I have really enjoyed writing blogs for GirlsHeartBooks and feel quite sad that this will be the final one. Luckily I've got lots to share as it has been a busy month! My book launch was not a gigantic fail, which was a huge relief to my central nervous system. In fact, I think I'd even go so far as to call the launch a success, as everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, we sold out of books and nobody threw rotten veg at me.
There were cakes at the launch too, and they weren't just any old cakes. They were book cover cakes, which if you're an author, are the best kind. And they were lemon curd muffins, so I couldn't really lose, even if the book cover toppers hadn't turned up, or if I'd managed to break them all, which was a real possibility. The toppers were extremely fiddly, but well worth it in the end.
But the best bit, the metaphorical icing on the cake, was the message I got a couple of days after the launch from a girl who'd bought the book. She had read it in one evening and loved it, and she was surprised by the twist at the end too, which was great to hear!
By the time this blog is published I will be back at school after a busy two week break: I spent three wonderful days in Athens, which is an incredible mixture of ancient and modern, and a city I'd highly recommend, particularly if you're interested in Ancient Greece, as some of it's still standing! During the holidays I also squeezed in a book signing event at Waterstones in Stirling, a trip to hospital with my daughter and her scratched cornea and I did a lot of writing. I've almost finished the first draft of The Unicorn Thieves and though I know it still needs a lot of work, getting to this point seems a massive achievement.
The next few weeks will be busy too: I have author visits scheduled, a new class topic to get underway and that first draft to finish. It's just as well I enjoy it all. One of my mum's favourite sayings (she borrowed it from somebody more famous) was "only boring people get bored." I'm not sure if that's true, but it certainly stopped me ever announcing I was bored when I was a child. Reading a book has always been my favourite method of keeping boredom at bay. Until the holidays, however, I'd barely had time to read and my TBR pile is still huge, sitting by the bed waiting for the summer holidays to roll along.