Finished my latest edit of Book 7 of The Demonata today, which I was very happy about. I feckon there will be one more thorough edit (when my editor comes back with detailed notes), then a couple of more tidy-up drafts -- and that will be that!! Time flies by so quickly when you're working on a book. I started the first draft of Book 7 back in May 2005. I knew I had 3 years to work on it, which seemed like more time that I could ever possibly need, yet here I am now and it's almost time to put the baby to bed!! You have to be VERY patient to be a writer -- nothing happens quickly in this business! The trick to getting your head around it and not getting frustrated is to never think about all the time the book is going to take before it gets published. I know, when I first sit down with a story, that it will be years before it sees print -- but I don't focus on that. I don't even think about it. I just get on with the current job at hand (finishing the first draft), then set it aside for a while and don't think about it. Next time round, I do the same, focus on doing my editing, then set it aside again and don't think about it. Before I know it, 3 years have passed and BANG -- it's history!!!! Writing can be scary if you stop to think about all the time and effort and problems involved in taking a book or story all the way to print -- SO DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!!! If that seems facetious, it's not -- I think that's the best bit of advice I could ever give. It might not seem like much if you're just starting out and thinking "Three years? No way!! That guy's just slow -- I'll get my work published in a month or two, tops!!!!!" But those of you who are serious about being writers, take note -- the waters of writing are riddled with dragons, but they can only cause you problems if you CHOOSE to focus on them. If you look away and ignore them, they cease to really exist ...

Started watching the original series of The Twilight Zone last night, the one from 1959. Saw the first two episodes. They're dated, obviously, and nowhere near as creepy as the best shows from the series, but still pretty good even judged by today's standards. This is the first time I've sat and watched the originals. I saw lots of the episodes made in the 1980s, but the older ones weren't readily available when I was growing up. I'm looking forward to immersing myself in the "fifth dimension" over the next few weeks and soaking up lots of crazy plots and situations -- hopefully they'll help spark off some fresh ideas of my own!!! (Not that I'm running out of them! But you can never have too many ideas if you're a writer!!!) I'm also looking forward to hearing the famous theme music -- it wasn't on the first couple of episodes ... In fact, the music is largely what brought me round to the series. I've had it on my shelf for many months, but in Orlando recently I went on the Tower Of Terror ride, and I grinned when I heard that spooky tune, and thought, "That reminds me -- I must start watching the series when I get back home ..."

Saw Spiderman 3 tonight. I wasn't expecting much - almsot everyone who told me about it said it wasn't as good as the first two films - but I enjoyed it for the most part. It was half an hour too long, and it probably didn't need three villains, and some of its more patriotic touches (such as Spidey bouncing across the face of a flag) were ridiculous -- though I think they might have been meant to be taken ironically -- well, I laughed at them anyway!!!! But, for the most part, it was pretty cool. My favourite bits were when Peter was being bad -- personally, I LOVED the sight of Spidey kicking ass and killing people (even though the two he supposedly killed both turned up again later in the film)!!!!!!! If I ever made a Spidey film, I'd have cannibals eat his girlfriend, and I'd then have Spidey track the cannibals down and eat them all, one by one -- now THAT would be the coolest superhero movie EVER!!!!!!!!!!

Night night folks -- sleep tight!!

I've been sleeping late ever since getting back from Florida mid-week. Most mornings I haven't been getting up until after 10 -- and today it was after 10.20!!! Normally I rise at or before 9, but I've felt exhausted since getting back, not just after all the roller-coasters, but from spending much of the last seven months travelling, either on work or hols. It's nice to spend some real time at home, not having to worry about packing a bag or having all my travel documents in place. A bit boring, obviously -- but nice!! Also, since I'm editing, I don't have to be quite as strict in my work routines as I normall am. I can afford to sleep in for a while, so why not?!? That's one of the perks of working for yourself!!!

Edited a bit more of Book 7 of The Demonata when I finally rose. My plan is to finish it off tomorrow, then move on to books 8, 9 and 10 again -- it's not very long since I last did an edit of them, but if I do another now, while I'm "in the zone", I think they'll benefit. The last four books are very tightly knit together, and I like working on them as a unit -- that way I can make sure everything ties together neatly and not get confused. The first six books of the series were the set-up -- the last four are when it kicks into high gear and all the plot threads gel and ignite an explosion of ideas, story-lines and action scenes. It's hot stuff, and I'm working hard to ensure it's as sharp and tight-knit as I can get it before the books start rolling out to you lot next year!!!

