THE LUCK FACTOR

Do you think luck is something you can't control, something that just happens to us?

Apparently not. We affect our own luck, and a great way to understand how is to read psychologist Richard Wiseman's work. His book, The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind, "reveals the four scientific principles of luck - and how you can use them to change your life."

Wiseman conducted research into people who considered themselves very lucky and those who believed they were very unlucky. He wanted to see if it was just luck or if there was something different about their behaviour, anything that could be causing their good or bad luck. Because if we knew what was causing it, perhaps we could change it?

He shows that lucky people share four principles:

1. they maximize chance opportunities
2. they listen to "gut feelings" 
3. they expect good fortune 
4. they see the bright side of bad luck

And Wiseman isn't the only person who can tell you about luck being in your control. Here's an article referring toThe Book of Luck, by Heather Summers and Anne Watson.

I told you about John Woods, surely one of the luckiest men alive. If Jack, my character in Wasted, had known about John Woods, he'd probably have been obsessed by him. Well, fine, but I can't see that John Woods did anything apart from be lucky. He didn't make choices which in advance he could say were sensible, could he? Just really lucky.

But there are other aspects of our lives where there are clearly things we should do to attract luck. For example, in jobs, careers, relationships, the experiences of meeting people, if you put yourself in the right situations and go into them positively, you give yourself more chances to be lucky. Whereas if you sit at home, too scared or lazy to do anything, you will miss possible encounters or events that could change your life for the better.

So, Richard Wiseman did a number of experiments to discover why some people may affect their luck - for good or bad. And I thought I'd tell you about one of them, which he relates in The Luck Factor.

He found two people, Martin and Brenda. Martin seemed exceptionally lucky and Brenda exceptionally unlucky. Martin talked about all the good things that happened to him and Brenda seemed to talk only about the unlucky things that happened to her. So, Wiseman set up an experiment, without telling either of them what was going on - they just thought they were going to be interviewed about luck.

A TV crew rigged up hidden cameras outside a coffee shop and Martin and Brenda were asked to go there at two specific times and wait in the coffee shop till someone from the "Luck Project" came to meet them. In the coffee shop were four tables, each with a person sitting there who was secretly involved in the experiment. One was a successful businessman and the others were not. All had to behave the same way.

A £5 note was left on the pavement outside.

When Martin arrived, he saw the £5 note and picked it up. He sat next to the businessman, bought him a coffee and introduced himself. Soon they were chatting.

Later, after Martin had gone, another £5 note was placed outside and they waited for Brenda. 

Brenda didn't see the £5 note. In the coffee shop, she did sit next to the businessman, but she didn't say anything.

Later, Wiseman interviewed them about any lucky or unlucky things that had happened that day. Brenda said nothing had happened; Martin talked about the £5 note and the chat with the businessman.

The point, as Wiseman says, is that these two people had exactly the same opportunities for luck that day, but they each behaved differently and so experienced different things.

So, keep your eyes open for £5 notes on the pavement and do take opportunities that arise! You never know what might happen. Martin's life didn't change (or not obviously) after his chat with the businessman, but it might have done. What if he'd been looking for a job? What if the man had been impressd by him and liked him?

Yes, bad and good things happen to us. But we can and do make our own luck.

Good luck!! Or, I should say: grasp those chances that come along, keep your eyes open, be positive and don't let £5 notes pass you by!

BLOG TOUR: WHERE AM I TODAY?  I'm over at the Bookette, with a Home and Away feature. You get to peer inside my home, if you want to. It's a bit messy but I did a bit of tidying before the Bookette came...

TELL ME YOUR STORIES OF CHANCE -

Tell me your stories! How has chance affected your life? Have you had a really unlucky incident, where you were JUST in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or a very lucky escape? Or do you know anyone who has? I'd love to hear - you can tell me in the comment box below.

Read the posts called LUCKIEST MAN ALIVE? and TOMMY ALLSUP's LUCKY ESCAPE to see what I mean. Though I don't expect you'll have anything as dramatic as that!

I've had four lucky escapes do do with car accidents. One where I fell asleep at the wheel and ended up on the other side of the road. But if I'd ended up on the OTHER side of the road, I'd have been dead... And, since I had fallen asleep, I couldn't control which way I went. It literally could have been left or right. Also, what if a car had been behind me in the lane I went into?

On another occasion, we were on the motorway and suddenly decided to take a different road, perhaps because we fancied some lovely scenery. We left the motorway but about ten minutes later we decided it was a mistake because there was a lot of traffic, so we went back onto the motorway. A few miles further on, we came to a bad accident which had just happened. A really bad accident... Now, I can't be sure whether we'd have been involved in it if we hadn't made that short detour, but the timing of it looked very much as though we'd have been just there at the wrong time.

I'm collecting other stories of chance from people I know. Lucy Coats, Kath Langrish and Catherine Hughes have started me off. You can read their stories here. Also, they're writers, so you'll see how amazingly different each writer's approach is to the simple task, "Tell me your stories of chance."

I have also just been sent this one by Claire Marriot, one of the bloggers I'm visiting. Her blog is over at Buckswriter but I just had to bring you her story here. When I read it, I felt my skin shrivelling.

"On the morning of 7 July 2005 I was running late. I’d probably hit the snooze button one too many times but, however it occurred, I found myself hurrying towards the door with my bag slung over one arm and coat over the other, intent on getting the next train into London. Except my front door wouldn’t open.

"Irritated, I put down the bag and tried the lock again. Nothing. I cursed under my breath as I had only had the locks changed a few weeks earlier when I moved into the house. I wiggled the key, pulled on the latch, tried oiling the lock but that door just wasn’t going to budge. I could get out of the back door and into a side alley through my garden gate but I couldn’t lock up behind me if I went out that way and I didn’t want to leave all my new possessions unprotected for the rest of the day. Finally I realised I was going to have to call the locksmith and get him to break me out.

"Really cross now, I called the office and told them I’d be late for our morning meeting. I boiled the kettle and tried to relax, waiting for the locksmith to arrive from the next village. He got there in about 30 minutes and was absolutely astonished at what had happened. The deadbolt had stuck in the locked position and he said he had never seen a new lock fail like that in over 25 years. Scant consolation for me I thought as I paid him and set about gathering up my coat and bag. Then the phone rang…

"It was a colleague from my office telling me that if I hadn’t left home yet I should stay where I was and turn on the TV as something odd was happening with transport in London. I told her I’d ring her back and switched on the morning news. That morning suicide bombers had blown up a London bus and three tube trains, killing 52 passengers and injuring hundreds more. Horrified I watched as the whole city shut down and streams of people, dazed and crying, emerged into the streets – many being carried or helped by passers-by.

