Secret Serendipity Seven with Elizabeth Dale

Today I'm pleased to welcome children's author and SCBWI pal, Elizabeth Dale, onto the blog, to share seven secrets with us. Yesterday on the blog, her latest picture book, Nothing Can Frighten A Bear was reviewed by Liss Norton. 

We all love secrets, don’t we? Some we don’t mind sharing, some we’re a bit tentative about. Should I tell you my 7th one? Read it and see!

1. I originally started writing children’s books because they are short. Honestly! My first ever writing attempt was a long adult novel. It was typed on a portable typewriter with keys that stuck if I typed too fast, edits could mean re-typing whole pages or chapters - and no-one wanted to publish it. After all those endless late nights hammering away on my ancient machine, I vowed that never again would I spend so long on something that might never be published. So I wrote magazine stories, which were wonderfully short. And then when my daughters were born, and I was reminded how wonderful children’s books are, I started writing them, too. Firstly because they were short, but then because I fell in love with them. Writing for children is the most fun of all. Indeed, my daughters were so impressed by what a blissful life I lead - sitting with my feet up, drinking coffee, gazing out the window - sorry, writing! - that two of them, Katie Dale (Little White Lies, Mumnesia, Fairy Tale Twists etc) and Jenny Jinks (A Treasury of Bedtime Stories) are children’s authors, too.

2. My latest picture book Nothing Can Frighten a Bear was inspired by a trip to Canada where I went for walks in the woods looking for bears. But I am really, really pleased to say we never found one! I would have been scared silly. My daughter thought she saw one and our screams of terror were deafening (even though it turned out to be only a squirrel!). So whilst it’s true that Nothing Can Frighten a Bear, there is a lot that can terrify this human!

3. I’m useless at baking cakes. My picture book The Carrot Cake Catastrophe is about a girl rabbit and her granddad making a birthday cake for her mummy that goes disastrously wrong. It was written from experience. I shall never forget the day I was baking with my daughters and egg whites were mistaken for peach juice! The Carrot Cake Catastrophe has a recipe in the back for a yummy carrot cake, which my editor provided and tested out. Not me. I didn’t want my own carrot cake catastrophe!

4. I often get car sick. My picture book Off to Market - about a trip on an African minibus to a market, was based on a real journey I took in Uganda. There was everything on that minibus: goats, rugs, hens, and lots of people. It was hot, jam-packed and full of very interesting smells. Fortunately, despite these and the bends and very bumpy roads, I didn’t feel sick. Which is just as well as I’d never have been able to push my way off that crowded bus in time!

5. I’m allergic to dogs, cats, horses, and anything furry. The first picture book I ever had published, Scrumpy, is about a dog that died and is based on a dog of that name we all fell in love with one holiday. I wrote it because my daughter’s hamster died and I saw the devastating effect that had on her, and I wanted to write a positive story about moving on after the death of a pet. But I’ve never had a dog. My children would have loved one, but they couldn’t because of my allergies. I have had courses of de-sensitising injections but they didn’t work, so the only dogs in my house are in books.

6. Not many people know that I am writing a musical - working title Always a Rainbow with my daughter, Katie, and the lovely Helen Bonney who is a musical genius. It is based on the life of Janusz Korczak who ran an orphanage for Jewish children in Poland in the Second World War, and refused to leave them no matter what. It’s funny, sad, heart-rending but hopefully uplifting too - and filled with beautiful songs.

7. I do not have an agent. I have had over forty books accepted, due to dogged persistence, learning from feedback and never giving up over the years. Which leads to an extra 8th secret. I am the Rejection Queen. I am used to rejection, I expect rejection, I can take it. It’s hard sometimes, especially when I’m on the verge of acceptance and it falls through, but I have learned that every rejection is an opportunity - to send that text out to someone else. So for all fellow writers reading this, I would say - Never Give Up! Embrace rejection, it comes to us all (well most of us!) and when an acceptance finally happens, past rejections make it even sweeter.

There… should I have revealed that I get rejected a lot? Hardly makes me look like a mega-successful author, does it? But all you writers or would-be writers out there suffering or fearing rejection need to know -you are not alone! It’s healthy. It’s normal. It’s part of being a writer. But despite them all, being a writer, especially for children, is still the best job in the world!

