It feels really good, finishing a book. Yesterday I finished the final draft of my new one, Teacher's Pet. Hooray! Only the copy editing, cover design, first page proofs, chapter titles, dedication, prelims, second page proofs, jacket blurb, end matter, final page proofs, printing, warehousing, distribution, marketing and publicity to go.

When I was a fresh-faced young author I didn't realise that half the work of making a book is still to be done even after the thing's written. I assumed I'd be typing 'The End', then heading straight off to the nearest bookshop, signing pen in hand.

It was an education, my first book. Once I'd finished the manuscript I was introduced to a large group of people. I thought they were readers anxiously awaiting my first creative effort. Turned out they worked for the publisher – a dedicated team of professionals without whose skill, patience and good spelling no book would ever make it onto a bookshelf.

That's partly why finishing the writing feels so good. Now, instead of spending all day on my own at the computer, I get to work with other people. Hooray!

Next month I'll tell you about Teacher's Pet and the main character Ginger, who's allergic to cats and the acting principal at her school. I can't tell you any more than that yet, because the people at Penguin Books haven't finished showing me how to spell the rest.

Until then, oo-roo and happy reading

21 February 2003