Forgot to mention the other night that I finished season 8 of Frasier. While it wasn't quite as superb as the very best seasons, it was still mighty impressive, and I enjoyed it far more than I thought it would. There are signs that it's beginning to run out of fresh ideas, but so far it's still one of the finest sitcoms of the last 15 years. I'm also well into season 6 of The Sopranos -- as usual, it oozes class, albeit of a sleazy, vicious kind!!! Finally, I saw the film of The Thief Lord today, and I'm afraid I was decidedly underimpressed. I haven't read the book, but I know it has lots of fans, so I guess this is one of those cases where a movie failed to do justice to its source material. It didn't look like it had a big budget, and the cast and dialogue were mostly fairly wooden. Some nice ideas and bright scenes, but for the most part it was dull as dishwater.

I've had a busy couple of days, editing Book 7 of The Demonata. The book is split into three sections (and before any bright spark moots the idea that that's because it features three narrators -- it doesn't -- each book of The Demonata will be told by just one person), and it sort of works like a three-act play. Act 1 is set in a specific location, ditto most of Acts 2 and 3, and each Act revolves around a battle. As I'm sure I've said before on this blog, structure is VERY important to me. I'm always playing around with ways to structure and pace a story. I often go along with the simplest way, where you start slow and build up to the action (book 8 will be one of those), since that's more often than not the best way to tell a tale. But I like to pepper my work with different approaches -- I think it's good to experiment and not just settle for what you know you can do. I'm very pleased with the way Book 7 sits together, and I hope you guys are pleased too when you get to read it!!!

Of course, the trouble with experiments is they can sometimes go wrong, and evidence of that came when I watched Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino tonight. It's the second half of the GrindHouse movie, and Tarantino's first film since Kill Bill. I wasn't expecting too much, having read many dodgy reviews, and sadly it didn't prove my low expectations wrong. I'm a big Tarantino fan. I remember catching Reservoir Dogs when it was first released, and though I wasn't as blown away by it as some critics and fans, I thought it was a great film and I had high hopes for its yooung director's future. Those hopes were rewarded unbelievably with Pulp Fiction -- one of my ten favourite films of all time. Like Dogs, it played around with structure and was all the better because of it. I guessed it would be virtually impossible for Tarantino to ever top Pulp Fiction, and that's proved to be the case, but I've always greatly enjoyed everything he's directed or worked on as a scriptwriter -- until now. Death Proof just doesn't work, even as a pastiche of 70s throwaway movies. Kurt Russell is perfectly cast, the girls are beautiful to look at, and the actions scenes on the road are perfect. But the long, aimless stretches of dialogue between the ladies make the film seem twice as long as it is. Tarantino's main strength has always been his ear for a great line, but here there are no memorable lines, the references to other movies seem forced, and the whole thing just plays out very limply. A major disappointment.

Returned to my editing duties on book 7 of The Demonata today, armed with my editor's first set of notes. The way the books come together is like this -- I usually do 4 or 5 drafts by myself; then I show the book to my editor. She reads through it a couple of times, then sends me a short list of her general recommendations and comments, e.g. a certain chapter might be a bit slow, or she might think part of the book needs to be cut down or expanded. I then go back and do another draft. She reads that, then sends me a more detailed list of more specific comments and queries. Once I go back over it again, the hard work is usually done, although I'll normally go through it at least once or twice more, fine-tuning and focusing on really small details. Does that sound like a lot of work? Well, I guess it is -- but if you spread it out over 2 or 3 years, as I normally do, it tends to make it easier -- you don't feel as if the book is taking over your life, and you get to work on other books, so it feels fresh every time you return to it. I think most writers focus on one book at a time, doing their re-writes one after the other, until the book is finished. But I find this way of working much more fun!!! Of course, you need a brain that can go away from a story for a year and still keep it alive somewhere at the back of your mind, so that you can pick up smoothly when you return to it -- but I think our brains can be much more flexible than we believe they are, if only we test them ...