Nothing Can Frighten A Bear is published by Nosy Crow. To read a review, click here. 

Summary

Snuggled up in bed one moonlight night, Baby Bear is sure he hears a monster outside. Daddy Bear insists there’s nothing scary in the forest and, anyway, nothing can frighten a bear. But as the family of bears set out to make sure, and all vanish one by one, it looks like Daddy Bear might not be as brave as he seems… 

This bedtime story is full of comic surprises and gentle reassurance. After all, the things that go bump in the night are never as scary as you might think!

***

If you want to know more about Elizabeth Dale and her books, please visit her website - http://elizabethdaleuk.blogspot.co.uk/

Or contact her on [email protected] 

Top Five Scariest Books I’ve Ever Read - Katie Dale

Today on the blog, I'm pleased to welcome Katie Dale onto the blog to tell us about the five scariest books she has ever read, as part of our Halloween blog tour. 

Halloween: A perfect excuse to dress up, wear a mask, to trick-or-treat - and consequently the perfect setting for my short story TRICK OR TWEET in the recent STORIES FROM THE EDGE Anthology. What better opportunity for stalking the girl of your dreams, than a Halloween costume party, right? And that's exactly what "Bruce" does. He's never met Chloe, but by following her tweets, he believes he knows everything about her - including what she's looking for in a guy, where she'll be on Halloween night, and what costume she'll be wearing, and plans their perfect first meeting accordingly - only to discover that he's not the only one wearing a mask... 

Personally, Halloween has always kind of freaked me out. To be honest, I'm actually quite a scaredy-cat. I can't really cope with horror films (I blame my Mum, who used to record movies like The Wizard of Oz but edit out the witch scenes before we watched them!) and for me scary books are even more terrifying because everything's happening inside your head, which makes it all more inescapable somehow. So it will come as no surprise that I've found more than a few books super-scary in my life, and here are my top five nightmare-tastic children's books. 

THE WITCHES by Roald Dahl 

The Witches has to be one of the scariest stories ever, and for me its power lies in the fact that it's so plausible. These are not easily-recognisable, easily-dismissed fairy-tale witches on broomsticks with pointy hats. No. These are witches disguised as normal women, who could be sitting next to you right now, plotting to kill children... and they do. Whether by turning a young boy into a slug so that his own father flushes him away with boiling water, or turning a child into a mackerel for his mother's dinner, this is scary stuff. And when our protagonist finds himself inadvertently trapped in a ballroom full of the world's worst witches, we know he's in big trouble. Like, getting-turned-into-a-mouse trouble. And the fact that even at the end of the book he doesn't change back, but is fated to live forever as a mouse (and consequently will only live for a few years) - Horrifying! 

THE EVIL TWIN (Sweet Valley High), by Francine Pascal 

I was completely addicted to the Sweet Valley High books growing up - I have shelves full of them and loved nothing more than following the safe, sun-kissed rollercoaster lives of all-American identical twins Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield as they went to the mall, the prom, and the beach, so this gruesome mini-series came as quite a shock! Enter Margo, the "Evil Twin" who is a lookalike for Elizabeth and Jess, has had a hard life, and is more than a little psychotic. She decides that the Wakefield twins have a much better life and family than her and consequently she plots to kill Elizabeth and assuming her life. Margo pulls no punches, the body count rises (children and old ladies included) and as New Year's Eve approaches, the Wakefields' lives will never be the same. Horrifying. 

THE LONG WEEKEND by Savita Kalhan 

The only one of my top five that I read for the first time as an adult, not a child, but that didn't make it any less scary! Two boys get into a car after school, each assuming the driver is the other boy's dad - but he's not. The driver takes them to a dark mansion in the middle of nowhere and locks them up - but what does he intend to do to them? Will they ever escape? Another page-turning read made even more frightening by its terrifying plausability, The Long Weekend had me so gripped when I was reading it on the bus one dark evening that I missed my stop and had to get off in an area I was unfamiliar with. Haunted by the terrifying characters in the book, alone in the dark, it was the scariest walk home ever! 

