Went to see Spurs play Arsenal (our arch-rivals) yesterday. We started brightly, went a goal ahead, but ended up losing 3-1. SIGH. It's always bad when we lose, but even worse when we lose to a team we hate!!! Consoled myself in the pub afterwards by drinking far too many beers, and ended the night with a KFC that didn't agree with me at all -- I threw most of it back up the following morning!!!!! It's been a bad few weeks for me on the sporting front -- Limerick, Ireland and Spurs have all lost. Like many sports fans before me, I've got the feeling at the moment that I'm something of a jinx for all the teams I support ...

Was very sore-headed this morning -- felt really ill, and just lay in bed until about 3.00pm!!! Then, luckily, I recovered and went for a long walk along the South Bank with my uncle Derek, his wife Shirley, and their son Pearse (who has a VERY extensive vocabulary for a 3 year old -- one might even say he's a child prodigy!!!!). There was a big festival along the southern part of the river Thames in London today, so the bank was full of stalls, performers and people. It got a bit congested in parts, but overall it was lovely to see so many people out and having a good time. Enjoyed a leisurely stroll, had a few drinks (but only a few!), ate a pork bap and an ice cream, then got back home about 9.00pm and had some noodles for supper.

I often get emails and letters from people claiming to be my 1 fan, but one guy's who's gone quite a way further in his fanship than most! His name is Justin, and he decided to get a large tattoo of the cover image of "Lake of Souls" on his shoulder!!!! You can check it out here: Justin's Tatoo Justin isn't the first fan to get a tatto from one of my books (Leah in Edinburgh beat him to the punch) but to the best of my knowledge this is the largest to date. Now, before any of you set out to try and "beat" Justin, let me just state for the record that tattoos are for life and you shouldn't rush into gettting one without giving it a LOT of thought. But if any of you DO decide to get a tattoo based on one of my book covers, do please let me know and I'll post the efforts here for everyone to admire.

Came over to London yesterday to spend a bit of time in my flat -- I haven't been here much since I bought it. Spent the afternoon planning some shows that I want to go to, and lining up some movies too -- God bless "Time Out", the 1 guide to everything worth seeing in London!!! Stayed in for the night and watched some TV, including a film bu Nick Broomfield called "Ghosts", a true story about illegal Chinese immigrants who died in an accident in England a few years ago. Very well made -- really gave viewers an insight into the lives these people live.

Did a short interview for Waterstones this morning -- just a quick few words of thanks, to be shown to a lot of Waterstones staff at their next sales conference. Bookselling is a huge and complex business. Books don't just magically appear on shelves in book stores -- publishers have to pitch, get book stores interested, keep trying to get them enthusiastic ... I don't have much to do with that side of things, but I'm always happy to get involved when asked -- after all, you guys can't get your hands on my books if we don't first persuade booksellers that it's worth their while stocking them!!!

Went to collect some paintings that I bought a while ago after that. It's nice walking through London now -- the weather is lovely, but because it's September, there are nowhere near as many tourists as there were a month ago, so you can walk about much more freely. I actually saw the Queen's Guard setting out for the changing of the guard -- the first time I've ever seen that!! It's a real touristy thing, something most Londoners would never bother going to see, but they happened to be setting off when I was walking past, so I stopped for a minute to join the crowds of tourists and have a quick peek. It was surprisingly quite impressive! I wouldn't go out of my way to catch it, but if I'm around that area again at the time they march, I'll certainly pause to have a look.

After my brief flirtation with tourism, I then went to have a look at the British Art Fair exhibition at the Royal College of Art. Lots of cool stuff on display, though I didn't buy anything. Nice to just look around and see a very differing display of styles. After that I walked back to my flat, all the way through Hyde Park and St James' Park. It was a lovely, hour-long walk. I don't know that part of London very well, so I was seeing much of it for the first time -- at least by foot (though I've driven by it all before). There really is no better way to see a place than by walking around it.

