Sold out – Magical days are made of this!

Well, it’s taken me three days to fully recover enough to string a coherent sentence together.

Without meaning to sound too OTT, Saturday was truly was one of the best days of my life! …My very first book signing and launch in the lovely Octavia’s Bookshop in Cirencester.

So, what was it like?

Nerve wracking, incredible stressful, tense and hard…but also totally amazing, wonderful, inspiring and unforgettable. Octavia Karavla who owns Octavia’s Bookshop, couldn’t have been kinder or more welcoming and even bought me lunch.

Despite some hiccups, the day really couldn’t have gone better. A heavy stream of eager customers jostled into the shop (very heavy ‘footfall’ apparently), some I knew from teaching, some were supportive friends and family and others were total strangers. Such a thrilling feeling, signing books for people and asking what inscription they’d like inside, but also so surreal! This was me, little old me sitting here like a real author..totally unreal.

One little girl I knew well, asked why I was doing this, did I want to be famous?

I laughed. I tried to explain that I simply had always wanted to be a writer, that that was what I had dreamed about since I was a child and as I said the words I couldn’t help smiling. Good days or bad, troubles and strifes, life’s little bumps and catastrophes really didn’t matter anymore.

Yes, it’s true, I’ve had a tougher life than many and wouldn’t have wished the troubles I’ve lived through on anyone. But you know what? …it has brought me to this point. I wouldn’t be here, on this strange and wonderful journey without having had the dramas and traumas.

Perhaps you need the angsts? Perhaps it’s those angsts which fuel you creatively?

In any case, Saturday’s book launch and signing was a HUGE success and to my utter delight – we SOLD OUT!!!!

Every single book was sold in just over the first hour and Octavia then had to take names, addresses and orders for more! SO thrilled! White Mountain – Book 1 of The Darkling Chronicles, was a smash!!!!

Luckily I had a spare copy to show customers what the book looks like and I had a selection of my illustrations to cover the table…which were a great point of interest for browsing shoppers, but what a day?!

Pinching myself quite severely.

It’s just that having spent so many years creating and writing my fantasy epic and the world it inhabits, I now find I’m living in a bit of a fantasy myself. Nothing feels quite real. I’m sure reality will come crashing down around me and I’ll come back to earth with a bump at any moment…but for now, I’m happy to float around for a while!

😀 xx

(Try to ignore the half eaten hot dog on the table…I should have hidden that away! :P)

Olympic farewell! The cynic concedes…

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not exactly a sports fanatic, far from it. In fact I often joke that we have a non-sport zone in the house! But despite my cynicism and initial misgivings, especially after what I considered to be a very confusing and convoluted vision from Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony, I have been utterly blown away by the Olympics!

Without meaning to, I have found myself on many an occasion watching completely spellbound by the rowing, sprinting, pentathlon, swimming and the cycling…wow…the cycling!

What has made the greatest impression, more than our incredible sporting achievements, which for such a small nation have been monumental – who would ever have guessed that our little isle would be third, beating mighty powerhouses like Russia, Korea and even our sporting rivals Australia in the medal haul! – but the greatest impression has been the sheer infectious optimism which has pored over our country, unifying all of us. The power of the human spirit, eh? A strange and wondrous thing…

So yes, I have thoroughly enjoyed these Olympics despite my jaded tendencies. The cheer of the crowds, don’t we do that well? I’ve often been to concerts in the past when the bands have declared that British audiences are the best for our sheer level of manic enthusiasm and the way we throw ourselves into the spectacle with wild abandon. No stiff upper lips here, just joy and full participation. Now, I’ve never been a flag waving nationalist, but I have felt myself brimming with national pride on many occasions over the course of these Games. Well done Team GB!!!

Somehow, despite the terrible economic situation, the wars, the strifes, the conflicts, the disappointments…we’ve all grown a little taller over these past few magical days. I guess that is what sport in the Olympic tradition really means, a bringing together of nations in peace, away from politics, religion and all the things that divide us. We are one nation, one people under the sun.

And so, after sixteen days of optimism, national pride and sporting excellence we bid a sad farewell to the London 2012 Olympics, which should really be renamed the Britain 2012 Olympics, as every city, town and community has been involved or touched in some way by these Games.

Farewell and thank you for a wonderful sixteen days of drama, achievement, laughter and tears and yes, I must say…amazing sport!

😀 xx