We watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night. I haven't been a fan of the previous Harry Potter films. But this one is actually pretty good. It makes sense, it's funny, fast and fun.

A prize of not very much at all goes to the person who first tells me who in the movie says the phrase 'well-meaning frivolity'.

Last year was a good year for fantasy/SF movies. The first good Harry Potter film, Serenity (awesome), King Kong (the best film of the year?), Narnia, and Star Wars episode 3 was... okay. It's quite remarkable. A few years ago, before Lord of the Rings, there was really not a single good fantasy or SF film coming out. Now there's several a year. I'm happy.

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It's Easter. We both have baskets of chocolate, and although it's only 10 in the morning, I feel a little sick already.

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I got a call from my agent yesterday. I'd sent her the latest draft of The Sleepers a week or two ago. She hadn't like the previous drafts, so I was biting my nails. Luckily, she really liked this version. I might curse every time I have to do a new draft of a novel, but it is worth it. I just don't want to even count how many drafts I did of The Sleepers. Anyway, it came just in time to make Easter a cool celebration. I just have to do a few line edits, then The Sleepers is off to publishers and we'll see.

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In the meantime, The Trickster is a little stalled. I tend to come up with the same action sequences every time (chases across rooftops, falling off things, etc etc) and I need to do something different. I've got a few ideas, though, and I'm going to make another try later today.

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Nika is having a really bad time at the moment. She's got some kind of skin problem that is causing her skin to flake really badly and come away in patches. It's also very red. We took her to the vets where she had skin 'punches' taken (skin biopsies) and scrapes. We're having to make her wear an Elizebethan collar at night to stop her licking the scaps where her skin was scraped or attacking her stitches from the punches, but that's now made her neck raw beneath the collar, and she has a hard time sleeping. And we still have no idea what's wrong with her. The results aren't due back for a week, and with the experiences Steph and I have had with tests recently, we're not holding out a lot of hope that they'll find out anything.

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I'm reading Hilary McKay's Casson Family series of kids' books that starts with Saffy's Angel. I like them. The humour is really good and the voice is very likeable, and the pacing is excellent. They are aimed at girls in the crossover range between middle-reader and YA, but I'd recommend them to anyone.

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I'm designing a new website, which is a painful experience as I have no artistic talent and no idea about colours. Bah. If you know of any good websites that appeal to young teen readers, let me know, because I need to steal.