Saw Planet Terror, half of the GrindHouse set of movies made by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino earlier this year. I really enjoyed it -- I felt it captured the style and feel of those creaky old 70s movies, but without degenerating into a pointless copy of them. It was imaginative and well paced, with some laugh-out loud and gross-out moments. No classic, but highly enjoyable and skillfully crafted. I'm looking forward to watching the Tarantino piece too, probably within the next few days.

Went to Disney/MGM Studios on our last day. It was OK, but busier than the other parks had been, and a bit thin on rides. Still, it was nice to do something different on our final day (although we'd been there before on a precious visit). Got to the airport in plenty of time, and arrived in London a bit early after a smooth, hassle-free flight -- although, after suffering a tender bottom when I went on some high, fast water rides earlier in the week, I was feeling a bit numb in my lower regions by the end of the flight!!!!! To kill time, we caught the train to our flat, where we rested up for a couple of hours, before returning to Gatwick and flying home to Ireland. Had dinner at my aunt's house and told her and her hubbie about the holiday. Then, bidding the kids farewell, we came home. I caught up with my post and emails, watched a few episodes of "Frasier", then hit the sack at midnight ...

... and slept almost straight through to midday!! I say almost because my agent rang me with some news at 10.00a.m. -- but it was very good news, so I didn't mind!!!! (I'll be sharing it with you all in the near future, but can't comment at the moment, so don't ask...) Had a lazyish day after that -- did some stuff on the web, answered some emails, took things easy. Received the following nice email from a teacher called Russ in the States:

Hi Mr. Shan! I am a 6th grade Reading teacher here in Dallas, TX., USA. We have your Cirque du Freak series in our library and are slowly but surely building our Lord Loss series. I was noticing that kids were checking out the books and decided to give it a try myself. I started with number one in the Cirque series and then finished number 12 within three weeks. I loved them so much as they took me back to being a kid again. This was the stuff that I enjoyed when I was little. I wanted to thank you for making these books so accessable to children as well as adults. Please note that I have all my kids turned on to both of your series and they "fight" over them and actually go to the public library to reserve what we don't carry or is checked out. Again - thanks and keep up the awesome work! If ever in Dallas, stop by J.L. Long Middle School - we would love to have you!!

As I told Russ, I will probably (it isn't confirmed yet) next be coming to the States on tour in October 2008. Keep an eye on the Shanville Monthly -- if the tour gets the go-ahead, at some stage in the spring or early summer I'll be posting info about how to "pitch" for me and giving tips on how to increase your chances of organizing a Darren Shan visit.

Almost at the end of my short holiday in Orlando. It's been a jam-packed, crazy, exhausting week -- but that's the way I like it!!! I guess I'm a bit hyper in many ways. When I travel (either for work or pleasure) I try to pack in as much as I can. I've been finding the pace a bit too fast for liking in recent times -- I think I'm slowing up a bit physically -- but I still push myself to experience as much as I can when I'm on the road. On this holiday we've been getting up at 07.30 most mornings, making our way swiftly around all the various theme parks, going on our favourite rides several times, getting back to our hotel at 8.00 or 9.00pm most nights, to fall into bed and sleep soundly after watching a bit of TV. We had a relaxing day on Saturday, when we went to Discovery Cove, where we got to play with and swim with a dolphin, then drift around their coral reef and lazy river -- and it was a delicious treat! I've never been much of a one for beach holidays or lying around when on vacation, but maybe I'll start working a few quieter days into my schedules when I travel in future...