Checked my emails back home, then went for dinner in a nearby noodle bar called Aji, which is almost the same as Wagamama. I got a shock when I walked in -- I was the only customer there!!! That's the first time that's ever happened to me! Another guy came in during my meal, but for most of it I was all on my ownsome! I liked it, to be honest. I always feel a bit awkward if I eat by myself in public. It's fine in a fast food place, like Burger King or KFC, but I feel strange in a proper restaurant. This was ideal -- there was nobody to stare and give me "Awww ... he's eating all by himself ... he must have no friends and must be the loneliest guy in the world" looks!!!!!

I finished the day off by going to see the musical adaptation of "Lord of the Rings". Oh dear. They've spent a fortune on the sets, and I have to say they ARE impressive. But telling the whole LOTR story in less than 3 hours was never a good idea. I didn't mind the fact that they trimmed it down so much (they had to), but what they left in didn't really work. The story is epic, most of it taking place on the road, and it was difficult to capture that movement on stage. At times, if you had never read the books or seen the films, I doubt if you would have known what was supposed to be happening! Most of the acting was pretty lame. The songs were forgettable. The script was laughably bad in places. Apart from the sets, a well-cast Gollum, and a fairly decent last half hour, it was a poor piece of theatre. The National did a great two-part adaptation of "His Dark Materials" a few years ago, a trilogy of books almost as epic in scale as LOTR, which proved it IS possible to put a top-notch fantasy book onto the stage. But where that struck every good note (starting with a decent script and a good cast), this one unfortunately hit mostly bum notes. I suspect a lot of people will continue going to it, purely because they're curious to see what it's like, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it, especially not at the prices they're charging!! Read the books or watch the films again -- they're FAR superior to this glossy, expensive turkey.

Finished editing book 10 of "The Demonata"!!! Didn't think I'd finish it today -- I figured I'd be working on it for at least another couple of days -- but I got sucked into it and ended up working on it until 11.00pm!!!! I'm not going to say too much about it (since it's not going to be published for another two years!!), except I think it may well be the epitome of all thing Darren Shan! Action, bloodshed, betrayal, twists, cosmic shenanigans, death (LOTS of death) ... all the ingredients of my best books, all mixed up in one furiously paced, brutal little package. I know some of you were disappointed by the end of "Tha Saga", since you were expecting more action and violence, and a climactic showdown that never quite materialised (because that wasn't the way I wanted to end that particular storyline; personally I loved and still love the ending, and wouldn't finish the series any other way even if I was given the chance to do it all over again, but I can certainly see why some of you didn't share that view). But I don't think anyone's going to be in two minds about this one. It kicks ass. BIG TIME. And I think you're all going to have as much of a ball with it as I have!! A brave, foolish, dangerous prediction, I know, but I'm going to stand by it -- and in two years, you'll all see why!!!!!

Saw the end of season 7 of "Frasier" last night. Once again, I thought it was an excellent season overall. I've kept expecting the levels to drop, but so far so good. From reports from other fans, I think it's peaked now and the remaining series aren't so good. But for the moment I'm in Frasier-heaven and loving it!!

Watched another episode of "House" today and saw Ireland lose 1-0 to the Czech Republic, which just about guarantees that we won't qualify for the European Championships now. So it's going to be another summer of disappointment for me and all the other Irish fans next year. *SIGH* Oh well, we're pretty used to that by now. We just have to hope the FAI get in a decent manager ASAP and that he manages to turn around the fortunes of a team in football freefall ...

Pretty chuffed with myself for finishing book 10 today. It's been quite a while since I pushed myself that hard. I'm going to treat myself to a few days off now, catch some shows, go to a match, take things easy. I've earned it!!!!

Edited more of book 10 of "The Demonata". It's hot stuff!!! I'd forgotten most of what happens in the book, having only written one draft prior to this and not having worked on it for a year. I'm surprised by just how smoothly paced, action-packed and nerve-tingling it actually is!!! I'm pretty sure that book 9 will leave some fans muttering about its slow middle section, but I think after the last third of that book and the first half of book 10, all mutterings will be swiftly forgotten!!! I think this may well be my favourite book out of the entire series, delivering the sort of kick-ass, all-guns-blazing finale that many readers thought book 12 of "The Saga" would be like. At the risk of jinxing myself, I believe this series will end on a triumphant, fan-pleasing high ... albeit with a nice, unpredictable twist at the very end, of course!!!!!

