So Katie Price doesn't actually write her books?

Well, what a surprise! As if anyone actually thought she did! Yet how very unfair it all is for authors everywhere. A continuation of my gripe: you write the book, you find an agent and a publisher. The book is published and then... I don't know. Then what? Unless you're Katie Price who's not actually written her books herself you can't even get them into the shops? What's happened to publishing? Why is it that the lowest common denominator is thrust full pelt into the faces of the buying public? Surely we should do better than this? I just wonder how many absolutely wonderful books are published but no one hears about them because they are not written by 'celebrities' or those writers lucky enough to have been 'picked up' by the media. At least, maybe, they actually wrote their books themselves!

My walking companions this morning made the point that if it were the case that 'Zach' had raped me as a teenager or was now threatening to sue me for writing about him or simply that the book was largely salacious, then there would be no problem... Look what happened just now with Christian Bale. Is it true that he 'accosted' his mother and sister? Or is it another cynical tactic to publicise the new Batman film by any means possible?

I went into the local Daunt books this morning and asked if they had a copy of the book. 'No' was the answer. 'Why not?' I asked. The bookseller looked nonplussed. 'I wrote it,' I added. Slight interest. 'What's it about?' she queried. 'About living with someone with Bipolar disorder,' I responded. A slight curling of her lip almost in disgust. 'Oh, well. We'll order one in for you then...'

I had lunch with B. today, an American friend of an American friend whose daughter has suffered from mental health problems in the past. 'I never mentioned that my daughter was in a clinic. I was too embarrassed...' I keep hitting everyone with this. They must be bored with it by now: why is it perfectly alright to have a medical illness but not a mental illness? When are people going to learn to try to accept mental illness for what it is? I'm trying to get the message out there but who's listening?