Anyway, exhaustion aside, it's been a fabulous week. Went to Busch Gardens today, which boasts probably my favourite roller coasters in Florida -- Kumba and Gwazi are world-class, and Shiekra and another, Egyptian-themed coaster (whose name I can't recall) are high up there too! It's a bit out of the way, but definitely worth making the trip if you're ever in Orlando. Tomorrow we're going to do the MGM theme park before catching our flight back home. Normal service should resume on this blog from Tuesday or Wednesday. See you all back here then!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!! I hope you're all having (or had) a fab, spooky time!! I'm saving my scares until Thursday, when I'm going to a Halloween Horror Night at Universal Studios in Orlando, where I'm on holiday at the moment. I've had a great, frantic couple of days. Flew over on Monday, then raced straight into action on Tuesday, hitting Islands of Adventure. The park was very quiet (this is our third time here, but we came in June/July previously) and it was perfect for getting around -- we didn't spend more than 10 minutes in any line, and got to go on all of our favourite rides at least twice -- it was brilliant!!! I'm a bit disappointed that the park hasn't been updated since we were last here, over two years ago, but all the old rides are just as good as ever. The Hulk, SpiderMan, Popeye's Bilge Rat Barges, and Duelling Dragons stand out as my favourites. In the afternoon we visited Wet 'n' Wild for a short visit (it shuts at 5, which is the only real downside of coming at this time of year), and got through most of the slides -- we'll pop back again later in the week to take care of those we missed this time!

Today we went to Sea World in the morning. Our plan was to go on Kraken a few times right at the beginning -- it's probably the best roller-coaster in Orland, a large, fast, beast of a ride!! But it wasn't operating because of technical difficulties! We kept checking back over the course of the day, without any joy. There's plenty of other stuff to do in Sea World, and we saw most of the animals, fed the rays, etc. But Kraken was our main reason for visiting, so we were quite upset. Finally, at 1.30pm, we decided to call it a day and head back to our hotel. But we gave Kraken one last chance before leaving -- and to our delight, it reopened just before we meant to leave!!! We went on it 3 times in quick succession, then staggered out of the park on legs of jelly, with big smiles on our faces!! After that we went shopping (not my choice, but Bas and the kids wanted to check out one of the malls, and who am I to argue with a democracy?!?). We got back about 8.00pm and I put on a scary film for the kids -- 1408. I'm just going to watch some TV for the rest of the night and take it easy. Not the most exciting way to spend Halloween, I know, but tomorrow night should make up for all that -- terror ahoy!!!!!!!!!

Went to see Spurs play Blackburn today, and we lost 2-1. SIGH. That's three losses in the space of a week, two of them at home -- grim times indeed for the so-called "super" Spurs!!!! If our new manager doesn't sort this mess out fast, we could find ourselves locked in a relegation battle ...

Apart from the football it was a fun day. Had breakfast in a nearby cafe with my cousins, enjoyed the pre-match atmosphere in our regular pub in Tottenham, then had a meal and a swim when we got back to my apartment. Checked in for Florida and our bags are all packed and ready to go!!! I probably won't be updating my blog much while I'm away, so if you don't hear from me a lot over the coming week, don't worry, it just means I'm having a blast on one high-speed roller-coaster or another!!!!!!

Ai-yi-yi!!!! You know when you read horror stories about people who mess up their travel plans, and you think, "How could anyone BE that stupid?!?" Well, I have now officially joined the ranks of the Dumber Than Dumb, so I will never again be able to mock those who make mistakes that seem incomprehensible in the cold light of day!!!

Several weeks back, Bas and I decided to take some of my cousins on holiday to Florida. We've been a couple of times, but not for more than two years, so we thoughs it would be nice to swing back again and catch some cool roller-coaster rides. I went ahead and booked everything, including flights for my cousins to London, since that's where we would be flying out of. At the time, I decided not to book my own flight over to London, as I thought I might have to travel before my cousins, for a football match. All well and good. But in the ensuing weeks I forgot about that, and came to believe that I had booked my ticket at the same time that I booked theirs!!! Last night I decided to check in online, as I normally do. I logged on some time after 10.00pm and entered the flight details ... but all that came up was details for my cousins!! I frowned and thought, "That can't be right!" But then, with dawning horror, I realised the error of my ways -- I DIDN'T HAVE A FLIGHT BOOKED TO LONDON!!!!

My first reaction was a very loud "Damn!!!" Only that wasn't quite the word that I used!!! But I wasn't too alarmed -- I knew I'd have to pay a lot to get on the flight, booking so close to the travel date, but I figured I had nobody else to blame, so I'd just have to pay whatever it cost and chalk it down to experience. Only ... I'd forgotten that it's a bank holiday weekend in Ireland ... and it's half-term next week ... in fact, it's the busiest travel weekend of the entire year in Ireland!!!! When I tried to book a flight to London from Shannon, I found they were all sold out!! Next I tried Cork -- ditto! Knock -- the same! Kerry -- no joy! Even all the flights from Dublin were gone!!!!!