Saw another episode of "House" and the movie "28 weeks later". I wasn't expecting too much from it -- I liked the first film, but didn't think it was as great as many people did -- but was pleasantly suprised. While the second half was quite standard zombie fare (small group on the run, encountering one gang of zombies after another), the first half worked brilliantly -- it was incredibly dark, revolving around Robert Carlyle's character, the grim choice he made, and the price he paid. A pity that the second half couldn't match the first, but still, overall, it was one of the better zombie flicks I've seen in recent times, and I'd definitely recommend it for those with a HIGH gross-out factor!!!!

Received the following email from the winner of a recent Shanville Monthly competition:

I just wanted to say thank you for the t-shirt and book from the Shanville August contest. I'm actually sorry I didn't get to write this sooner after I received them but going back to Uni for the autumn term occupied most of my free time. So, thank you; but not just for the book and t-shirt, but for writing these two series. I can't actually believe I've been reading Darren Shan for 8 years now. That, and following everything else in the Darren Shan universe: reading the Shanville Monthly religiously pretty much every month, entering most contests, interacting with Shan-fans on the message board (under the guise manufan, ages ago), seeing you in person at the Elizabeth Library in New Jersey for the book 7 USA tour, and even at one point creating interactive flash quizzes for your books. Thank you once again, David Hitchings. p.s please tell Mr. D.B Shan that I cannot wait for the third book, that the first two were two of the best books I'd read in a while.

I really like it when a genuine fan wins one of my competitions. I also like it when I hear from fans who've been with me over the course of several years -- I always hope that readers will stick with my books as they grow older, but I'm sure the vast majority don't. I get a real buzz when I hear that a fan has stuck by my stories even while their lives are changing, as they're growing up and going to uni or getting jobs or having kids or ... It's an amazing privilege to be part of the life of you guys, to have you give me your time and attention when there are so many other things in the world you could be focusing on. So, many thanks David for reminding me of why I spend so much time sitting at a PC in a little world of my own. There are times (I'm sure every writer feels this way) when I feel like I'm wasting my life, that I'd be better off working in a job where I got to have more social interaction with other people. But when I get emails or letters like this from you guys, or when I get to meet you in person at a signing or event ... then I realise that there isn't anything else I'd rather be doing with my time. Telling a load of tall stories might not matter much in the grand scheme of things. But those stories matter to you guys. And that matters to me. And that makes me feel worthwhile.

Night night folks, and thanks -- for giving this writer's life meaning.

Finished my cleaning duties by sweeping and vaccuming downstairs. Also ran a duster over the blinds -- oh the excitement!!! I wonder if all writers lead as thrilling and action-packed a life as me?!? Actually, I'm pretty sure most writers are much the same as I am, doing their own chores around the house when they're at home, mowing their lawns, etc. No matter how extraordinary a writer's world might be in their stories, in real life we share the same world as everyone else. We go through the same daily routines as everyone else, preparing meals, taking out the rubbish, brushing our teeth, and so on. Maybe some successful authors go the celebrity route and have household staff to see to their every need, and just lie around doing nothing and being waited on when they aren't working. But I think they're few and far between. To make it as a writer, you need to work hard and be very disciplined, and I think that hard work and discipline helps keep the vast majority of us grounded. I've met a lot of writers over the last 7 or 8 years, and they've virtually all been very polite, nice, normal types of people. Maybe that's why the general media takes such little notice of us -- we're just too ordinary to be of common interest!!! And that's a good thing. Fame is, for the most part, a distraction, and distractions are bad for writers. A dusty floor that needs sweeping -- that will only take a few minutes out of your day, and leave you free to focus on your work. A team of papparazi camped outside your front door -- that's going to seriously affect your writing!!!! Crave not the attention of the mass media, O young and dreamy authors, or you might just get what you wish for -- and live to regret it ...

