It was fun.

And that event also marked another first- the first time the real Valkyrie Cain attended. Laura was sitting at the back beside my agent, and when I mentioned that she was actually here there was an audible gasp around the room and everyone started craning their necks to try and spot her. Laura, for her part, stared straight ahead and tried to attract no attention whatsoever. I'm fairly sure she emerged unscathed by the whole experience- thought she DID glare at me afterwards.

That night we all went out to dinner, fifteen of us, and many laughs were had. Presumably. I spent the next day with Nick as he tried to get me to decide what to write once Skulduggery is over. I have a few ideas, but I'm still not entirely sure what it'll be. Apart from brilliant. We all KNOW it'll be brilliant.

Voting for the Irish Book Awards have come around again. This year I'm up against Anna Carey, Judi Curtin, John Boyne, Darren Shan and Eoin Colfer. That's a pretty impressive list by anyone's standards. I didn't win last year- Anna did- and to be honest I had THE best time. I actually like not winning. It means you can hold a conversation with someone without interruption.

Every year, I don't ask you to vote for me- I ask you to vote for whoever you think deserves it. And this year is no different. Well, ALMOST no different. The only difference is that this year the last Artemis Fowl book is nominated, and if any book deserves to win...

Just pointing it out, that's all. Not trying to influence you, one way or the other. Ahem.

http://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote-he...


Let's see... oh, next week is going to be fun! You're going to be getting TWO cover releases here on this Blog. The new paperback cover for KOTW at the start of the week, and the Tanith cover at the end of the week.

See? I'm so good to you.

Now I'm going to eat lunch.