Listening to: Keith Urban, Get Closer (excellent)
Reading: How to Bake a Perfect Life, Barbara O’Neal – fabulous and really enjoying it
Update on DH: he’s fine and rested his leg yesterday, so he’s back to work today (against my advice, but he has promised to rest his leg as much as possible). Thanks to everyone who asked; as for those of you on FB who pointed out that I wasn’t going to get much work done as I’d be dispensing tea, sympathy, painkillers, sandwiches, etc etc etc – absolutely. Bored male in pain. Say no more. :o)
Daughter and I spent an hour and a half queuing at Jacqueline Wilson’s book signing last night. What a LOVELY woman she is. Despite the fact that it was busy (not helped by some people in the queue deciding that one ticket didn’t mean one book being signed, it meant “bring half a dozen friends and their books with you for signing, too” – not fair on the author OR the bookshop), she spent time talking to each child, asking them how old they were (she knew their names because the assistants put a sticky note on all the children’s books with their name on), what they liked reading, and in my daughter’s case asking her about her favourite book and then talking about it with her. And she was sweet enough to pose for a photo with any children who asked (yes, of course I had my camera).
Speaking as an author, I love meeting readers. And what I really love is getting an email saying that reading one of my books made someone’s tough day feel that little bit better. Yes, writing is the way I make a living, but it’s also more than my job - it's who I am. And I hope that both here and in person I would come across to my readers the same way that Jacqueline Wilson did to my daughter last night: that I appreciate my readers for buying my books and keeping me in a job, and that I’m not just writing for money, I’m writing stories that I hope will put a bit of sunshine in their lives.
Y’know I mentioned India Grey’s gratitude journal? (To see what she was talking about, go take a look here.) Three things for which I am grateful today:
- a certain author friend of mine, who read what I’ve been working on (and was stuck on) and came back with lots of questions, which works brilliantly for me in making me focus. The key thing I took away today is that my heroine needs to make mistakes. An obvious thing. One I probably knew deep down, but I needed the reminder!
- having the house to myself, so I have the peace and quiet to work
- my single cup of proper coffee for the day (for waking me up enough to work - I'm still wiped from spending those three hours in a hot waiting room on a very hard, uncomfortable chair)
3 comments:
'How To Bake a Perfect Life' by Barbara O'Neal sounded really intriguing, so looked it up on Amazon and have ordered a copy!
Jacqueline Wilson sounded really nice and I'm sure Chloe was thrilled with meeting her and having a quick chat.
So glad that the dd had a lovely time with Jacqueline Wilson. I'd heard she was wonderful - great to have it confirmed. Such a positive reinforcement for a child that reading is wonderful!
And that the oh is on the mend.
And I've just read How to Bake a Perfect Life, too. Cried buckets. Loved it to bits. Was going to pass it on to a friend but had to buy her her own copy because I couldn't part with mine.
Reading "The Morning Gift" by Eva Ibbotson at the moment. Oh. Just, oh.
The gratitude journal's a great idea, we really do have so many things to be thankful for. Glad to hear your other half is on the mend and that you're getting over the odd hiccup with the latest WIP. Sometimes another point of view really does help to clear the logjam!
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