The Train (Point Horror) by Diane Hoh 

Four friends take a cross-country train tour from Chicago to San Francisco - until they discover there's a coffin on the train with them...Frog's coffin. One by one, the friends guiltily confess all the nasty things they did to Frog before his sudden and horrible death, and then, one by one, they are viciously attacked. It seems that Frog is out for revenge. But Frog is dead...isn't he? 

Actually, I still don't know. I got about halfway through this book, then one of the characters got trapped in a coffin and I started having terrible nightmares and had to stop reading! I couldn't even look at the book on my bookshelf - I had to get it out of the house! It was the first book I ever stopped reading because I got too scared (but not the last!). 

Grimm's Fairy Tales - collected by The Brothers Grimm 

This might seem an odd choice - after all, who doesn't love a fairytale? Sweet stories full of magic that always end happily-ever after, right? Wrong. SO wrong. The original versions of these fairytales are a million miles away from the sanitized Disney versions. Murder, rape, incest, self-mutilation and cannibalism abound in the original stories, which were actually never intended to be for children at all... 

'Stories from the Edge' is a collection of gripping, thought-provoking short stories by eight award-winning UK young adult authors. From the perils of online chat rooms, doping in sport, racism and terrorism, to gender and self-esteem issues, love, life and death, Stories from The Edge isn’t afraid to ask some big questions. Sometimes frightening, often funny, always brutally honest, these stories will take you to where the shadows are darkest and the ground drops away. The question is, are you prepared to look over the edge? “I guarantee that these stories will leave readers gasping for more.” - Joy Court, Chair: CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals Discussion Guides for exploring each of the stories are available as a free PDF download from The Edge website: http//edgeauthors.blogspot.co.uk.

To find out more about Katie Dale: 

Website / Facebook / Twitter

A Letter To My Younger Self by Katie Dale

It's so lovely to have Katie Dale back on the blog, with this letter to her younger self. Katie has just had her first Middle Grade novel, Mumnesia  published by Macmillan Children's Books. 

Dear younger self,

Hello from the future, twelve-year-old me! Wow, this is weird as I’ve just written a book about a woman who gets amnesia and thinks she’s travelled back in time to give her twelve-year-old self life advice, and now it’s kind of like I’m doing the same thing! Oh yeah - spoiler: you write books now! And some of them are published! Mind blown yet?

So. Twelve. A lot’s about to change, huh? Your little sister Caroline lives in fear of you becoming a “terrible teenager” (I think she thinks it’s going to be like that Kevin and Perry skit and you’re going to transform into a monster overnight!).

 You won’t, but it is a big step. For one thing, you’re about to leave all the school friends you grew up with to go to an all-girls school - an ALL-GIRLS SCHOOL! Where you have to wear red berets on school trips and skirts 2 inches below the knee - yuck! I agree, it’s not a good look, but don’t worry, coz the school itself is actually really fun! And believe me, boys are a distraction you really don’t need right now - trust me, they’ll be distracting enough later when you end up going to a mostly-boys sixth form! 

You’ll make some really good girl friends at your new school, but take my advice: don’t chase the popular crowd, or fall into a clique, as attractive and secure as that sounds - you can never have too many friends, and you don’t know what you’re missing if you limit your friendship group. And be warned, girl friendships can be very tricky. Teenage girls can be mean, thoughtless, deceitful, spiteful even, but often that’s a result of their own issues and insecurities which you may not be aware of, so don’t let them get you down or make you bitter. Stay calm, be kind, and you’ll make good friends who’ll help you through, make you giggle, and make you feel good about yourself. Cut ties with those who don’t. It may sound harsh, and it won’t be easy - I know you absolutely hate confrontation of any kind - but you’ll be much happier for it. 

Back to the fun stuff. Keep acting! You love it, and I know you’ve been overlooked for big roles in school plays so far but you’re about to get your big break in the high school musical! Keep at it and one day your dream of going to drama school will come true! You’ll even tour the country as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet! I know, mind-blowing, right?