"I never made it in to the office that day, we were a government building so the whole place shut down for several days afterwards. I have no way of knowing if I would have been on any of those trains, they weren’t my usual routes but I sometimes went a different way to avoid the crowds. Thankfully none of my colleagues were hurt either, although one had a very near miss. All I do know is that a lock failed on that day, in a very unexpected and unpredictable way, and I was physically prevented from journeying into London.

"Luck, chance, a kindly fate looking out for me? I’m not sure, but things like that certainly make you think."

No decision was involved in Claire's story, and it's small decisions that I'm mostly looking for from you, but nevertheless this is a powerful example of how chance events have huge consequences.

Over to you! And keep them as short as possible, please, otherwise we could end up writing a book between us. Hmm, now there's a thought!

BLOG TOUR: WHERE AM I TODAY? Nowhere. Lounging around at home. In real life, I'm unpacking boxes. Such is the glamour of my life. Tomorrow, I'm over at the Bookette.

PUBLICATION DAY!

Publication Day! So, what do you think I'll be doing? Opening bunches of hand-tied flowers and drinking champagne? Basking in pleasure?

Not quite. First, I'm presenting the prizes at the Pushkin prizes in Edinburgh. This is a creative writing competition for teenagers in Scotland and Russia and it's a fabulous showcase of young writing talent. I've been judging the competition with the poet Stewart Conn and Jenny Carr from the Scotland-Russia institute and today we present the prizes to the winners, with their families and teachers and lots of important people. All the winners and runners-up will receive a copy of Wasted as well as lots of other books.

Then, I'm leaping into a train to go to London. Oh, you mean for a glittering reception for publication day? Or to Buckingham Palace so that the Queen can personally congratulate me? Er, no. (Thank goodness...) We've bought a flat in London and one of my daughters and I are doing the removal bit tomorrow, with two vans arriving with stuff from storage. So, I will be sleeping on the floor tonight and I may have no internet connection. But I'll have my favourite possession - iphone - so I'll be able to read your comments.

Thank you ALL so much for all your support up to now - today, I'm not bringing you any mind-boggling science or fascinating philosophy, just thanking you for your kind words and hoping you'll stay with me for a while and share your thoughts about the ideas behind the book. If you read Wasted and like it, DO tell your friends, comment on the blog and put a review on Amazon. I really really really do need all the help I can get and I will be grateful to you for ever, if not even longer.

I have been stunned by the response so far and am now even more dreading the first time someone will think (and say) that the book is rubbish. Until that point, I'm thrilled with the Amazon reviews and other online stuff. I happen to know there's a major newspaper review coming up soon, but obviously I don't know what it says. *bites nails*. Trust me when I say that it's not the fact that the reviews have been so positive that I'm so pleased about, but the fact that every single one of them has understood exactly what I was trying to do. It seems to have struck chords and I'm so glad it's not just me who thinks about the world in this weird and wondering way.

Meanwhile, this evening I will raise a small glass of sparkly stuff to you all. By chance  -  chance rules again  -  tonight I'm staying with my old friend from university, Karen, and the philosophy stuff in Wasted was what we used to spend hours and hours arguing about. And her daughter is currently at our old college so there'll be lots to talk about.

THE WASTED BLOG TOUR - WHERE AM I TODAY?

Over on the fabulous publishing blog of Jane Smith at How Publishing Really Works. I still haven't met Jane but we've become good friends through our shared desire to strip away the mysteries of publishing and tell it how it is, to help good writers achieve publication. Join me there! (Though I can't remember what I said in the post...)

RISK AND YOUR LIFE

Taking risks is essential. If we didn't take risks we'd never achieve our potential. After all, applying for a good job or for promotion are both risky: you might fail. Going on stage or singing a solo would be risky: you might mess up. Travelling is risky - but if you don't do it you won't see new things, learn more. Even going on a course, or to an event where you might meet new people, is risky: you might feel embarrassed or left out, or not have anyone to talk to. But taking all those risks would be a good thing because you give yourself more chance of success.

Humans wouldn't have left our caves if we hadn't taken risks. We'd never have crossed oceans, built planes, discovered new technology, if we hadn't taken the risk of failure first.

Even if we want to avoid risk, we can't. Think you'll just stay at home? Well, that's risky, too!

In one year in the UK:

• nearly 4000 people died after an accident at home;
• 650,000 ended up in hospital after colliding with a person or object in the home;
• 439,000 ended up in hospital after simply walking through their home or garden;
• 96000 ended up in hospital after being injured while sleeping, relaxing, sitting down.

In one year in the USA, on average:

• 1 in 400 Americans will have an accident while lying in bed, usually from the headboard collapsing;
• 130 will die falling out of bed;
• 1 in 6500 will be injured by a toilet...
  

So, we can't avoid risk and luckily we mostly don't go round worrying about it. Imagine if we did - we'd soon be nervous wrecks.

At the same time, we have to make decisions about some risks, and we'll all make different decisions based on many aspects of our personalities and circumstances. Some people enjoy more risk than others. And different sorts of risk. Because there are different sorts: there's the physical, thrill-seeking risk of things such as sky-diving (fools!) or the "experience-seeking" risk that makes us like meeting new people, having new experiences. And other sorts, too.

What sort of a risk-raker are you? I wrote about this in my book on the teenage brain - Blame My Brain -  and there's a great quiz in that, so you can assess your risk-taking. I'd love to re-print it here, but I can't because I'd need permission from the scientist who allowed me to use it in the book. I'm not very good at telling people to buy my books but Blame My Brain is a really popular one for teenagers and their parents, so I think I can honestly recommend it. (It's actually written for teenagers, but adults keep adopting it and quoting from it - thieves.) It's written to be enjoyed, and is very reassuring for teenagers (and parents) who are stressed or worried, or just interested in what's going on in their brains.

In Wasted, Jack is a big risk-taker, because he throws himself on the mercy of the toss of a coin. What he does when he goes out at night and lets the coin lead him is hugely risky. But that's why he does it: he needs it, emotionally, psychologically.

Me? I'd rather risk the headboard falling on me while I'm "safe" in bed...

