Progress Report

161,556 words. That's how long the book is right now. I wanted to have the edit done by tonight, but unfortunately that's not going to happen. I'm up at 6 in the morning to catch a plane to Leeds, so I'm about to hit the sack.

Oh, and for those of you who were pleading with me to keep LSODM as long as possible... you've got your wish. My editor Nick and my agent Michelle both got back to me, suggesting tiny changes here and there, but nothing that would shorten the book.

So the HUGE amount of characters stay in. The MASSIVE battles stay in. The HILARIOUS jokes and LIGHTNING-FAST wit stay in. Verily, it is a good day to be a Minion.

And I've just been chatting to Laura, who calls it the "deepest and darkest one yet". So I've got her all-important seal of approval, which makes me happy.

When it's out, when you've read it, I'll talk more about the writing of it, and the various problems I had to deal with in order to make it work. Everything from Book Two onwards has been leading up to LSODM, after all. Of all the books, this is the one I was certain about from the very beginning, in 2005, but it was one I was the most unsure about when I was actually writing it. So it comes as a relief to know it's actually good.

So... tomorrow I'm in Leeds— the tickets to which are now sold out— and on Saturday I'm signing in Waterstones in York at 11AM— and no tickets needed.

I'm been really quiet lately, on the Blog and on Twitter, and I do apologise for that, but I had to devote all my attention to the book. Now that it's (practically) done, I can get back to normal. Which'll be... er... nice.

I guess...