A lot has happened since I last blogged. For a start I’ve finished the first draft of my young adult thriller THE TREATMENT and completed the edits. It was a good job I met my deadline for the YA book because, the next day, we jetted off to Italy to celebrate my partner’s 40th birthday on the slopes (well, the rest of the family skied and snowboarded – I’m not a fan of heights or going fast so I spent a lovely time drinking coffee and reading books in the sunshine).
Before we left for Italy I managed to speed up to London for the Quick Reads launch of ‘Dead Simple’, the crime anthology I contributed a short story to. I spent a lovely evening with Clare Mackintosh, Harry Bingham, Mark Billingham, Dreda Say Mitchell, Antonia Hodgson and Fanny Blake.
Earlier this month THE MISSING was given a make-over to celebrate its inclusion in World Book Night next month. Here it is in all it’s lovely, eye-catching pink glory!
Last week I went to London to record a BookD podcast to support the publication of The Escape and to discuss marketing and PR plans for the book. Whilst I was there I was invited to join the team to have some champagne to celebrate the fact that paperback sales of The Missing had reached 100,000 copies! I was presented with a wonderful framed print and felt quite choked up when my editor Helen made a speech.
Yesterday I traveled back up to London to take part in an Author HQ panel with author Rosanna Ley and Jonathan from Writing Magazine. We discussed the creative writing process in front of a huge audience of aspiring authors and the 45 minutes flew by. It was my first visit to the London Book Fair and I was slightly overwhelmed by how huge it was. Amazing to see the team from Avon handing out samples of The Escape from their cardboard replica of the boat on the cover of the book!
I think that’s probably enough news for one blog post! There’s exactly one week to go before THE ESCAPE is published so I’ll write another blog post soon, all about that…
I’m doing lots of events in the next few months so do check my events page if you live in Brighton, Bristol, Glasgow, Oxford or Newcastle. The Glasgow event is this Sunday!
Phew! Seems like you have had a very busy schedule, but the main thing is that you had lots of fun. I enjoyed reading all what you have been up to and I couldn’t be more happy for you. Are you relaxing now?
I am this evening, yes. But this weekend I am flying up to Glasgow for an event and then next week I have radio interviews back in Bristol. Somehow I’ll fit in plotting the next book before I start the first draft in April. I have a week off in August. I’ll need it!