Mind you, one huge risk I do take, even though I'm not a big risk-taker, is the risk of writing a book. Have you any idea how risky that is?? After all, people could hate it and tell me so, and then I'd feel awful and ashamed and want to curl up in my bed, EVEN if the headboard might fall on me. Seriously, writing a book is very risky, very exposing, very terrifying.

Quite like sky-diving, really. Which I would NEVER do.

WASTED BLOG TOUR - WHERE AM I TODAY? Nowhere! I'm having a rest. But tomorrow, I am over at How Publishing Really Works, invited by my lovely friend Jane Smith. As for where I'll be physically: presenting prizes and speaking in the morning and hopping on a train to London in the afternoon, to prepare to take possession of our new London flat on Tuesday, after much delay and enormous stress. Do watch out for me on twitter if you want to know how that goes... I am @nicolamorgan on Twitter and I'd love to see you there and follow you back.

SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT - VERY WEIRD

Jack's band is called Schrödinger's Cats. I'd like to tell you why.

It relates, as many of you will realise, to a scientific conundrum commonly called Schrödinger's Cat or The Schrödinger's Cat paradox. It's one of the weirdest things to think about in the whole of physics and philosophy. Hardly anyone really understands it - I certainly don't! - and scientists argue about what it means.

It's called a "thought experiment" because it can't physically be proved. (Luckily for the cat.)

Here's the wikipedia entry.

And here is a nice clear video featuring a scientist with mad hair.

But I prefer this one, because you get to click a button and see whether the cat lives or dies - very like tossing a coin at the end of Wasted.


Confused? You're not alone! You are supposed to be confused. The scientist Niels Bohr said, "If anybody says he can think about quantum physics without getting giddy, that only shows he has not understood the first thing about them." And also, "If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet."

(If you are stumbling on this for the first time, I blogged about quantum mechanics / physics here, and do read the comments, too, because they're very helpful.) 

Schrödinger wasn't saying that we have to believe that a cat can be dead and alive at the same time. He was saying that our current understanding of quantum physics suggests that the cat is dead and alive, which doesn't make sense, and either that therefore we haven't yet explained it properly, or that quantum science doesn't follow the rules of the rest of the universe. (Which we know is true - but we want to know what rules it follows.)

But the reason that Jack in Wasted is so interested in Schrödinger's Cat is that it's all about tiny (really tiny, invisible and impossible to observe even with a huge microscope) particles that change just by being observed**. And the idea that nothing is true until it's true. This is my explanation of Schrodinger's Cat - bearing in mind that I'm not a scientist but a philosopher by nature and training. "Everything is possible until it isn't." So, his idea is that if our lives seem ruled by chance (even though they're not - it just seems that way because we can't see or control the causes) then we can CHANGE what happens to us just by thinking about, or watching, or talking about what might happen.

For example, leaving the house five minutes earlier might make a big difference to your life - you might meet someone, or have an accident, or AVOID an accident. (I'm going to talk a lot more about that in later posts and ask you for your stories on May 4th.) Because we can't predict these things we don't bother to think about them - so, we don't think, "Hmmm, if I leave the house five minutes later, this will make a difference." We just leave the house without thinking. But Jack thinks that if we take control of small actions, we will affect our luck. We still won't control luck but we will affect it and feel in control.

**(Though, according to one of the helpful commenters on my recent blog post in the link above, the idea of observation here is not just the act of someone looking, but the measuring, which involves a physical act likely to change the particle. However, this is still why Jack is fascinated and why he calls his band Schrödinger's Cats.))

When I was at university, I studied philosophy, and specifically metaphysics, the discussion of how the world works beyond physics. We talked about truth, reality, knowledge, relativity, and a whole load more. Some of the things you have to puzzle over can drive you nuts! A philosopher can claim to prove that the table in front of you isn't real, which is very disconcerting if you want to put your mug of tea on it. So, you have to live your life as a normal person, and reserve the philosophy for fun. I think it's the same with quantum physics - we have to live our lives ignoring it, and just puzzle about it for fun.

Unless your job is to be a quantum physicist... In which case, I am happy for you to be dead and alive and work out for yourself just how that feels.

I'd love to know if any of you have any thoughts about Schrödinger's Cat, or if you can help me explain it better. But those of you who are serious scientists need to be careful - the rest of us are simple beings and are probably confused enough already...

THE WASTED BLOG TOUR - WHERE AM I TODAY? I am delighted to be over at Mary Hoffman's blog. Mary, aka the Book Maven, is a hugely successful and well-known author for young people and she's been kind enough to support me in lots of ways. Over there I'm talking about how writers prey on make use of the fact that readers can be made to suspend their disbelief; how even rational, sciencey people can, when engrossed in a story by a skilled story-teller, believe what we want them to believe. The reason I was thinking about that when I blogged for Mary is that last night, April 30th, was Walpurgis Night and I was doing an after-dinner speech at the Scottish Arts Club. Head over to Mary's to see what on earth that's got to do with anything!

PS - the speech went really well, though this was definitely the oldest audience I've ever spoken to and, although they were charming and laughed in all the right places, I don't think most of them had a clue what teenage fiction was about or why anyone would bother to write it! Maybe they should read this fabulous piece by one of my blog readers, womagwriter.

HELP! I'M NERVOUS!

Nervous? Have you any idea, you readers? Do you think writers just sit glowing with pride at having published a book? Ohhhh no. We're sensitive souls, fragile creatures, and we care so very much about our books. We KNOW not everyone will like them but we also foolishly hope they will. Or at least that when people don't like our books they will find a nice way to say so or else say nothing.

And I am very nervous because it's horribly close to publication day for Wasted. Not that the exact day makes much difference because it's all too late to stop it now. I may WANT to change half the words in it but I can't. I may WANT to hide in a cupboard but I can't. (For a start, I have this blog and all of you are kindly and patiently sitting there waiting for Wasted to come out - or at least making a very good show of pretending to.)

Once a book is published, there's so much luck involved. So much can go wrong and there are myriad reasons why some books fail to be noticed. More reasons to be nervous. And some books mean more to the author than others. Wasted means more to me than any of my others - only The Passionflower Massacre came close, and that faded into obscurity despite having great reviews from the start.

I'm also doing an after-dinner speech this evening at the Scottish Arts Club, where they are having a black tie dinner to celebrate Walpurgis Night. They obviously thought that since Walpurgis Night is all about evil spirits and witches and other nasty things, I was a suitable choice of speaker...