But rejection - and learning to deal with it - is equally important. Unfortunately, your twin loves of writing and acting come with rejection as pretty much an occupational hazard, and I’m sorry, but you’re gonna face a LOT of it, so start growing a thick skin now! Don’t take it personally (though I know it’s hard not to sometimes!) and trust me when I tell you that every rejection is an opportunity to explore a new path. 

You won’t get into Warwick University to do the degree in Creative Writing you’d set your heart on, but that’s okay because going to Sheffield University instead (pointer - look up WHERE Sheffield is BEFORE you go, then you won’t be so horrified and gob-smacked at just how far away it is from Sussex when you get in - geography never was your strong point!) has LOADS of perks (though I am sorry about all the horrendously steep hills - seriously, PAY MORE ATTENTION IN GEOGRAPHY!). 

For example, you know how you ALWAYS wanted to live in America (thanks to all those Sweet Valley High and Caroline B Cooney books you’re devouring right now)? Well, because you go to Sheffield, you’ll get to spend a WHOLE YEAR studying in North Carolina, where you’ll get the chance to do a whole load of writing courses including a class by the amazing Sarah Dessen (trust me, she’s gonna be BIG in YA fiction) and join SCBWI (that’s Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators) which will help launch your writing career. Oh, and at Sheffield Uni you’ll also meet the guy you’re still in love with, fifteen years later (hint: keep an eye out for Tigger slippers…). 

So there you go - don’t feel dejected by rejection. It can be, and often is, a GOOD thing! In fact, it’s absolutely vital. It helps broaden your horizons and discover what it is you really care about, it inspires you to work harder to improve, and drives you to pursue your passions with more determination than ever. 

Oh, and if your mind STILL isn’t totally blown yet, here’s the most surprising thing of all. You know that story you wrote in English last year, in Year Six? When you were set homework to write a new version of a Fairy Tale? Don’t lose it!

That got you your first book deal ☺

Thanks Katie for a super post.

Summary 

Lucy's mum is so out of date she's practically mouldy. She's super-strict, overprotective and won't let Lucy go to the Valentine's Ball! Lucy can't believe she was EVER a teenager . . .

Until the morning her mum wakes up with no memory of the last thirty years - and thinks she's twelve years old!

All Lucy wants is for her mum to go back to being her old self - but how?

To find out more about Katie Dale:

Twitter  / Blog

Don’t forget to enter the MUMNESIA GOODY-BAG PRIZE DRAW!

To enter (UK only) simply answer the question:

WHAT DO THE LETTERS SCBWI STAND FOR?

Email your answer to [email protected]

(p.s. there’s a special bonus draw and prize for those who answer all eight questions correctly - so why not join me next time on the blogtour?)

Good luck!

www.katiedaleuk.blogspot.com

 Make sure you check out all the posts on the Mumnesia Blog Tour. 

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Cover Reveal: Mumnesia! by Katie Dale

And here is the cover I've been dying to show you since I laid eyes on it last week!

May I present...Mumnesia! by Katie Dale!!!!

Isn't it fabulous? This book is Middle Grade and I understand from Katie, that the cover is rather SPARKLY in real life. Completely different from Katie's YA novels! Mumnesia will be published by Macmillan Children's Books on the 16th June. 

The cover illustration was created by Lilly Lazuli and I think she has done a grand job. I may have actually had a very similar outfit back in the 80's...

Here is the summary to whet your appetite!

Lucy's mum is so out of date she's practically mouldy. She's super-strict, overprotective and won't let Lucy go to the school ball! Lucy can't believe she was EVER a teenager . . .

Until the morning her mum wakes up with no memory of the last thirty years - and thinks she's twelve years old - and that she's time-travelled from the 1980s!

All Lucy wants is for her mum to go back to being her old self - but how?

And advance reviewers are loving the book! Here is what they had to say. 

‘You'll laugh, you'll cringe, you'll never look at your mum in quite the same way again . . .’
Joanna Nadin

‘Mum minus memory = a whole lot of FUN!’
Tamsyn Murray

‘Fast and funny; a Freaky Friday for the twenty-first century!’
Jo Cotterill 

And here's what Katie had to say about the cover!  

