I was disappointed to have to miss an informal evening gathering in Covent Garden yesterday to celebrate publication of Terri Paddock's YA novel, Come Clean (HarperCollins). I had also gathered - only on the grapevine, since no information had been sent to me directly - that there was to be some kind of launch for the Centre for the Children's Book in London during the afternoon, so had intended to try and cover both events. In the end, I had to stay at home for the delivery (and construction) of a bed.
The novel, about a draconian drugs rehabilitation programme in America, and based on the experience of Paddock's sister, poured out of the author, according to a report in the TES:
?I borrowed a friend?s flat in Monaco,? [Paddock] says, ?and wrote 60,000 words in a week. One day alone I wrote 20,000. I hardly slept. I hardly ate. Writers sometimes talk about being a channel. It had never happened to me before, but this just seemed to pour out of me.At times I was writing it with tears streaming down my face. I guess it had preyed on my mind for years.?