Doing these things - writing books and giving talks is risky and nerve-inducing. But there's a lesson here, to do with luck. And luck is something that Wasted is very much about.

You see, I know there are lots of things that happen which we can't control. Really bad things happen to good people and good things happen to horrible people. But apart from that, I DO believe that if we are bold and confident and get out there and try things, we have more chance of luck coming our way. In other words, we have to take risks in order to succeed. (I'll be blogging about this another day.)

Writing a book is a very big risk. People might hate it; I might feel stupid; it might be a total waste of time if it does badly. It's very exposing. So I'm nervous.

But I'm glad I took the risk. I love so much about being a writer. And the pleasures of seeing people love a book outweigh the times when someone hates it. Yes, when someone criticises it, it's horrible, truly horrible, but I have to accept it as one of the risks. Like falling off a horse - it hurts. But you get back up and you gallop with the wind in your hair and everything is worth it.

Doesn't stop me being nervous about Monday, though!

(On the other hand, when you read the post on Monday, you'll see that I'm not going to have much time to be nervous...)

Thank you all so much for joining and reading this blog. I promise you lots of interesting stuff over the next few weeks. Several chances to win copies of Wasted or my other books, and lots of opportunities to be involved. And, as with everything in life, you just never know where it might lead. My motto in life is simple: do. If you do nothing, nothing will happen to you. And how boring and frustrating that would be.

THE BLOG TOUR BEGINS - WHERE AM I?

Today I am a guest on writer Nik Perring's blog, where I'll be talking about all the emotions that writers go through on their long journey to publication. Including being nervous, of course.

Tomorrow I'll be visiting the Book Maven, Mary Hoffman's, blog. I hop you'll join me at Nik and Mary's and check out the excellent blogs of those two successful writers.

Don't forget that tomorrow is also the next prize draw for a copy of Wasted - all you have to do is be a follower of this blog. Good luck! Oh, and do encourage people to enter the Flash Fiction competition - I've had a fantastic standard of entries but very few stories from school age writers. Go write!

PIGEON SURPRISE

SPOT THE PIGEON

A pigeon smashes through a window at one point in WASTED. This actually happened to me while I was writing the book. If it hadn’t, the whole story would have been different. While you're reading the book - if you do! - see if you can predict when it will happen…

I thought you might like to see the picture of my window afterwards. Rather bizarrely, this has happened to me twice, same window, and both times I was in the room.

The time which affected WASTED was interesting: I was sitting in my study, near the window, with my laptop on my lap, trying to think of something that could happen to one of the characters which would make a few minutes' difference to the time when he reached a particular spot. It had to be a completely unconnected, random event. Anyway, as I was trying to think of this, CRASH! A pigeon smashed through the window.

Once I'd finished screaming (and running out of the room), I realised that this was exactly what I needed in my plot, because it would delay him by a couple of minutes, which was all I needed. As you'll see when you get to that point, whether he is there when the pigeon smashes through the window or not makes a life or death difference.

You see, sometimes writers don't need an imagination: sometimes real life is all we need.

Warning: both my editor and agent said that the pigeon incident is one of the shocking moments of the book.

WASTED BLOG TOUR - begins tomorrow, with a visit to Nik Perring's blog. Thanks, Nik! His blog today has lovely pictures of his new book of short stories, Not So Perfect. In view of the fact that my post today has been about pigeons, it's quite interesting that his has a picture of a cat on the cover. Cat among the pigeons, eh? Or something.

MEET THE CAST OF WASTED

I've had lovely comments about the characters in Wasted, so it's my pleasure to tell you a bit about them here.

Jess - gorgeous, half-Italian / half-Norwegian, fabulous singer and musician. I would love to have been like her. Trouble is, her mother, Sylvia, is becoming an alcoholic. Jess has no brothers or sisters, and her father left home years ago, so Jess feels responsible. She knows her mother doesn't want her to leave home, but Jess finishes school in two weeks' time and she really wants to go away, to music college, after some travelling. Jess is very together, very cool and lovely, but she's worried about her mum, and doesn't know what to do. Not just worried, but embarrassed and somewhat exasperated. There's a crack opening between them and it shouldn't be Jess who has to deal with this but Jess is more mature than Sylvia and is left with a lot she shouldn't have to deal with.

Jack - also gorgeous! Mad hair, very arty, fabulous musician, has a band called Schrodinger's Cats. Studies philosophy and music for A-level, very intense - sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. He's very together as well, and it takes a lot to rock him: he has equilibrium. But inside, Jack is dealing with an obsession about luck and chance. He's obsessed about stories of people dying through chance events. He's got good reason to be obsessed about that - he has twice lost his mother. His first mother died while giving birth to him. His second mother died on his first day at school, and it was his "fault", or at least caused by him. I won't tell you how it happened but I have to warn you: it's not nice. It's really, really not nice. But Jack is 18 now and he's recovered. Hasn't he? Well, yes, but now this obsession with luck is threatening to destroy him.

Jack and Jess meet, by chance, and fall in love. WOW, how they fall in love! I never quite meant it to happen like this but I love how their relationship takes over - it takes them over and it took me over. They almost can't touch each other because the electricity between them is so strong. It takes their breath away.

Sylvia - Jess's mother, flighty, dippy, fragile, blousy, artistic, scatty, uncontrolled, damaged, yet lovely too. And drinks too much. Much too much. She's falling to pieces.

Kelly, Samantha and Charlie - the Kelly Gang, enemies to Jack (because Jack once knocked Kelly back when she tried to come on to him) and Jess (because she's friends with Jack and accidentally insulted Kelly); they are tarty but stunning, tanned, mini-skirted, long-legged, wild. And they cause a whole lot of trouble. One of them will pay a heavy price. 


Lorenzo - Jess's dad, who lives in Chicago and sees her about once a year. Italian, clever, successful, but a lousy father. Buys Jess's love, doesn't know how to care properly about her. Quite unemotional, clinical. He has a lot to learn.


Sam - Jack's dad. Lovely man! We don't see much of him but he seems very together despite having been widowed twice. Does a great job with Jack. Relaxed, confident, cool, sensible. Worries about Jack but not too much.

Spike - Jess's cat. Spike is delicious, soft, warm, and important. Like all cats, he senses trouble, reads emotions. Spike has a chapter to himself and I've put it here.

