October/November 2011

Oh dear, I missed a month! So sorry! But there was a good reason, honest! I am expecting another baby, hurrah - and it makes me very tired (and has made me HORRIBLY sick) so I forget things ALL the time! Plus I've been working very hard to get the first draft of Sweet Hearts 6: DEEP WATER done and off to my editor - and now it's back with the edits to be done!

I have had jacket covers in for both LOVE BITES and THREE'S A CROWD due out with Barrington Stoke next year - what do you think?

 

The silver-grey bits on LOVE BITES will be foiled, I think, which will look GORGEOUS - I love both these covers, am so excited!

I did some school events in November to promote the publication of ICE DREAMS and it was lovely to have some girls ask me about TAKE TWO and my shorter books for Barrington Stoke. I do enjoy writing them, just as much as the other books I write.

So I am coming to the end of my Sweet Hearts series, and excitingly, I'm in discussions with Random House Children's Books to publish my novel LOOKING AT THE STARS which I wrote four years ago now. I am really proud of that book but it hadn't found a home, so hopefully it will do with the lovely people at RHCB - watch this space!

And if you haven't come across it yet, check out www.girlsheartbooks.com which is a group blog for girls aged 8-14 by the very authors they love to read! (And me, of course, LOL!)

 

September 2011

Something odd happened last month - for some reason the update I wrote didn't appear, so I'm hoping it does now!

I did the copy-edits on Sweet Hearts Book 5 in record time but what with moving house an' all, Book 6 still isn't finished. I am cracking on with it now though and hope it will be done in (realistically) three weeks' time.

I have also done edits on LOVE BITES for Barrington Stoke (ooh, wonder if I can show you the cover? Will ask) and have been writing a short story for the Tesco Book Club website. I wrote a guest blog for them a while ago and they asked me to write a short story, so that was lovely! I hope they'll be pleased with it!

We did finally manage to move house and I am loving all the extra space we have, though there's a LOT of work to be done and I don't suppose we'll get everything the way we like for months and months! But in a way that's quite exciting; being able to choose furniture and paint colours and things like that. And most importantly of course, we now have a trampoline in the garden, so my daughter is VERY happy :-)

And oh goodness, I nearly forgot! Sweet Hearts Book 4 was published! Ice Dreams, the first story I wrote for the series, has finally hit the shelves!

 

August 2011

This month I have been mostly lying down feeling a bit poorly, so there hasn't been much more work done on Book 6 (though I have now seen a rough version of the splendid new cover for it!). I finished the edits on Book 5: Model Behaviour at last (they had been hanging over me rather) and also finished the draft of the vampire book I have scheduled with Barrington Stoke for next year - I had such fun writing it! It's going to be called LOVE BITES - hahaha!Copy-edits on Book 5 have arrived, as have edits for THREE'S A CROWD, my second book for next year with Barrington Stoke. I also blogged for Tesco and for Girls ♥ Books and Crime Central.

But the main thing that has been pre-occupying me all month is the fact that we are MOVING HOUSE! After seven years in our lovely house, we are moving to somewhere bigger, with a great big garden which will be particularly appreciated by our three-year-old daughter. So there has been quite a lot of stress as plans change and then change again - but it's finally happening!

Whether I manage to finish Book 6 amongst all the re-decorating that needs doing remains to be seen ;-)

 

July 2011

Busy, busy, busy! My week's promotional tour for FORGET ME NOT went brilliantly and I talked to some fantastic kids who asked some great questions. I put up some photos on my Sweet Hearts blog if you want to nip over and have a look!

Shortly after the tour, I went away for a few nights with the Scattered Authors' Society - we have an annual 'retreat' at Charney Manor in Oxfordshire (very handy for me!) and it was as inspiring, re-affirming, rewarding time as it had been when I last went in 2007.

Group photo with me in the front!

I have been cracking on with Book 6 in the Sweet Hearts series, which doesn't have a title yet but is about a girl who's in the GB Olympic synchronised swimming team. I've had to do a lot of research! Not just talking to girls in the real team itself, but also visiting the Olympic Park, which I did last Saturday - wow, what an amazing place it's going to be!

I had a terrible moment last week when I lost some of the work I'd done on the Book 6 manuscript. One of my friends sent round her computer expert partner, who managed to get some of it back but not all. That'll teach me to back up more regularly!

Now I am continuing to work on Book 6 and must also do a manuscript for Barrington Stoke, which I think may actually be due in a couple of weeks - eek! Better get on with it then!

I'll just leave you with the new cover for ICE DREAMS - and yes, this IS the final final version because the books have now actually been printed, hurrah!

 

June 2011

The third book in my Sweet Hearts series, FORGET ME NOT, is now out and available to buy!

I've just been away for a week's holiday with my family in sunny Portugal (lovely!) and am now gearing up for a week of promotional talks and visits to schools from Bath to Hastings via Potters Bar! But first I shall be talking on Sunday 19th June at the Witney Book Festival.

The next book out will be Sweet Hearts 4: Ice Dreams, in September this year, and it's just been through it's fiftieth (or that's what it feels like!) cover change. It reminds me that I am a very small cog in an enormous publishing and bookselling machine, and to be honest I am just so grateful that I'm still in work! So many other authors are struggling at the moment.

Barrington Stoke has approved my manuscript for THREE'S A CROWD, which is a sort of follow-up to TAKE TWO and is due out next year.

But the REALLY exciting news is that Random House is interested in my novel LOOKING AT THE STARS which I wrote three years ago! I am thrilled to bits about it, though it sounds like there may be quite a lot of changes so I have yet to find out how much work I'll need to do. I'll tell you more about the book next month. Now, I must check my powerpoint presentation for the umpteenth time and make sure I have all my 'author clothes' ready for the week ahead!

 

May 2011

I am now blogging so frequently on the Sweet Hearts website that I have become quite lax about updating this site, so I do apologise (especially to my mother, who has become my personal reminder system!).

I will try to update this page once a month - there, I've said it - you can nag me if I don't!

My latest book is TAKE TWO, published by Barrington Stoke and out this month!

You might notice that it's in my married name of Cotterill, unlike my earlier books for Barrington Stoke. Two reasons for this: firstly, this is a 'girly' book (bet you hadn't guessed, LOL) as opposed to my previous 'boy-centred' books about racism, terrorism and the like - and also it's a 'SOLO' book as opposed to a 'gr8read' (don't worry, it's to do with reading ability. Solo books are easier than gr8reads). The second reason is to tempt girls who are attracted by my Sweet Hearts series but who are daunted by the length of the books.

Yet again, Barrington Stoke have come up with a brilliant cover, and this one has loads of illustrations too, drawn by the very talented Yishan Li - thanks, Yishan!

Next month, my third book in the Sweet Hearts series is out - FORGET ME NOT. More about that in my next update!