Hooray for Abby!

If you were knocking about in the 'early days' of pop music blogging, you'll probably remember brilliant site Poptext crashing onto the scene back in 2004 fondly transfixed by the failure of La Lohan to create the perfect pop song yet Ashlee Simpson's ability to do so.

It's writer was Abby McDonald. We were both at university (different ones), frustrated by our trappings, addicted to American TV shows and finding blogs like Popjustice and Fluxblog our perfect bedtime reading. After lots of commenting on each other's stuff, Abby and I finally met a couple of years, hanging out at Cargo interviewing one of our favourite pop stars - Robyn.

Today Abby's debut novel gets published in America. It's called Sophomore Switch and it's amazing to see her dream turn into a reality. It tells the story of American party girl Tasha, and serious Oxford scholar Emily swapping studies and lives for three months and discovering new sides to themselves. You can read the first chapter here but I'm dying to get my hands on a proper copy to find out what happens next. Although you can order the American version from amazon, it will also be coming out in the UK under the title 'Life Swap' (cruelly denying the alliteration) later in the year.

Following that comes her debut 'adult' novel 'The Popularity Rules' (Sophomore Switch is youth) and then the amazingly titled 'Boys, Bears & A Serious Pair of Hiking Boots'. I've got my fingers crossed that's going to turn out to be a tale of a surprise climbing wall being installed in deepest, darkest Vauxhall.