"I am so EXCITED about this cover! MUMNESIA! is my first middle grade novel (and quite a departure from my previous gritty YA novels!) and I'm so thrilled with how SUPER SPARKLY the cover is in real life, and how perfectly it expresses both the fun that ensues when Lucy's mum gets amnesia (complete with 80s makeovers, parties, and bunking off school!) and Lucy's ultimate dilemma, as she literally weighs up the two different versions of her Mum. Which is better: a no-fun, strict, sensible middle-aged Mum? Or a carefree spunky Mum...who thinks she's twelve years old?! I love all the details in the pink background too, as they all illustrate themes within the story - music, make-up, hearts, and lots of question marks - for at the heart of the book is a mystery Lucy and her mum have to work together to solve: What caused Lucy's mum's amnesia? And how will they ever get her memory back?" 

I am seriously super excited about this book and can't wait to read it! 

Little White Lies by Katie Dale

Sweat trickles down the back of my neck as I check the computer clock for the millionth time. ‘Hurry up!’

‘Patience, Titch,’ Kenny chides. ‘You can’t rush genius!’ He winks, his eyes the only part of his face visible through his balaclava.

Pages - 373

Published by Simon  and Schuster in August 2013

Book Summary

The first time Lou meets tall, dark, and handsome Christian, she knows he's hiding something. Why does he clam up every time she asks about his past? Why doesn't he have any family photos and why does he dye his blond hair black?
Then suddenly his terrible secret is unveiled to the world - and it seems everything he's ever told Lou is a lie. Can what the media are saying about him really be true? Should Lou trust him? Or is she in terrible danger? But Christian isn't the only one keeping secrets. For what if their chance meeting was no accident at all ...?
As lie follows lie, nothing is as it seems, and soon Lou finds herself ensnared in a web of deceit, her loyalties torn, her emotions in tatters as she faces a heart-wrenching dilemma: should she shatter the lives of those she holds dearest, or betray the guy who, against all odds, she's fallen in love with?

Full of family secrets, surprising twists and unexpected revelations, Katie Dale's second novel will have readers on the edge of their seats.

*******

After reading this book, I can see why Katie Dale’s writing came so highly recommended to me. This book the tightest plot I’ve ever read. Nothing is  wasted - every conversation, every action and every expression used are essential to the plot of the book. It’s one of those books that on finishing reading it, you find yourself wanting to pick to pieces to work out how the author made it so utterly brilliant.

The characters have interesting twists to them. No one is what they seem. Everyone has hidden secrets and excellent masks to hide behind.  The author shows that nothing in  life can be categorised as black or white. Society has been created from a kaleidoscope of colour. The author has displayed clearly that the human race are far from perfect. Yet these characters are accepting of the flaws of others. They love each other at their best, but are also accepting of each other at their worse.

I loved the friendship between Christian and Lou.They had so much stacked up against them. There is a line in the final chapter that really broke me and had me tears. It was a simple sentence made up of just four words and yet it just summed up the relationship between these two characters and really moved me.

As the story unfolds little by little, you find out snippets about each character that you are surprised to discover. The author keeps you on your toes right till the last page. I couldn’t put this book down. I had to find out the truth and searched through the pages for the answers I so desperately needed.

The subject matter of this book is extremely topical and shows intriguing glimpses of issues that have hit the headlines in recent years. Due to the well hidden nature of the plot, I can’t divulge any of them in this review.

This is a strong, compelling tale that makes you think. A fast paced, thrilling rollercoaster of emotions.  A book I will be shouting about from the rooftops.

Secret Serendipity Seven with Katie Dale

As part of the Little White Lies blog tour, I’m really pleased to welcome Katie Dale onto the blog to tell us seven well kept secrets about herself and the book.

Gorgeous Christian is a mystery. Why does he dye his hair, clam up whenever Lou asks about his past, and have no family photos? 

But when Christian’s secret is publicly revealed, Lou finds herself in terrible danger - and keeping secrets of her own… 

As lie follows lie, nothing is as it seems, and soon Lou finds herself ensnared in a web of deceit, her loyalties torn, her emotions in tatters as she faces a heart-wrenching dilemma: should she shatter the lives of those she holds dearest, or betray the guy who, against all odds, she's fallen in love with? 