I don't think it's necessary for a reader to like the characters in a book but I like liking them, and I certainly do like the main characters in Wasted. I really hope you do, too. I'd love to know what you think. I know some of you have read it already - do put your comments here.

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IN OTHER NEWS

Some fab reviews on Amazon already. And lovely comments by email, too. Thank you! I don't know if any of you understand how important this book is to me - much more so than anything I've done. I know some people won't like it but I really want it to reach its intended readers.That's all I can hope for, but so many good books don't succeed and I'm pretty nervous about Wasted still.

Meanwhile, the blog tour starts soon - I'll be visiting Nik Perring's blog on Sunday. Thanks, Nik!

QUANTUM PHYSICS FOR SCAREDY CATS!

The first thing you need to know is that I am no scientist. Utterly useless, I am. You think I’m exaggerating? Well, my last science report at school said, “Nicola has absolutely no aptitude for science subjects.” So, I gave up. Well, I was probably planning to give up anyway, but then I certainly did, much to the relief of all concerned.

So, it’s not very easy for me to try to explain anything sciencey to you, especially something so weird and extraordinary that it actually doesn't make sense, even to scientists: quantum physics. (There's a video coming at the end of this post which I think explains it really well, but bear with me while I try... Oh, and apologies if I seem to be speaking very simply: this is for my brain's benefit, not because I think you won't understand!)

Here are some things that I do understand about quantum physics:

• It’s the science of VERY small things, smaller than atoms, smaller than I can imagine.
• These particles are called quanta (the plural of quantum).
• Even a quantum is not the smallest thing – each quantum is made of gluons, quarks, protons and electrons.
• Quanta do not behave like other particles – they follow very different rules.
• Scientists don’t fully know what those rules are.
• But they have some theories.

One theory (which I believe they have proved - and the video you'll see later seems to show how) about quanta is that they change / move when they are observed – SO, we cannot predict where one will be at any time because the act of finding it will change where it is or how fast it moves.

That is "Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle": that you cannot simultaneously know the position and speed of a quantum particle, because it moves by being observed: in other words, the act of trying to measure its position changes it.

This theory was HUGELY important because before that we had assumed that every particle’s position was a) measurable and b) governed by physical laws and all we had to do was know the position and movement of every particle and then we could know what it would do. For example, if we knew everything that would affect the way a coin was spun, we could know which way it would land.

The Uncertainty Principle tells us that we cannot know, not even logically, not in theory or practice or even if we had infinite power. Because everything changes. And it's very important in Wasted, even though (thankfully) I never mention it.

The video below explains why scientists believe this and some of what it means.

One confusing and famous consequence of quantum theory is the Schrodinger's Cat paradox, but that will have to wait till Saturday because I'm now exhausted by all this science and need to go and lie down in a darkened room. On Saturday I will attempt to explain it, so please don't go and mess things up by telling me anything about it in your comments, otherwise I may have to do something nasty to the cat.

While I go and lie down, take a look at this video. I don’t know about you, but it really helps me a) understand b) see just how weird this all is c) see why scientists are fascinated by it.

Oh, and c) it makes me very glad I’m not a scientist. But then, after all, I have no aptitude for science.

Except that I did write two books about the brain! Hooray for teachers saying I am useless...

FLASH FICTION COMPETITION

This for all the writers amongst you - young or not young, published and unpublished. A flash fiction competition. Flash fiction is a very very very short story.  I wrote about this on my other blog here.

Stories can be told in a tiny number of words. Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story in six words which he considered to be his best ever:

"For sale: baby shoes, never used."

I wrote one once, in four words:

"Certainly," said the inn-keeper.

These stories are obviously not very satisfying for readers. But they open your mind to ideas and possibilities. How would history have changed if there'd been room at the inn? What is the story behind Hemingway's unworn baby shoes?

My challenge to you is to write a story in not more than 50 words, inspired by any one of these three words:

Luck, Chance or Fate.

Two age categories:

A - school pupil (at today's date: April 26th 2010)

B - left school (however long ago!)

RULES:

1. Closing date 15th June 2010 - winners announced before end of UK school term.
2. Prizes sent to UK address only - if you're overseas, do enter but nominate a UK resident to receive the prize. You'll still get the glory!!
3. Category A entrants - please indicate the name of your school on your entry and ask permission from school or parent. Also please indicate your AGE.
4. Email your entry to talkaboutwasted@hotmail.co.uk
5. Put the words FLASH COMPETITION in the subject line.
6. Give an email contact but not your postal address - I will ask you for that if you're a winner.
7. 50 words max. Hyphenated words count as one. I will not disqualify a writer for writing 51 words accidentally. But I might for 52 or 53...
8. I will use independent judges and their decision will be final.
9. One prize in each category: the winner's choice of any of my in print books, signed. Runners-up will get honourable mentions on blogs.
10. By entering, you give permission for me to publish your entry or part on my blogs.

Off you go! I will publish some of the best on this blog and on my other blog - www.helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com  -  and I'll use Twitter to publicise them so loads of people could read your work. Take time to polish, polish and polish. In flash fiction, every word counts so make every one work really hard.

And as Wasted shows, you never know where any action might lead you. Your decision to enter this competition could have unpredictable effects and one thing is certain: you'll never know unless you try.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt the impossible: to explain quantum physics. For someone who was as useless at science as me (according to my teachers - thanks for the support anyway), that is a very difficult task.

I need coffee. And probably chocolate.

LUCKIEST MAN ALIVE??

Yesterday I told you about Tommy Allsup. But there's another man alive today who has been so lucky that it's hard to believe. There's a part of me thinks this simply can't be true, but it seems to be, so I'm going to tell you.

He's called John Woods.

(Actually, after the post yesterday, several of you came up with some others stories of amazingly lucky people. Check out Franko Selek and Maryanne Bruce. No one guessed the correct answer so I get to keep the prize - hehe! On the other hand, lucky blog-follower Vanessa O'Loughlin won yesterday's free draw, so she will receive a signed copy very soon. Well done, Vanessa! Everyone else - next draw Sat May 1st.)

Back to John Woods. In 1988, he was booked on the Pan-Am flight which exploded over Lockerbie, killing everyone on board. But he cancelled at the last minute because someone had persuaded him to go to a party in his office.

In 1993, he was on the 39th floor of the World Trade Centre when it was bombed, but he survived, uninjured.

