Watched "The Last Minute" today, a film by the director of "Blade" and "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". This was an entirely different type of film, exploring the perils of those who chase fame. For the most part it was fairly pretentious twaddle, but it was stylishly directed, and had some curiously interesting and affecting moments. It's overall message - "Don't waste time or time will waste you" - is, of course, perfectly true, but was put across rather bluntly and unimaginatively. But a far more interesting line for me was near the end, when the main character was wondering what makes a work of art (any work of art -- book, song, film, etc) GOOD and WORTHWHILE. He thought it was public acceptance, but another character said, "No -- the public just give you a career."

And it's true!! One of the points I always try to stress, when talking with wannabe writers, is that you have to do it for yourself. You should write because you enjoy it, and judge your work by how happy YOU are with it. Sure, it's great if you can sell something that you like, and even better if you can make lots of money out of it, but the most important thing is that YOU like it. You have to be your own judge. Immediate, widespread acceptance doesn't mean you've written a good book -- just as rejection, disinterest or poor sales doesn't mean you've written a stinker. The public can be fickle. Sometimes they get it right -- sometimes they don't.

Pursue your dreams. Be true to yourself. Write (sing, paint, etc.) from the heart. Don't sell out.

Those ways happiness lies.

A historic day for Ireland -- the IRA have agreed to set aside their arms and reject violence. This has been a long time coming, and is a huge step forward. It's a complex situation up North, and I suspect there's still a long way to go before the area can truly succumb to peace, but this is a vital, positive move. As someone who's lived on this small island for most of his life, this day could possibly, if everything works out, prove to be as important for me and other Irish people as Independence Day is for the Americans!!!!

Started editing book 6 of "The Demonata" -- the third time I've edited it. This is a key book in the series. It's when all the various plot lines of the first 5 books come together, and readers start to realise precisly what's going on with all these stories. It also sets up the main plot thrust of the last 4 books.

Saw the documentary movie about Metallica, "Some kind of monster" today -- quite apt, given the book I was working on! Metallica are one of my fave bands. I used to be very anti-heavy metal in my teens, until I listened to their Black Album and was blown away by it. I experimented with metal a bit after that, but never really developed a great and abiding love for any other metal band. But Metallica still excite me when they're at their best. The movie's OK, but hard to see it appealing to anyone who isn't already a fan. The scenes of them in therapy are quite surreal!!!

Watching it, I was delighted that, as a writer, I don't have any of the crazy work relationships that wrench at the minds and hearts of many bands. But at the same time I almost envied them. Sure, they drove each other mad much of the time, but when everything was clicking, it was great for them to have others to share the euphoria with. As a writer, you tend to write alone, and others only see your work once it's finished. A good day at the office ... or a bad day ... it doesn't really make much difference, since you've nobody to get excited with or mad at!!! It can be a lonely old life sometimes, but then every writer knows that when they sign up for the job, so there's no use complaining!!! Besides, I know that when I'm out on the road in the States in October, I'll be pining for the solitude and peace of home!!!!!!!

Finished my most recent edit of book 5 of "The Demonata" this afternoon. Although the first 4 books are designed to stand alone, books 5 and 6 are a 2 part story -- so I get to end book 5 with a HUGE cliffhanger!!! I love cliffhangers, which is why I wove so many of them into "The Saga of Darren Shan". There aren't so many outright cliffhangers in the new series, but the one in book 5 is a classic -- one of my favourite cliffhangers out of all the ones I've written!!!!! I can't wait to hit readers with it, though I guess I'll have to -- the book won't be published in the UK until May 2007!!!!!

Saw the documentary, "Wisconsin Death Trip" today. It was a fascinating reconstruction of a series of murders, suicides and all-round weird events which happened in Wisconsin between 1890 and 1900. A local newspaper of the time had printed stories about all these events, and the film consisted of actors playing the roles of real-life people, while a narrator explained some of the facts about what happened to them. A genuinely different type of movie -- a refreshing break from normal, story-by-numbers films. Highly recommended.

Tickets are selling out ultra swiftly for my first event in Edinburgh on Friday, August 19, at 5.00p.m.!!! It's in a smaller venue than the Saturday event, which is why they've almost sold out! In fact, you can't order them through the Book Festival web site any more! If there are any left, you need to phone to order them, by ringing the Box Office on 0131 624 5050. (If you're phoning from overseas, drop the first 0 and add 0044 before the number.) If you haven't booked for the Friday event already, and want to come to it, I'd act ASAP if I were you!!

