GIRLS OF PAPER & FIRE ARC WINNER

Hello, hello, hello, Dear Readers! Happy Wednesday. Without futher ado, let's announce the winner of last week's competition:

**Drumdoll please***

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JAX. B!

Congratulations! I'm delighted it's gone to a long-time Dear Reader. I know you'll really enjoy this, Jax. I'll be emailing you today to get your address.

I'm currently hard at work on my revisions for Selkie Book, which is defying my usual expectations/process by vearing wildly from pretty good to a deathly vacuum of suckage every couple of pages. I keep getting stuck, thinking 'Eugh, I made a terrible mistake with this, it's AWFUL, it needs a total rewrite!' and then a paragraph later I'm happily skimming along making minor prose tweaks. I don't know if this honestly is as radically different to everything else I've written as I think it is, or if it's just the way it seems to me because I'm immersed in it. Once the edits are done the full, final version will be off to my agent and then I suppose I will find out.

I *hope* to get the manuscript marked up and the edits actually inputted by the end of this month. I emphasize 'hope' there because actually, I probably have no chance in Hell of managing that - but I'm going to try! Mainly because I have two short pieces I need to start AND finish in November (one of which will hopefully be of some interest to Dear Readers) so I really want to be able to relax and concentrate on those without Selkie Book nibbling at the edges of my conscience and attention.

In other news, I've just finished NineFox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee, which is one of the densest and chewiest things I've read in a while. On the surface it's hard (operatic) sci-fi, informed by the author's theoretical maths background. But on a technical level it's actually fantasy. I'm quite jealous that readers were happy to accept this as SF, and also that the author was able to get away with so little explanation of his physics defying magic stuff. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I'll pick up the sequels for a while.

Read you later my lovelies - next week, to be precise, when I think I'm going to start posting my (failed) entries for this year's Bridport Poetry Prize, because why not? See you soon.

JULY UPDATES

Helloooo ducky darlings! Happy Thursday to all. I know it's been a while since I blogged so here are some updates on what's been happening at Chez Zolah.

First up, my Mulan inspired fantasy is now officially on submission to Walker Books, where they're waiting for my usual editor to come back from maternity leave at the end of the month so they can start discussing it and making decisions on whether they want to publish it. Any crossed fingers, held thumbs, prayers to the writing gods or sacrifices of chocolate, crockery or goats would be entirely welcome and appreciated.

Obviously I'll update you as soon as I know something and get the OK to share it. This will probably be a lot sooner if it's a 'no' and we take the book out on general submission. If that happens it'll be the first time I've gone on general sub with an agent (last time, which was in 2004, I was sending my manuscripts directly into publisher's slushpiles) and it will be a fairly nerve-wracking, yet also exciting, process. Eep.

In WIP news, I'm working on two new proposals (that means sample chapters and detailed synopses) both of which I've mentioned in passing here on the blog before. Both are YA. The first is a 1920's timeslip story. The second is a retelling of the Little Mermaid which centres a queer relationship. And I love BOTH of them to bits, so dedicating all my nerves and anxiety to getting these new stories kicked off is is helping with the wait on Mulan quite a bit. Let me know in the comments below which you like the sound of more, and I'll post a snippet next week.

Next! YALC is swiftly approaching and I believe that tickets are still available. The event schedule is now up, so you can not only see when I will be there, but also all the vast swathes of other, far more famous and awesome authors (if I don't get the chance to see Laini Taylor speak at least once I may choke myself on my own fountain pen). IT IS VERY EXCITING. I hope I'll get to see lots of Dear Readers there and sign their books, give them swag, and generally adore them for being the discerning and wonderful people they are. That means you, cutie. Yes, you!

Finally, I recently read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit, which are adult works of speculative fiction by Becky Chambers. Thanks for the recommendation on these, Emma Pass!

I enjoyed the first one a lot, and although I was strongly aware of the parallels between it and a certain cult SF TV series I shall not name (*cough*Firefly*cough*) that didn't lessen my enjoyment because I could see the author turning all the tropes over and messing with them in a really aware, diverse and interesting way. The second book, A Closed and Common Orbit, though, really blew me away. It went off in a quirky and unexpected direction that I just loved. I can't wait for the next book in this loosely connected series to come out (each book stands alone, with a few characters in common) and I heartily pass the recommendation to read them onto you, Dear Readers.

That's all for today - just remember to let me know which of my WIPs floats your boat in the comments if you'd like a sneak peek next week. xx

HAPPY (BELATED) PUPPY DAY!

Hello, Dear Readers!

