Have you seen this book?

OK, it's a picture of a book. On a shelf. No big deal. Except that it's my book, and the shelf is in W H Smiths at the Central station in Cardiff. A bookshop.

A big thank you to the lovely ladies staffing the shop, for humouring an over-excited author while she took a photo. They have copies in Waterstones in Cardiff too - on the shelves facing the door. You can see them as soon as you walk in. At least, I can.

They are supposed to be on sale in airport bookstores too, although I've not yet persuaded anyone to pay for a flight so I can check that one out.

Has anyone else seen one? If there is one in a bookshop near you, I'd love to know.

An Interview with the Romantic Novelists' Association

I do know it's Monday, not Wednesday - but I'm sharing my excitement at featuring on the RNA blog today.

I think I'm fairly safe in making a sweeping generalisation, and saying that all the participants in the New Writers' Scheme, which is run by the Romantic Novelists' Association, share a big ambition - to be a contender for the Joan Hessayon Award. Nominees for the award are all graduates from the New Writers' Scheme who have made it into publication. This year there are eight - and I'm one of them!

As part of the run up to the Award, which will be presented at the RNA Summer Party in May, contenders are being interviewed on the RNA blog.

Today it is my turn. So - if you want to know more about me, Never Coming Home, or a distinctly dubious recipe for making sausages, courtesy of the Glamorgan Archive, the link is t.co/CbEzymrc

Finally launched.

The sparkling wine was chilled, the chocolates (little mauve wrapped hearts) were waiting, the books were on display - Never Coming Home was about to be officially launched. I was nervous. Then people began to come though the door and  I didn't have time for nerves. I was much too busy meeting and greeting. And then showing off, and talking about myself, and the book.

I had a wonderful time,
as I think the photos show.

Thanks to Jan for taking them and to Veronica for doing such a grand job as Master of Ceremonies,  and Waterstones for hosting the event, and everyone who attended, and especially those who bought the book :) to everyone who asked questions, who laughed at my jokes and who were such a warm and supportive audience. 



One shelf gone

And another!

   


Thank you all.

Here's to the next time!   


 




 



























Tomorrow is a Big Day.

I'll be signing these tomorrow!

15th March 2012. A red letter day. For a start, it is publication day in the United States. A big hello. I hope you enjoy it!

It is also the day of the official launch of Never Coming Home here in the UK. At 7 pm tomorrow evening I will be welcoming people to Waterstones in Cardiff to celebrate my first published book. My debut novel. WOW. This is a dream that has finally come true. It's taken a while.

There are bottles of bubbly chilling in the fridge, the chocolate hearts will be delivered later today and Waterstones have copies of the book for me to sign. SIGN. I have the camera charged up and the special pen, the gold one I have been saving for such a long time, just for this occasion.There will be a question and answer session and I hope the evening will be a lot of fun.

How do I feel? Excited. Apprehensive. Still not sure I'm not dreaming.

I really want everyone who makes the effort to come along to have a good time. I want to have a good time.

I want everything to be perfect. I'm going over the arrangements in my head at least twice an hour.

That's the control freak coming out.

Am I turning into Author-zilla?

Publication day! Or, where have I been this week.

I've had a spectacular week, and it's only Wednesday! Monday I was in London. Always a cause for celebration, but this was even better than usual because it was for the RONA Awards ceremony - the Romantic Novelists' Association's equivalent of the Oscars.

I spent a lovely sunny morning taking pictures of locations that appear in Never Coming Home - I'm planning a blog trail of places that feature - like a certain bench in St James' Park, where I nearly got run over by a lorry from the Royal Parks. Look out for that at a later date.

No - it's not mine!

Then I went back to my hotel, put on my glad rags and more makeup that I have worn in a long time and took the bus - number 176 - and a very pleasant journey it was, to 1 Whitehall Place for the Awards. Many people have blogged about that - you can see an account, and take part in the voting for the winner of winners, on the RNA's own site. Choc-lit had three nominations and won two of them. Hence the picture of the lovely glass star. That one is Christina's but Jane's is equally lovely. Much champagne and celebration.

And today is publication day for Never Coming Home. I have waited over a year for this, and it feels very strange. Like having a birthday. And there's more to come, as the official launch will be next week in Waterstones in Cardiff, when I will talk about the book. Shutting me up is always the problem. And there will be chocolate. I hope to see a lot of friends there. If you don't come, I shall be forced to eat the chocolate by myself. Which would be a tragedy.

You can tell I'm excited today - I'm babbling.

And a delivery man has just brought a parcel, from my publishers ...

Next Stop on Blog tour

Today it's research at Lou Graham's blog. Find it at
http://bit.ly/jXQOFb