On September 11th, 2001, he left his office in one of the Twin Towers. Seconds later, one of the two planes involved hit the building in the appalling tragedy which shook America and changed the world. John Woods was safe again.

I wonder how many days go by when he doesn't say to himself, "What if?" But you could go crazy thinking like that - so I hope he locks it away in a small place in his mind and focuses on the fact that he simply is a very, very lucky man.

What has this to do with Wasted? Well, one of the two main characters, Jack, is obsessed by stories like this. Jack has lost two mothers. The first one died giving birth to him - a blood clot, terribly bad luck, quite unpredicted and very rare. The second time was rather horrible, and Jack was there too, aged five - he'd just come home from his first day at school and an incredibly unlucky accident in the kitchen, "caused" by Jack, killed her. I'd rather not tell you about it here - it really is rather shocking...

Anyway, although he moves forward and grows up strong and seemingly undamaged, he does have this obsession about luck, good and bad. He covers his wall with stories of people who have horribly bad luck because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like Aeschylus, who is supposed to have died when a tortoise fell on his head! Jack believes that if he throws himself at the mercy of luck, by letting a coin rule his actions, luck will look out for him.

John Woods made a decision which saved him from being on the Pan-Am flight and another that saved him from dying in the Twin Towers. He didn't know he was making an important decision, but it was a decision all the same.

Jack thinks if he makes the right decisions, he will be lucky. But how will he know what the right decisions are? He thinks he knows. He thinks that the only important decision is to spin the coin and follow the answer. But he's going to discover that he's wrong...

I'll be asking for YOUR stories of lucky escapes or chance events on May 4th. So, get thinking. I'm going to collect them all and I might tell them when I do school events and other talks. I want examples of how a tiny chance event affected your life - lucky escapes or unlucky actions, being in the wrong or right place at the right time, how your parents met etc, anything where you believe important results came from a tiny chance happening or decision. Don't tell me now - wait till I post the piece on May 4th. (For soome examples, see the page at the top of this blog, titled Your Chance Events.

Thing is, sometimes we have lucky escapes and don't even know - like Lorenzo in Wasted. Whether he dies in a car crash or not depends on whether he's driving a red car or not, which affects whether a pigeon crashes through a window when he's drinking coffee ... Sounds unlikely? Well, the pigeon scene actually happened to me. I'll tell you about it on Thursday. 

See you tomorrow, when I will have a writing competition for you - a chance for adult writers and school-age writers. If you're at school, tell your English teacher today - this is going to be a great chance for you to demonstrate your creativity and have a chance to be published here.

Meanwhile, comment below! And may you have a very lucky life.

TOMMY ALLSUP'S LUCKY COIN - AND A COMPETITION!

Tommy Allsup is alive and well, but he should have died on Feb 3rd 1959. And he would have done if another man hadn't challenged him to toss a coin.

Tommy was a guitarist with Buddy Holly's band. (Their music should play automatically when you open that link!)

On Feb 3rd 1959, band members were due to fly on an eight-seater plane from Clear Lake, Iowa, to Fargo, New Delaware. All the seats were booked and Tommy had one of the bookings, but Ritchie Valens wanted to join them.

"I'll toss you for it," said Ritchie. And Tommy agreed. Tommy lost the toss and gave up his seat to Ritchie. The plane crashed, killing all on board. The Buddy Holly band had been incredibly successful and this night became known as "the night the music died".

How many times must Tommy Allsup have thought to himself, "What if?" What if Ritchie hadn't wanted to go on the flight? What if Tommy had refused to toss him for it? What if...the hand that flipped the coin had spun it just slightly ... fractionally ... teensily a different way? After all, the way a coin lands depends on so many things. What if a breeze or air current had caught it differently, or if the coin had been the other way up when he picked it up... Arghhhhh! Those unknowable things! You could drive yourself mad thinking like that.

In some ways, that's what Jack does - playing what I call Jack's Game. (I'll tell you more about it another day.) This is what Wasted is based on - those events that seem like "chance" and which rule our lives. But it's not chance, is it? It's about the physical properties of that coin, the way it was spun, the strength of the fingers, the way the wind blew. We can't control it but it's not chance - it just seems like it. It is luck, though. Or it certainly was for Tommy Allsup.

You think Tommy was lucky? Not as lucky as the person I'm going to tell you about tomorrow... Any ideas who it is? Could be the luckiest person alive today.

COMPETITION: guess the name of the person I'm going to blog about tomorrow. I will use a coin to pick a winner if there's more than one correct entry and the winner gets a copy of Wasted. Or, if you already have Wasted, you can choose one of my other books. Hurry - you'll have to post your comment before tomorrow's blog post goes out! So, deadline 09.00 UK time. The post goes out at 09.01 - you get a lie-in for a Sunday!

THE BEGINNING - and CHAPTER ONE

Let the blogging begin!

I am so pleased to welcome you to the first day of the Wasted launch. Whatever your age - and there'll be teenagers and adults of all ages here - I hope you find things to fascinate, challenge and argue about.

I will bring you something new every day: snippets, behind the scenes facts, things to make you think, prizes to win, chances to test your own writing skills. Some of it will be light-hearted, some will be incredible science which I only half understand. I hope you will get to know me, be interested in Wasted, want to talk about it. There are so many ideas behind it, ideas I've been thinking about ever since I was a teenager and that I've never fully found answers to. In Wasted, my characters showed me something which comes as close to answers as I think I can manage. My answers, anyway. Maybe you'll have some better ones.

I hope I will get to know you, too. Please leave comments and questions. I will answer them all - though I'm away doing events on some days, so sometimes I may be slower. 

You can write reviews and have them published here. You can add them beneath the post over here. Or email them to me.

If you want to contact me off the blog instead of commenting, email talkaboutwasted@hotmail.co.uk - my assistant will pick up emails if I'm away and she'll pass them to me. 

Would you like a poster for your school or library? Email rebecca.harper@walker.co.uk  Also, a link for a free downloadable poster is coming here soon.

Press enquiries should go to ruth.maurice@walker .co.uk

In the last few weeks, some people have read Wasted - librarians, teenagers, teachers, general readers, booksellers - and I've had an amazing response. I've never had a buzz like this about any of my books and I'm very excited. But nervous, too. Wasted is more me than anything I've written - it has my heart and soul etched deep. If you like it, please say so - here, or by reviewing it on Amazon, or telling my publishers. Or all three! I will be grateful for ever. (Actually, I mean that.) And, as Wasted shows, you never know what effect your small actions may have. Small actions can change everything. I really, really need your help.

