Rowling bemoans paper 'shortage'

JK Rowling is writing the final instalment in the Harry Potter series

Author JK Rowling has encountered a problem while writing her seventh and final Harry Potter book - a shortage of paper in her home city of Edinburgh.

When she finished her last pad during one recent writing session, it took her 45 minutes to find a shop in the Scottish capital selling a replacement.

She explained on her website that she prefers to use a pen and paper to draft her novels, rather than a computer.

She admitted this made her feel like "something out of the 18th Century".

Rowling said the book was "going well", but asked: "What is a writer who likes to write longhand supposed to do when she hits her stride and then realises to her horror she has covered every bit of blank paper in her bag?

"And there's a university here! What do the students use?

"Don't tell me laptops, it makes me feel like something out of the 18th Century."

Film set visit

Updating her fans on her recent activities, she said she had been to Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, to visit the set of the fifth Harry Potter movie.

"It was exciting to see some of the new Order of the Phoenix sets, but most of all to see the actors again."

She said it was "slightly unnerving to realise that nearly all of them are taller than me now".

Rowling met Evanna Lynch, who plays Luna Lovegood in the movie, and described her as "perfect" for the role.

She also took a break from writing recently to attend the British Book Awards.

At the ceremony, the sixth Harry Potter novel, The Half-Blood Prince, was named book of the year.