Post No.8: Hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings

Huge thanks to Tressa for hosting the H2O dream cast – and offering a chance to win a copy of H20 (giveaway closes Nov 1st!)

Read all about it (and Tressa’s review!) at Wishful Endings . . .

Post No. 7: Hosted by the AP Book Club

Writing is a kind of freedom – and so is talking about it at the brilliant AP Book Club.

That’s:

A for Ashley . . .

and P for Paul!

Until last year, when I was lucky enough to find a publisher for H2O, I think you could summarise this description of my writing career as ‘how not to become a writer’ . . .

Read the sorry tale with a happy ending here.

Published by the brilliant Sourcebooks Fire on Oct 7th – and to celebrate, it’s going on tour . . . virtually!

That means a whole lot of blogging, a whole lot of Q&A, and a whole lot of thoughts about why I wrote this story: the themes in the book, the characters (particularly Ruby!), the mind-melting research, what I like to read, how I write. There’ll even be a little bit of advice from a début author (me!) for even newer writers – or anyone who’d like to write . . . er, and a response to a tricky question about cupcakes. I’m still thinking about that.

But to kick it all off . . . H2O had the most wonderful review from The Horn Book Magazine:

“Of course Ruby Morris heard about the asteroid that almost collided with Earth: “We’d seen the stuff about it on the Internet,” Ruby says, “and honestly, it was boring.” But years later, while Ruby is lounging in a hot tub with her crush, dust from that boring asteroid bonds with the atmosphere, infecting water molecules with an alien virus that kills humans on contact. Ruby escapes the first deadly storm by the skin of her teeth, but soon afterward she is alone and thirsty, stranded in a grisly suburban landscape littered with the bodies of her friends and neighbors. Bergin presents Ruby’s story as a firsthand document of life after widespread disaster. The diary-style narration emphasizes Ruby’s distinctly teenage response to society’s end—she rescues too many abandoned pets, loots her favorite boutiques without shame, and holds tightly to the unlikely hope that her father is still alive—and her strong, spontaneous voice lends a touch of dark comedy to the post-apocalyptic doom and gloom. The challenges Ruby faces on the road to locate her father are significant, but watching Ruby draw strength from her ability to tell her own story is as inspiring as it is harrowing.”

I’ve gone quiet . . . busy writing the next part of Ruby’s story . . . which should come out in the UK on . . . JANUARY 29TH 2015?!

SCREAM!

Please ignore that scream.

(It’s just me, panicking.)

Only half the story has been told . . . and the next part? Well, things get twisty and complicated and . . . Ruby’s story has only just begun.

So I’m chained to my desk – with a box of tissues for the desperately sad bits . . . and the only thing that makes me smile is . . . ah,  some people have said such lovely things.

As a new author, it’s all amazing and lovely and . . . so much appreciated.

I’m supposed to be able to write . . . but I can’t tell you what it feels like when people say nice things. ‘Good’ just doesn’t cut it.

Thank you SO much to everyone who has FB’d or emailed or tweeted or blogged or vlogged . . . or watched the My Kinda Book trailer – an amazing 80k+ views!

Oh, but I still love the unofficial trailer, created by book-bloggers Bookinity:

Well . . .

I got through it! I did a Maximum Pop! Twitter takeover and only SLIGHTLY made a complete and utter fool of myself by posting some – ahem – superbly constructed photo-bombing spoofs of me and One Direction, Ariana Grande, 5SOS, Union J, The Janoskians, Elyar Fox, Austin Mahone, Cher Lloyd, The Vamps, Little Mix . . . um, and one of me stalking Harry Styles with a hair brush.

MUCH more importantly, I got to chat to some real, live, lovely people, who asked some brilliant (tricky!) questions. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO TURNED UP!

Missed it? You can read a more sensible version of the Twitter Q&A here: Maximum Pop!

What? You want to see the pics?! Oh, ok then . . . (click to enlarge)

And finally, Mr Styles!

With apologies to all the popstars – and to the amazing photographers!

Thanks to HH for rollers and pics, and to the brilliant team at Bookswarm for last-minute assistance!

TWITTER TAKEOVER ALERT!

Yes! It’s ALL TRUE! On Monday 28th July from 7pm those crazy fools at Maximum Pop! are going to let me TAKE OVER their Twitter account!

MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA. . . HELP!

(Please . . .)

Groan.  The full horror of it all is revealed here, at Maximum Pop!

But as we all know, I know nothing of this NEW-FANGLED POPULAR MUSIC, so I shall be hoping for some bookish questions from MP! Followers.

And hoping that Mr Styles has not checked his Twitter account lately. He has been notified.

Yup, those fun-loving folks at Maximum Pop! invited me to imagine what ‘The Rain – The Movie’ might look like . . .

I didn’t like to disappoint, so you can see The Rain dream casting here at: Maximum Pop!

I am expecting complaints from everyone involved . . .

Ignore this photo!

That’s just me, messing around in my neighbour’s garden, wearing what I think everyone should dress in this summer . . . but for serious fashion advice:

Macmillan’s My Kinda Book did a proper trawl: ‘The Rain fashion – guide to the high street‘

What I really hope is that someone, somewhere, is brave enough to post their own bin-bag/rubber-gloves catwalk pic . . .

Wow . . .

The Totnes Bookshop did; Saturday July 19th 2014 is a day I will never forget: MY FIRST BOOK SIGNING!

I had been warned; I’m a new, unknown author = no one will show up . . . especially not on a Saturday afternoon that turned out to be hot and sunny . . .

Who did turn up? Well . . . Sarah Clarke from Macmillan was on-hand to reassure; Martin Woollacott, Totnes bookseller and reader, was on the case . . . and my very own Teen Team came along (with darling parents in tow). Thank you SO MUCH to R, A, L, K . . . you are so hired for future gigs!

So . . . did we sell any books?! OH YES WE DID! The Rain got bought by some very lovely people indeed – from 10-and-a-half years old to 80+!

And every single signing of the book felt special. It was special! Every single person I spoke to (you know who you are!):  thank you so much . . .

TOTNES (AKA Dartbridge, allegedly): I LOVE YOU!

ps was very worried that younger people reading it too . . . would much prefer parents or older sibs read first, then advise if ok . . . I know, I know; I worry too much . . .

Blog Tour! Day Six!

The Life Cycle of The Rain tour ends with a storm at fireball blogger Heather Duff’s site, Random Redheaded Ramblings:  ”Mum by day, blogger by night‘! (And Heather’s nights must be pretty long, because a WHOLE LOT OF BLOGGING goes on on that site.)

Today, Heather’s kindly hosting the PanMac marketing and publicity dream team: Kat McKenna and Beatrice Cross.

So there’s a book  . . . but how do you TELL people about it? Find out at Random Redheaded Ramblings.

Please note: if you click on the competition link, I am willing to swap an old pair of steel toe cap boots for the hand-painted Converse.