Apologies for the long delayed nature of this long promised post. I don't have the spoons to spin it into any kind of coherent (let alone amusing) narrative right now, but suffice it to say that the arrival of the puppy heralded a great deal of anxiety, stress, sleep-loss and drama, and I've been lucky if I've managed to scrape together even an hour on my computer on any day for nearly a fortnight. Attempting a blogpost probably would have finished me off.

Much of this stress and drama is connected to the puppy's health. He managed to eat half a puppy collar - complete with spiky plastic clasp - while at the breeders and didn't vomit it out until he'd been with me, and miserably ill, for three days. It was nearly four times the size of his tiny stomach, and as a result it did a lot of damage inside him. Getting it out in one piece was kind of a miracle. It could have been much worse. But it was still pretty bad. He's been in and out of the vets for x-rays and other treatment and had to be admitted for nearly 48 hours due to dangerous levels of dehydration.

But he's on the mend now, and since he's actually dozed off in daylight hours (for more than five minutes!) I thought I'd better hurriedly put this together while I had the chance - or else you might not get it at all. Like any new parent, I'm currently getting up around every two hours in the night (toilet training: it is Hell) and I might doze off at any second.

So, let me introduce you to Ruskin:

I went with Ruskin because I thought it looked like it fitted him, and I'd just re-read Diana Wynne Jones' The Year of the Griffin (thanks for reminding me, Phoenix!) which features a small, gingery character of that name. I've actually been *calling* him Finn about half of the time, but he doesn't seem to mind too much.

Now that he's doing better I'm hoping to start work on my WIP again, which I'm excited about - although I'm trying not to be too excited, since puppies laugh at the best laid plans of men, and often piddle on them for good measure. Wish me good luck with that, muffins! I'm pretty sure I won't be posting again for a while - unless something really interesting happens, of course, and I just HAVE to post - but I promise I will be back with you as soon as I can.

Pray for toilet training success, everyone!

WHICH NAME OF THE BLADE CHARACTER ARE YOU?

Happy Wednesday, Dear Readers! I've got something special to share today - a personality quiz that I wrote for the Tales of Yesterday blog, run by the lovely Michelle.

Nip over here and you can answer a series of questions to find out which of the characters from The Name of the Blade trilogy you most resemble.

The quiz was Chelle's idea, because we'd been hoping to collaborate on a post for a while but wanted to do something different. Frankly, I think she's a genius. I had such fun writing it and I think it's turned out quite shockingly accurate; I'd forgotten how much I loved those things back when I used to fill them out in girls magazines as a teenager.

This has inspired me to try to put together a much longer and more comprehensive quiz involving the main characters from all my books - I hope to be able to post it next week, and then I might make it a permanent addition to the blog and my website. Because it's supercool, let's be real.

If there are any favourite secondary characters you'd like me to try to include, let me know in the comments, kidlets.

Now for some News (yes, it deserves the capital letter) regarding Barefoot on the Wind - otherwise known as #BaBBook - the Beauty & the Beast retelling set in the Moonlit Lands, which is coming out this year.

When readers have asked about it, I've been saying that the book would be available in the Summer, in June or July - because that's when my books have been coming out every year for a while now, since Shadows on the Moon was published. But Wonder Editor has recently let me know that because of various factors they've decided it would be best to push the release date back a little bit - just to the beginning of September. The extra couple of months will hopefully give everyone time to really get behind the book, and also give the designer and illustrator more time to work on a truly sumptuous cover and design. There's also a lovely surprise which will be coming later in the year, but I don't have clearance to talk about that yet. Just know: it's exciting.

And more news! Things I'll Never Say: Stories about Our Secret Selves, the book which contains 'Storm Clouds Fleeing from the Wind', the Shadows on the Moon prequel story featuring a young Akira has been selected for the CCBC Choices List for 2016! I had no idea it was even on the longlist, so to get to the final selection alongside such luminaries as Erin Bow, Libba Bray, Patrick Ness and Rainbow Rowell is pretty phenomenal. Yay!

In Other Stuff, here's a quick progress update: a synopsis and sample chapters for the Mulan - codename DtH - story have been sent off to Walker Books and are with Wonder Editor. I'm crossing my fingers feverishly in the hope that now they can see what I'm trying to achieve and how it will work out, they will love it as much as Super Agent and I do. Your thoughts, prayers and sacrifices of chocolate chip muffins to the Writing Gods would all be extremely welcome.

To keep myself busy, I've been working on a synopsis for another book (a fairytale retelling which I'm really excited about, codenamed TSM - here's the Pinterest board) and fiddling with turning a book proposal for a YA book which Walker books aren't interested in, into an adult book. Yes, gasp, shock. I'm basically doing it as an experiment, and because I can't quite bear to give up on the story - we'll see what comes of it.

Read you later, my lovelies!