You can still order tickets for the Saturday, August 20 event on the Festival web site, by clicking here: http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/whatson/event_listing.html?event_id=16151  I've no idea how many seats are left for the Saturday event, but I'd advise booking early just to be safe!

Saw "Seed of Chucky" today. It really tickled my funny bone!! I didn't like the original "Child's Play" movie when I saw it in the 1980s, and can't reall bothering with the first couple of sequels. But I checked out "Bride of Chucky" when it was made and was very impressed. I didn't have high expectations for "Seed", but it surprised me big time! I think Jennifer Tilly made it -- she played herself (as well as the female doll) to perfection. I certainly wouldn't recommend it for little kids, but for those who like their horror edgy and smutty, it's great fun!!!!

One of my strongest supporters in the States in recent times has been Crowgrrl. She publishes a web site which is mostly about music, but also includes book reviews (and a lot of other stuff). She read "Cirque Du Freak" earlier their year and has been plugging my books enthusiastically ever since! In the most recent issue she's included details about my Edinburgh appearance next month. You can check it out by clicking here: http://www.crowgrrl.com/reviews/072405perch.htm

Edited more of book 5 of "The Demonata" today. (I started to edit it before the weekend.) I always like to start a book at least 2 or 3 years ahead of when it's due to be published. That gives me loads of time to play around with it and run it through 5 or 6 edits. I wrote the first draft of book 5 in January 2004, and this is the third edit I've done on it. I'm happy with how it's currently standing -- nice and tight, with plenty of action. (Though not an over-abundance of demons -- I'm saving them for book 6!) I usually iron out any serious problems in my first edit, and after that it's just a case of fine-tuning, trying to tighten scenes up and make everything work as smoothly as possible. But sometimes, when my editor at HarperCollins looks through it, she points out flaws which I hadn't noticed, and I'm forced to go back and have a re-think. So while everything about book 5 looks fine and rosy to me right now, I'm sure I'll be hacking hard at it next year when Stella (my editor) gets hers hands on it!!!!

I have a working title for the book (which I'm not revealing!) but I don't know if I'll stick with it. I'm finding the titles on "The Demonata" a bit tricky. It was easy with the "Saga" -- snappy titles came to me nice and quickly. Apart from "Lord Loss", that hasn't happened with this series, and I've gone through a number of titles on each book!!!!! I'm still not 100% sure what I'll call book 3!!!!

Covered quite a few different bits and pieces on the book and movie front today. I'm reading "Dreamcatcher" by Stephen King at the moment. I like it, but I'm making slow progress, which isn't unusual for me these days, sadly. I used to read 2 or 3 books a week when I was a teen, but nowadays I'm a much slower reader, spending far too much time watching movies and messing about on the web! I actually do most of my reading when I'm travelling, on planes, trains, etc.

Saw a silent movie from 1917 called "The Merry Jail". Not an especially good film, but I always enjoy watching old silent flicks. I like the fact that the people making these movies were discovering and inventing cinema. For instance in this film, the actors ham it up quite dreadfully, and often stare straight into the camera lens when speaking. This wouldn't have happened a few years later -- the makers had learned by then that overly dramatic theatrics look ridiculous on film (as opposed to theatre, where they can work better), and that audiences prefer it when the actors don't stare directly into the lens, but act as if the camera isn't there, making it more believable. But back in 1917 they didn't know all that, so even though the flaws detract from the film's effectiveness, they make it an interesting one to watch, especially if you're a geeky filmaholic like me who wastes a lot of his time charting the history and development of cinema!!!

Also saw a documentary about Bill Hicks. My brother gave me a Hicks compilation DVD for my birthday, with 3 of his live performances and the documentary. Good, angry, sharp stuff. I wish Hicks was alive and going strong today -- it'd be great to get his views on Bush the younger, Blair, and everything that's kicking off in London, Egypt, etc.

Then, to round the night off, I watched "Shane" again. It's a bit of a creaky movie, but definitely a classic. Beautiful landscape, brilliantly photographed. My favourite bit is probably the play of light from the clouds when Jack Palance makes his first kill -- an amazing bit of camera play. When I haven't seen the movie in a while, and sit down to watch it again, I always think that the kid (Brandon de Wilde) chants "Come back, Shane!" over and over at the finish -- and am always surprised to discover that in fact he only calls it out once!!!!