I started another edit of book 9 of The Demonata yesterday. This has been the most troublesome book of the series, by far. I'm trying to achieve the balance between imparting a lot of facts (which the book has to do) while keeping it pacy and entertaining at the same time. I came up short on previous drafts, but each one has been a bit better, and I've got some fresh angles to come at it from this time. Editing is normally quite easy for me, involving mostly tinkering about with what I've already written, trimming it down or sharpening it up slightly. But sometimes I have to re-write scenes or create new ones, and I never actively enjoy that. When I'm doing a first draft I fall into a certain mindset -- I know the book is going to take time, that I can't rush it, and I'm happy to take things day by day, page by page, churning out the words. I'm normally fairly patient when working on a first draft, content to put in the time it takes to write such a large amount of new material. But when I come to the editing process I like to move faster, to get into the flow of the story, to try and see what readers are going to experience. When I have to write new material, that slows me down, and I know I'm going to have to do another, extra edit to get back into the flow of the book -- which is frustrating!!! It has to be done -- if a scene isn't working, it has to be fixed -- but in a way I begrudge having to do it. It's like part of my brain is screaming at me: "We already did this part of the work! What the hell are you up to?!?" I'll be fine once I'm done, and I'm sure I'll be very pleased when I come back and do my next edit, having (hopefully!!!) sorted out the problems in the book. But right now I'm a bit grumpy. Ah well -- that's all part of a writer's lot! If work was TOO easy, I suppose it would get a bit boring after a while ...

Lots of you have emailed me to congratulate me on the movie news. Many thanks to everyone who's written. I have read all the emails coming in, but haven't been able to respond to many -- the new book must take precedence!!!

Saw a great film called Little Children yesterday, starring Kate Winslet. Not a kid's film, to be sure, but a very thoughtful, thought-provoking, funny and moving tale about how complicated adult life can be. Also saw the last episode of the first half of season 6 of The Sopranos. I can't wait to tear through the final few episodes, but I'm going to make myself wait for a while, to savour the anticipation. So today I started watching season 3 of Deadwood. Westerns were never like this when I was a child!!!!!