Saw the film "You, me and Dupree", which was so-so -- easy-going entertainment, but half an hour longer than necessary. I much preferred "Office Space" which I saw yesterday -- I've still been chuckling over bits of that today! Also saw another episode of "House" and I'm off to watch a few more episodes of "Frasier" in a while.

On the reading front, I finished reading "H.I.V.E." by Mark Walden and I can thoroughly recommend it. A neat idea, cleverly executed, with plenty of cool gadgets and a nice smattering of action. Not as tight as it might have been, but I think that's a common flaw of most debut novels. It was certainly the case with me -- I'm sure if I went back and re-edited my first few "Saga" books that I could find lots of ways to sharpen things up. It's amazing the difference a bit of tweaking can do. I'm editing book 10 of "The Demonata" at the moment, and although I'm not making any big changes, I find things to adjust in virtually every paragraph. The more experience you get under your belt, the more ways you find to make your stories flow. It's often tiny things, like not using the same word twice in successive sentences, or not just putting HE SAID or SHE SAID after quotation marks all the time but finding something more expressive, or taking a few words out of a line. Tiny, tiny changes, but over the course of a book they all add up, and they make the difference between a book flowing smoothly and a book moving forwards in fits and starts. You can never over-estimate the importance of the editing process. I only truly began progressing as a writer when I went back and wrote second drafts and edited them. First drafts are a crucial part of the writing process, but there's so much more about the business that you only learn by editing. For those looking for advice, here's a big tip -- the sooner you make the decision to move on to the editing process, the quicker you'll make the leap from being able to write a halfway decent first draft to being able to write a polished, professional, PUBLISHABLE finished book ...

Finished my current edit of book 9 of "The Demonata" this morning, and started editing book 10 in the afternoon. This is my first edit of the tenth book. I wrote the first draft just over a year ago. I always wait a few months before returning to a book once I finish the first draft. I normally wouldn't wait a whole year, but I'd spent a LOT of time working on "The Demonata" before and after working on book 10, and I needed a break from the series. Sometimes you have to give yourself time awat from a project, so that you don't start to feel that it's a drag. The time off worked a treat, and now I'm back firing on full cylinders. I think book 10 stands up pretty damn well for a first draft (at least what I've read so far!). I haven't had to change anything so far, just tweak things a little. I want to end the series on a fast-paced, dramatic, bloody high, and I don't think this savage little baby is going to disappoint too many readers!!!!

Did some more cleaning round my house -- cleaned the upstairs windows and swept the upstairs floors. A bit of sweeping downstairs over the next day or two and my work on this planet will be done. Went for a walk and called in to see my grandparents and parents. My Granny's not too healthy at the moment, which is a worry -- her time in the hospital hasn't really helped. Hopefully she'll pull out of her slump over the next few weeks, but if not ... well, there are plenty of hungry dogs in the neighbourhood hankering after a few fresh bones!!!!! Heh heh -- don't worry, I'm not being nasty!! My Gran has a wicked sense of humour and she loves to joke about death. In many ways, I've modelled Dervish Grady (a character in my "Demonata" books) after her. She doesn't believe in beating around the bush when it comes to things like death. We're all just waiting for death to claim us, so the best we can do is hope that the grim reaper takes his time, and joke about it while we can.

Got up early (08.20, which is early for me!!!) and edited some more of book 9 of "The Demonata" -- I'm into the fun bit of the book now, lots of action, so it's going much quicker. Then a couple of workmen arrived to lay two concrete foundations for statues which I'm having installed later in the month. I helped them out a bit, and while I didn't do any overly strenuous work, it was nice to be doing something outside for a change. It was odd -- one of the guys was saying how he envied me being able to sit inside all day when I'm working, while I envy him being able to work out in the open!!! I guess all of us, no matter what we end up doing in life, will always wish on some sort of a level that we could be doing something else ... the grass is always greener, etc. etc.

Watched two football games in the evening. First I saw England easily beat Israel 3-0. I answered the last of my mountain of fan mail while watching that game -- hurrah!!!! It's great to have finally gotten through it all. But I know Pablo already has another pile lying in wait for me, so I'm not celebrating too much!!! Then I watched Ireland draw 2-2 with Slovakia. A very frustrating game -- we started brightly, went a goal ahead, then let them come back into the match and equalise. We went ahead again in the second half, dominated proceedings, but fell victim to another goal in the last 3 minutes. There's nothing more disheartening in football than letting in a late goal that undoes all the hard work of the rest of the game ...

