I have a daughter, I adore her. A couple of years ago I took her to a birthday party. The parent was playing a Jessie J CD as the children roller-skated. I can still remember the wave of disquiet spreading across a bunch of mums as Jessie J swore in a song and it boomed […]
It seems to me that using social media, and especially Twitter, has increased in urgency recently. Many writers are using it to send out links to their own books and see it merely as a promotional tool. They RT praise given to them, RT links and links, and even more links to their reviews. They […]
I’m married to a writer, but don’t think I’ve ever really blogged about his books. This perhaps makes me a bad wife. G is a historian, so started off in the publishing industry as a researcher for Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories series. Over the years Terry became a mentor and an incredible support to G, […]
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My London launch feels like a distant memory now. Everything else that has happened has been a whirl and (to my shame) I never did write a blog post thanking Farsons for sending over (through MTA) a shipment of Cisk. I’d contacted Farsons, with a jpeg of the cover, a few weeks before launch. I’d […]
Kids off school + sun shining = trip across the water to Liverpool. We had been promising the kiddies ice cream at the Albert dock, but really that was just an excuse to pop along to Tate Liverpool and view the much anticipated Picasso Peace + Freedom exhibition. Tate Liverpool is a regular holiday haunt […]
Some people inspire, they really and truly do. Please take a moment to read this press release: Breast cancer survivor, blogger and avid reader Stephanie Butland has launched the Bah! Brilliant Book Bonanza, an online giveaway of uplifting books for anyone in need of a good, uplifting read. The BBBB will also raise funds for […]
I don’t know Chris Cleave. I’d read his books and raved about them here and here, I’d tweeted a few @ replies to him on twitter, but that was that. I mean the man is currently The New York Times #1 Best Seller (for the third week running) and I didn’t even think that he’d […]
[Apologies and please note that this blog post contains some spoilers for the Disney film 'Up''] I am writing this blog post in an utterly distressed state. Today I took my kiddies to watch ‘Up’ at the cinema. Why didn’t someone warn me? ‘Up’ (a Disney film) carries the basic story of childhood sweethearts, outgoing […]
Caroline Smailes meets Margaret Atwood