I'm visiting loads of great blogs on a tour in the next few weeks and there'll be links to all of them here. Thanks to all the bloggers who welcomed me. If you want to see where I'm going, there's a list in the righthand menu bar.

If you click on the pages near the top, you'll find stuff to give you an idea about the book. 

NOTE: those of you who have already voted in the polls on the right will need to do it again because I had a tech problem and had to delete all but one. Sorry! 

I think what I should do now is let you read the first chapter. So, here it is.  Are you sitting comfortably?

(Reproduced by kind permission of Walker Books Ltd.)

WASTED - CHAPTER ONE

Jess is spinning a coin. Not actually playing Jack’s Game yet, because if you’re going to play you have to be very sure. Heads or tails, win or lose, life or death: playing the game changes things and you can’t escape its rules.

She thinks – because she has thought about this quite a lot in the last day and a bit – that if there’s a God, He must play Jack’s Game. There’s not really any other explanation she can think of.

Jess is sitting in a horrible waiting room the colour of old white socks. Waiting. The waiting is awful. It numbs her. Though perhaps waiting for ever would be better than knowing. She wants her guitar, but it wouldn’t exactly be appropriate. You can’t sing in a place like this.

On the floor is a grubby doll with no clothes and one leg. It lies there with blue eyes open. It looks shocked, or dead. There is pen scribbled on its stomach and someone has tried to cut its hair. Jess remembers doing that to a doll once, convinced that it would grow again.

Jess is seventeen years old. Her dad’s a genetic scientist, apparently. Her mum’s an alcoholic. If you tossed a coin, chances are she could take after either or both of them. Trouble is, her dad lives 4,000 miles away and her mum lives next door to her bedroom. This probably alters her chances.

A flash of anger crosses Jess’s mind. She thinks that if she saw the Kelly Gang now she’d want to… But no, best not to think like that. Jess is not prone to violent  thoughts. But she is in a state of shock, and strange feelings are stirring. She tries to think about anything else.

The bracelet she’s wearing. A birthday present from her best friend, Chloe. That was a good day: her mum remembered to rustle up a cake – all the way from Mrs Beaton’s Tea Shoppe – and they ate it on the beach, digging their bare heels into the shingle and breathing the seashell air. Her dad phoned and sent the usual money.

But Jess is scared and it’s hard to keep her mind on such things as cake, though she must try. So: it was a fantastic cake; she and her mum used their fingers to scrape the chocolate icing off the wrapping; they have the best cakes in Mrs Beaton’s Tea Shoppe.

If she saw the Kelly Gang now she’d want to kill them. To be honest. Not very nice, but then why should Jess feel nice?

Keep spinning the coin, Jess. It will help. Focus on that coin. Don’t drop it. That’s better.

Jess is trying to make a decision. Does she dare play the game? The sensible part of her knows she shouldn’t. After all, she managed to stop Jack taking it so seriously. But Jack’s Game is serious, and perhaps it’s all she can do now. Maybe all the spirits and gods and everything else that has a say in the world watch when you play Jack’s Game. Maybe that’s what gives it its power. It’s like ancient magic, but with science. According to Jack. Now she is confused and alone and needing him to take the decision away, but when she thinks back to the newspaper stories on his bedroom wall, she knows what he would do. She just can’t decide whether he’s right.

Jess is more than confused and alone. She is barely holding herself together. If she breathes too hard she may shatter into a million pieces.

She glances at the clock. Still spinning the coin. With remarkable skill, considering that she’s only been practising for two weeks. It almost ripples across her fingers, weaving in and out, a life of its own. Left hand as good as the right. That’ll be the piano-playing, and guitar. Someone comes through the door. A woman. Her eyes are puffy. She grips the hand of a bewildered child with chocolate on its face. Jess doesn’t want to look at her, but she’s drawn by her grief. The woman picks up the dead doll and gives it to the child, who grins and grabs it by its remaining leg. Jess thinks that if she was the child’s mother she’d make her daughter clean and dress it and learn how to love it in more ways than just holding on. The door clunks shut and the air settles again.

Jess rummages in her bag and gets out her iPod, plugs her ear-things in and retreats into her music. Their music. The colours wash over her and her senses merge. She closes her eyes, keeps the outside out: the Kelly Gang, the smell, the being really scared. Yesterday. Saturday. Everything. Her mum should be here. Her dad. Someone. A girl shouldn’t be in such a place on her own. But then Jess didn’t tell anyone she was coming so early, so you can hardly blame them.

She opens her eyes suddenly, rips out the ear-things. Breathe slowly, Jess. Almost lost it there. Maybe music is not such a good idea right now, or at least not this particular song. Maybe you should read a magazine. Something shallow, something that won’t slice its way deeper than skin.

Actually, apart from the old sock colour, the room’s not that bad. Soft chairs. Tea and coffee. Free. Plants. A fish tank. They’ve made an effort, just to stop you thinking. Box of tissues. Cushions. You can’t hear sounds from outside, except when the door opens, though there’s a buzzing of air-con. It’s designed to help you forget where you are. So there’s a magazine on sailing and one on houses. And some children’s books and toys. She picks up a board book for babies or toddlers or whatever and looks at pictures of diggers and cranes and just does not allow herself to think of what’s past that door and what will happen when she is told to walk through it.

Probably she will spin the coin soon and play Jack’s Game. After all, a fifty-fifty chance is not that bad. The truth could be a whole lot worse.

******

Would you like to know something about that scene? When I first wrote it, I had no idea what Jess was waiting for. Clearly, she's in some kind of hospital or clinic. But I had no idea why. That's what I love about being a writer - I never know what's going to happen.

I don't believe in God but if I did I'd imagine him being like a writer: supposedly in control and arguably in control, but actually at the mercy of the characters and what they do and what happens to them. In a nutshell, that's the whole idea behind Wasted: prediction and control are limited to the present. The future is another world and nothing is until it is.

Tomorrow, I bring you a true story that influenced Wasted hugely.  

And finally (don't worry, posts won't usually be this long!) my editor has just emailed this lovely contribution. Chris and I have worked together for a long time and before I ever met her she told me she was "an old bat". What that actually means is that she's very honest, sometimes painfully so. So, when she says nice things, I know she means them.

