Book

Hey guys, it's finally up! Crazygirl Falls In Love the novel is ready to be read/laughed at/disdained/ignored.

Although it's likely to fall into the Chick Lit / Romance genres I want to assure y’all – I've tried really, really, really hard to make it not lame and crap and awful. 

I Googled chick lit cliches last night and the following came up.

• Surprise pregnancy that's bleedin' obvious to everyone but the woman involved. Often happens to a mid-30s woman from a one-night stand – Ye-ah, this ain’t happening. There are no pregnancies and no children

• Characters often catch up at cafes and bars – Cafes are not my cup of tea (tehe... it's rare that I fumble a pun. I like that one!). The girls catch up at pubs, because who doesn't like a place that smells of cheap beer and failure?

• Designer clothes/shoes obsession – Ugh, so trite. No

• Everyone works in publishing/PR/fashion – The four girls work respectively in Law, Engineering, Academia and Interior Design. They are intelligent and accomplished. Yes, just like in the real world

• Hatches, matches and dispatches - someone, somewhere always falls pregnant, gets married or dies – No, yes, and no

• An American goes to England, or vice versa – There’s no travel unless you count a road trip to Brighton 

• Significant birthday approaching – No. Also, the main character is loosely based on me and I don’t celebrate birthdays. Ever. The time between when your mates start singing Happy Birthday and me blowing out the candles is just the most harrowing, awful minute and a half. What am I supposed to do? Smile up at everyone like an idiot? Start singing with them? All I want is for them stop singing already so I can eat my damn cake

• Living well (cool apartment, socialising, taxis, clothes) despite meager earnings – The characters live well because they work hard for it. Again, just like the real world

• Regular coffee/Coke/ice-cream/chocolate habit – They imbibe real drinks 

• Bubbly best friend – Her best friend is an Emo trapped in a supermodel's body

At this point I was feeling good about life. Hurrah, I had avoided the cheesy Chick Lit cliches. But then I looked at another list…

• True love who heroine despises at first but is attracted to nevertheless – Alright, you can have that one.

• The wrong guy – Yes...

• Backstabbing colleague/ boss from hell – Yeah…

• Dysfunctional family members - Sort of...

Oh dear.