To unwind after the match, I watched "Snakes on a Plane". Utter rubbish -- as I was expecting -- but easy viewing, with some funny moments. The snakes, though, didn't look real for the most part -- there are some things CGI just can't capture. I'm quite scared of snakes, and always shiver when I see a movie with real snakes, but I didn't get the heebie-jeebies even once while watching this one.

Went to a birthday party this afternoon for my cousin Meara, who was nine. I had to organise games for her and all her friends after they'd eaten -- I have a giant snakes & ladders board, fancy sacks for sack races, and hoppers (inflatable balls). I also have a loud whistle, which is perfect for getting a group of 9 and 10 year old girls to pay attention!!! So that was what I got up to in the eveing. The dual life of Darren Shan -- "purveyor of horror by day, party entertainer by night"!!!!!

Edited more of book 9 earlier. It's going quite slowly because I'm doing so much work on it. Also, I'm taking things a bit easier than normal. It's been a busy year, I'm well ahead of where I hoped to be by this stage, so there's no point killing myself by working too hard!

I also cleaned the insides of most of my downstairs windows today. I get the outsides washed by a cleaning firm, but I do the insides myself ... occasionally!!! It's actually ages since I last cleaned them! But the sun was shining today and for some reason I just decided out of the blue to give them a wipe. I'm not overly interested in house chores as a rule, but once the mood grabs me, I do a pretty good job, even if I do say so myself! Tomorrow I'll try and clean the upstairs windows too -- might as well have a matching set!!!!

Edited more of book 9 of "The Demonata". I've been cutting out a LOT of material, but I'll probably go back through it again when I finish, to trim it even further -- I want to focus on shaving down those exposition-heavy scenes while they're fresh in my thoughts!!! The first rule of writing as far as I'm concerned is "Always keep the story moving." In an ideal world, you should never have to slow down to explain things -- they should unravel along with the action. But occasionally there's no escaping the need to fill readers in, and no easy way to do it. But at least you can look for ways to tighten things up and help readers get through the less action-filled pages as swiftly and comfortably as possible. Book 9's in a much better state than it was last time round, but I'm not entirely happy with it yet -- hopefully another edit will allow me to cut out everything but the absolute essentials in the slower sections, upping the tempo without losing any of the key bits of information which readers will need in order to fully understand the series...

Received a load of books from my agent today, from various countries around the world, but mostly from Canada, where they just published books 5 to 12 in one big batch!! I absolutely LOVE my global collection of Darren Shan books -- it's an amazing experience to be able to look at shelves filled with copies of my books from so many different countries. But, having said that, they ARE becoming a bit of a problem in terms of space -- I'm running out of room for them!!!! I reckon I can get by for another year or so, by creatively stacking the books and using up every last bit of space on my current shelfing system, but in the long run I'm going to have to find new places around my house to store them. The perils of success!!!

Answered more fan mail -- I've only got a few letters left now, although I know Pablo has a load more awaiting my attention. It's a relief to finally be nearing the end -- there were days when I thought I'd never get through them all!!! Had quite a lot of business emails to respond to over the course of the day, which ate up a thick chunk of my time. Managed to squeeze in a walk in the evening, and also trimmed around the edges of my lawn -- oh, the excitement!!! Saw another episode of "House" and the movie "Clerks 2". Not as good as the first, but funnier than I'd expected -- a few sections had me howling out loud!!! Now I'm off to watch some episodes of "Frasier" -- it's always nice to end the night on a mellow sitcom high ...

Today was haircut time again, so after doing some editing in the morning, I watched an episode of "House", then headed in to Figaro's in Limerick, to have my head seen to by Brian, Limerick's best barber! Went browsing in HMV after that and picked up some DVDs, then went grocery shopping. Back home Bas and I watched "My Neighbour Totoro". I hadn't seen it in years. It's a real feel-good film, full of beautiful scenes which make me smile BIG. The story is very slim, and it ends rather abruptly, but this is a film more about mood than plot. HIGHLY recommended!!!