"The moment I read the first draft chapters for Wasted I knew that this was something special, even by the standards of a writer as accomplished as Nicola. I have had the pleasure of editing a good handful of Nicola’s novels, but none of them has given me quite the same ‘hairs-tingling-on-the-neck’ feeling as this one. I think it has to do with the originality of the tone and voice, as well as the deft treatment of the subject matter. Chance and choice may seem unlikely driving forces beneath a book for teenagers which is essentially a passionate and potentially tragic story of first love; but the author handles these themes cleverly, so that the reader is completely drawn into alternative scenarios and what-ifs, and is invited to consider the roles that luck and free will may play in their life.
 
"A wonderful, unforgettable read."

Thanks, Chris!


By the way everyone, you don't need to buy Wasted  - order it from your public library. It's free. (But your very own copy would, of course, be much lovelier...)

See you tomorrow and THANK YOU for joining me.
 

BEFORE I START...

Blog launching later today but first some news:

NEWS: Due to popular demand, Amazon have released Wasted early. However, there's only one left so hurry... (More are on order.) Meanwhile, please ask for it in your local bookshop, or branch of Waterstone's. There are already a couple of 5 star reviews on Amazon - HUGE thanks to the people who took the trouble to do that. I really DO appreciate it.

There's a real buzz going on amongst booksellers and readers but before I launch I'd love to get to the 100 followers mark - the next prize draw is tomorrow and you have to be in it to win it! Spread the word.

Later today, the first real post will go up to start the ball rolling - and it includes the whole first chapter of Wasted, just to give you a flavour and introduce you to Jess and the horrible situation she is in. Or is she? Because, of course, "nothing is until it is. Until then anything possible is possible."

YOUR REVIEWS

I'd love to hear your views on Wasted. Just comment below. (But be kind to me: I'm very nervous about my book and it's only little and fragile. And so am I. Well, not very little, but...)

Some of you have already read the book and given feedback. I've pasted extracts below - THANK YOU!

If you can't comment below, do email me and my assistant at talkaboutwasted@hotmail.co.uk and we will post it here.

Link to Amazon reviews Here 

Link to The Scribbling SeaSerpent review here

Vanessa Robertson, bookseller - on Twitter @edinbookshop

 "Wasted is an outstanding book. If it doesn't sell hugely and win awards ... there's no justice."

Clare Donaldson – parent and reader
WOW! I was riveted, from the brilliant first chapter right through to the end.... I HAD to know how it (potentially!) ended. Sinister, chilling, contemporary, pacy, thought-provoking and highly original in presentation - if you don't have huge success with this there is something VERY wrong with the market.
...
My daughter, at 13, also raced through it and I was fascinated to see how excited she was by it - it's a while since I've seen that particular response from her.

Nikki Heath – school librarian
Oh, my gawd, Nicola! Your book arrived at work today and I brought it home to read. It was supposed to last the weekend but I just could not bring myself to put it down and only reluctantly did so to cook tea. I adore it. Love the apparent randomness that isn't, the sadness of the 2 mums and the alcoholic mum theme. 2 kids who could have been incredibly messed up but aren't. As for the coin, spookily I was chatting to a child about 'what if ... had happened' yesterday.

Would happily give it to both girls and lads. Want to go read it again NOW. Loved the way you chose the ending, too, as well as the partial repetitiveness of both choices. Makes it so much sadder and more poignant - much more hard hitting. Wow wow wow wow wow!!! Can see in my head a whole tribe of kids I want to give it to who I know will love it too!!!

It'll fly off the shelves! it's such a different format to others out there in a way and I LOVE it!!

Linzi Heads – school librarian
Wow! (More to follow!)

One magazine reviewer is writing a review – meanwhile she said “Wasted is the best thing you’ve done.”

Diana Esland – Head of English, The Mary Erskine School
.... The tensility of the narrative is gripping and there is a mixture of a kind of shadenfreude mixed with doubt that kept the plot on a tightrope between believability and the hope that there may be a happy ending.

From Lucy Coats - author
Just finished Wasted (and yes, I did play Jack’s Game and it came out heads). I can only say that I was hooked and entranced right from the first page and now I think even more than before about choices and whether or not they will make a difference—I was always horribly superstitious anyway. What a brilliant idea—I love it. And I love seeing all those different angles and aspects of the plot. In both real life and in my writing head I am constantly asking the question ‘what if?’ What would my life be/have been if….What would my characters do if…. Wasted is so absolutely my kind of book, and I know it’s going to get a lot of well-deserved praise and attention.

Iffath at lovereadingx blog – you are a genius! Wasted is awesome! (From Twitter)

Catherine Hughes – reader with teenagers (Also my assistant - but she reviewed it because she wanted to!)
I've read several of Nicola's books and this is the very best of them. I absolutely adored this book. … she writes about how it feels to be able to sing with such authenticity and feeling that it brought tears to my eyes. ... the appeal of the book for me lies mainly with its beautifully-drawn characters. I sang in a band as a teenager and I remember it well; 'Wasted' evokes those memories perfectly.

'Wasted' brings up classical myth (the story of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta) and blends it with quantum physics (Schrodinger's cat) and philosophy. There is, within this one book, huge food for thought and so much for me to to discuss with my children. ....

Jo Treggiari – author and reader, works with teenagers
I just finished Wasted. It kept me up for two nights .... I found it intriguing, exciting, and touching. .... I was so caught up in Jack and Jess's lives that at the end, when the reader is asked to flip a coin to determine what happens next, I was really nervous. Fantastic, thought-provoking read. Great writing.

Isla – teenage reader
I think “Wasted” is a really good book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I have never read anything like it before. I especially liked the parts of the book where there are two possible paths for the book to follow, with the slightest variations leading to huge differences in the story. … “Wasted” is definitely a book for deep thinkers. It makes you think of all the possibilities and consequences that could arise from your actions, even just by varying them in the tiniest way. It makes your mind boggle!
 
As I was reading “Wasted”, I found it hard to put it down! It was gripping and also slightly eerie, what with Kelly and her gang and the knives and the fortune-teller, Farantella. That brings me to the coin and Jack’s Game. What a unique idea!
...

I really enjoyed reading “Wasted” and would recommend it to other readers of my age or older. I think perhaps you should send a copy to my English teacher, to show her what kind of great books teenagers of this day and age should be reading!

Thank you, everyone - I'm overwhelmed and delighted. (So far...)