HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! I am a bit 'ex and shoff' at the moment (Teddy Robinson speak for 'excited and showing off') as I have just popped into Asda and guess what? There was my book on the shelf! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect start to 2015 :-)
2014 is ending in a seriously sparkly way… Oh Sugar! has already been reprinted. And it has been as high as 13,000 in the Amazon bestsellers rank, which is pretty good going considering there are millions of books on Amazon and the publication date for my book is tomorrow! (If you’re confused by this, as I was… Continue reading Blazing a trail in 2015
The second I emailed my finished Oh Sugar! manuscript to the publishers, I vowed I would not write another book for quite some time. I was exhausted. And yet that very same afternoon I found myself pondering, Yes, but I did write another book, I wonder what it be? Later that day, after I had… Continue reading Will snowflakes help me write my next book?
Last night a friend (who it has to be said has more than a passing affection for a certain fizzy drink) sent me this photo entitled ‘A Perfect night in’…. Naturally, I am not endorsing such outrageous 'reading nibbles'! But it did make me laugh. It also made me do a double take. My book is supposed to… Continue reading Writing a Book (Part 9): A perfect night in
Today was a day much like any other EXCEPT for one remarkable thing: a nice chap from the editorial team presented me with a copy of my first ever published book Oh Sugar! So... what happens when you’ve wanted to be an author all your life and you see a printed copy of your book for the… Continue reading Writing a Book (Part 8): What happens when you’ve wanted to be an author all your life and you finally see a copy of your first published book?
All my life – up until very, very recently – I have struggled to make decisions. Not being 100% sure of who I was or what I wanted, every decision was based on what I ought to do, or should do, or thought I should do. Any decision would involve hours of weighing up and… Continue reading Making decisions that are as light as a feather
If you’re pondering what to buy someone you love this Christmas, I can recommend Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered by Quentin Blake. It's bloody brilliant. Described as "a sketchbook with training wheels", it’s perfect for little kids and big kids who long to draw but are too scared and/or don’t know where to begin (that… Continue reading Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered
Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love) recently posted this photo of herself on facebook. What’s remarkable about this photo is that it is distinctly unremarkable. Yet this is her living her dream. She says: “This photo captures exactly what I did for three straight years. I sat in a chair, reading books about botany,… Continue reading Don’t live somebody else’s dream
OK, this is surreal. The cover for my book has been designed and it’s now on Amazon! As the publishers commissioned me to write the book, I had no say in the title, cover design or blurb. So I was a little concerned… What if I HATED it and had to spend the rest of my… Continue reading Writing a Book (Part 7): My book has a cover!
I have always wanted to know how much authors really earn. So I did some digging recently and to be honest, I almost wish I hadn’t. The sad fact is that writers earn diddly-squat. Less than £600 a year to be precise! Admittedly these figures are for all writers lumped together. Surely full-time professional authors… Continue reading How much do authors actually earn?
Katherine Bassford 