Mowed the lawn after dinner -- we took turns, Bas did half, then I finished off. Next we went for a walk down by the river. Local stone-lover Goldie tagged along as usual, though he was in an odd mood tonight -- the tide was out, and at one point he trekked through a hundred metres or so of mud in pursuit of water he was never realistically going to reach!! Answered some fan mail when I got back, and now I'm heading up for a quick shower (the hairs are starting to itch!), then Bas and I will watch an episode of "Dumped", a new ecologically-themed reality show which we've been watching for the last few nights.

Found the following interesting extract on the Jonathan Carroll blog today, about Japanese collectors.

"Kyoichi Tsuzuki, a Japanese photographer and publisher, has spent nearly a decade taking pictures of luxury-obsessed Japanese in their tiny apartments surrounded by their collections of clothes, ties, scarves, jewelry, handbags, and shoes for the FASHION NEWS, one of Japan's oldest fashion magazines. Tsuzuki calls his subjects "happy victims" because, while they are victims of brand marketing, the items seem to bring them a sort of happiness. There is the Hermes collector, a patent executive who lives in a tiny fourth floor walk up flat. He keeps all of his Hermes shirts, ties, and leather goods in their original boxes and bags, which are stacked up on his tatami floor. He spent about $4000 on a Hermes briefcase that he carries with a Hermes towel wrapped around the handle to avoid damaging the leather with his hand perspiration.
"There is the Buddhist monk who collect Comme des Garcons religiously. Once a month, the monk shed his robes. dons Comme des Garcons avant-garde constructionist clothes, and heads from his temple to Tokyo to pick up a few more pieces. He is so convinced of their miraculous powers that he says his delinquent sister cleaned up her act when she started wearing Comme des Garcons. There's an English teacher at a prep school who started wearing Gianni Versace's flamboyant designs to keep the attention of his students. After ten years, he had one hundred pieces of Versace as well as an impressive Bulgari jewelry collection. He lives in a shoebox apartment with his unemployed girlfriend who spends her days organizing the collection. There's a Tom Ford collector, an Armani man, a McQueen girl, and a Martin Margiela maniac who is so fastidious about his collection that he never cooks at home because he doesn't want the clothes to retain the odors. The only thing in his refrigerator is eyedrops. "When he gets thirsty," Tsuzuki said, "he goes to a convenience shop and drinks there then goes back home. He does not want to put any trash in the room."

from DELUXE by Dana Thomas.

It struck a chord with me because I'm almost exactly like the people described in it (only I have a bigger house in which to store my stuff!!). I LOVE collecting and always have -- I've gone through different phases in my life, such a religious objects, stamps, comics, knives, books, films, original art. I've moved on from and dumped some of the collectibles over the years, but others (comics, books, CDs and films) are still going strong, and I'm sure in years to come I'll find some new crazes to latch onto and devote silly amounts of time and energy to. I know non-collectors find it hard to understand what makes people like us tick, and it's not really something we can explain. The need to HAVE, to OWN, to HAVE ACCESS TO, is just too much to ignore, even when you KNOW it's crazy. For instance, I have a movie collection of over 4000 films -- yes, FOUR THOUSAND!!! Now, I've actually seen virtually all of them, but mostly I saw them on TV or video or at the cinema years ago. I know, even as I add to the collection, replacing videos of films I already own with DVDs or buying DVDs of movies I've seen in cinemas, that I probably won't ever get around to watching them again -- time is limited, and I don't watch as many films as I used to. But knowing that I CAN watch them, any time I wish, if the urge takes me, drives me on to keep buying more. I guess collectors are like dogs who bury bones -- the chances of the dog digging it up again and cleaning it and ignoring the rancid meat and eating it are slim to none -- but, you know, it's a DOG, and that's just what dogs do ... if it left the bone above ground and some other dog ran off with it, the chance of eating it would be gone forever ... and, well, what purpose in the universe has a dog without a bone?????