I REALLY started to panic at that stage -- it looked like I couldn't get to London, and if that was the case, it meant the holiday would have to be cancelled!!! I was looking into getting a train to Dublin and flying to some other part of the UK, when luckily Bas spotted a flight from Shannon to Liverpool. Having no other choice, I went ahead and booked it, so this morning I had to get up at 07.30, fly to Liverpool, then catch a train all the way down to London!!!!! It's the longest, most roundabout route I've ever taken to get to the city, but I was just relieved that I could get there at all!!!! Thankfully the flight and train ran smoothly, and I was even able to get time to do the November issue of the Shanville Monthly!!! (My cousins are flying over independently and I'm awaiting their arrival as I type.)

Let this be a lesson to you all -- ALWAYS double-check your travel plans!!! I do so much travelling, I guess I got a bit complacent, and I almost paid the ultimate price!! Focus hard, young Shansters, lest you too end up joining me in the Moron's Travel Hall Of Fame!!!!!!!!!!

I watched Spurs lose 2-1 at home in their opening match of the UEFA Cup tonight. It was an awful result, especially as we've had such a terrible result to the season -- it really makes it hard for us to do well from this point on. Our manager, Martin Jol, was already under a lot of pressure, and I found out after the game that he'd actually resigned before it started -- so that's it, he's gone. I'm quite sad to see him leave. He's a great character, always enjoyable to listen to, and just a really nice guy. He did a great job with Tottenham over the last two seasons -- we played better football than we've played since the late 1980s/early 1990s, and finished 5th two seasons in a row. We also had very strong cup runs last season. But we've been weak in defence for more than 15 years (!!!!) and he never managed to iron out our defensive kinks. Last year we scored loads of goals, which masked the cracks -- but the cracks WERE there, and this season they widened to the point where I don't think he had any choice but to go before he was fired. I think most Spurs fans will agree with me in wishing him well, and will be really sorry that this had to happen -- but football is a harsh game, results are everything, and this season's been a disaster since day one, so ... c'est la vie!!! Goodbye, Martin -- I really do hope you do well in your next job.

Sorry to go so much about football. I know lots of you reading this don't care a fig about the game, but to me it's important, and since I try to let this blog reflect all the important things in my life, I have to focus on the Beautiful Game every now and again!!! Apart from that, I had another day of doing bits and pieces in the office -- it's been nice to take my time doing it all, and not rush and try to edit and catch up on everything else at the same time. Forgot to mention yesterday that Bas and I went to see "The Dark is Rising" at the cinema. I'm afraid to say it's one of the poorest fantasy films I've seen in a long, long time. Virtually nothing about it works -- the script is awful, the direction is plodding, the pace is terrible, the story is a crock, the acting is for the most part paper-thin. This is a prime example of how NOT to make a fantasy film! It also goes to show that it doesn't matter how strong the source material is (the Susan Cooper books are widely accepted long-standing classics of the genre) -- a film always depends on what the people involved in the adaptation do with it.

Bas said to me, as we were walking out, "I hope Universal don't do that with Cirque Du Freak!!" To which I had to reply, "They might!!" Now, before you go getting worried, I don't THINK they will. I'm very happy with the creative team involved with the film at the moment, and I have a feeling they're going to create something special. But at the end of the day it's something I can't control. No writer can. That's why I don't get involved closely with the film studio -- knowing I can't influence the fate of the movie, I prefer to stand back, leave it in the hands of those who know what they're doing, and keep my fingers crossed that they do a good job of it!!!! That might seem like a strange stance to take, but it's the same approach Stephen King has taken for many years and he's had a perfectly happy relationship with the movie industry because of it -- from interviews I've read with writers who tried to get more involved, I've concluded that those who stick their fingers in the fire of movie-making almost always get burnt and come away frustrated and bitter about the entire business. Some writers like to think they can tame the beast of Hollywood and make it do their bidding. I know better and I'm more than happy to just toss it the bones of my books and stand back and watch with the rest of you to see what it does with them.