LITTLE WHITE LIES by Katie Dale

Published by Simon & Schuster UK August 2013

*******

1) I have quite a quirky writing method…

I don’t necessarily start writing at the beginning of the book, but instead start writing from the moment or scene in the story which is clearest or most compelling/exciting in my head. So I actually started writing LITTLE WHITE LIES from halfway through! This works well as a method of avoiding writer’s block - I just skip to the next part of the story I’m most interested in - but can often cause me problems too, as it leaves lots of gaps to stitch up at the end!

2) LITTLE WHITE LIES started life as SECOND CHANCE

In fact, the first synopsis I wrote for my publishers is pretty much unrecognizable compared to the final book! But as it was the second novel in a two-book deal, and we were working to a deadline and pre-set publication date, we all wanted to be sure we were on the same page with the story and where it was going as, unlike SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE which went through 40 pages of edits(!) there wouldn’t be a lot of time for major changes at the edit stage. 

Having said that, due to my quirky writing method, although everything went well to begin with, and I got to the end of the book fairly quickly for me - when I went back to the beginning to write the first half I found it really tricky, as there were all these secrets to hide. Consequently, I ended up rewriting the first eight chapters several times over, ultimately changing the setting from a summer writing course in a small Yorkshire village to Sheffield university, adding the character of Kenny, changing my main character’s name from Sasha to Lucy then finally to Lou, and changing Jazz’s name to Vix because I liked the name Jazz so much I want to save it for a main character in a future book!

3) My Mum is also a children’s writer 

Making up stories must be in my genes. When my mum, Elizabeth Dale was pregnant with me she started writing - and hasn’t stopped since! Whether magazine stories, picture books, or mystery series, Mum’s always writing - she’s had over 1600 stories published all over the world - which made it seem like a normal thing to do. I blame her for my being a writer, and she blames me!

4) My first publication was at age 8. 

So, having a mum who wrote all the time, I started making up stories from a young age too - and my first publication was a somewhat macabre poem entitled The Fate Of The School Hamster which was included in the Cadbury’s anthology of Children’s Poetry. 

5) I know the inside of a Travelodge like the back of my hand without research 

In my other life as an actress, I once spent a summer on an outdoor Shakespeare tour and every night we’d stay in a different Travelodge. They’re all pretty much identical inside, so every morning I’d wake up and have absolutely no idea whereabouts in the country I was! I got pretty fed up of Travelodges! But in a way the familiarity was kind of nice, too.

6) Like Lou, I also went to boarding school. 

My dad’s a biology teacher at a boarding-school (where boys outnumbered girls 5 to 1!) so after I won a scholarship I went there for sixth form college as a day girl. Like Lou, I found it both wonderful and frustrating - there are no secrets at a boarding-school as gossip spreads like wildfire! 

7) The Flying Pig pub really exists!

Although it’s not actually in Sheffield, and I didn’t realize it existed until after I’d finished writing LITTLE WHITE LIES. I based the pub in my book on another pub I went to whilst at uni, THE PORTER BROOK, although I shifted its position up a hill where I lived as a student. But now I live in Cambridge, and the other day on the bus I use all the time I passed a pub called THE FLYING PIG and nearly laughed out loud - I must have seen it dozens of times and the name must have entered my head subliminally and I named my pub after it unintentionally! It’s not the first time this has happened!

KATIE DALE

An actress as well as an author, Katie loves nothing more than creating characters - both on page and onstage. She kept her parents happy by getting a “proper degree” in English Literature at Sheffield University, before finally going to drama school, then whilst she was on a belated gap year travelling through South-East Asia she found out she’d been chosen as a winner of the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices competition with the her first novel, the emotional rollercoaster SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE, which launched her writing career, and is now published all over the world. LITTLE WHITE LIES, her second novel, has just as many twists and turns, but is more of a thriller...

Website: katiedaleuk.blogspot.com

Twitter: @katiedaleuk

The Big Break with Katie Dale

Katie Dale is the final author to join us from The Edge blog. Her debut novel Someone Else's Life  is published in February 2012. If you would like to know more about The Edge blog, then please click here. 

Firstly, can I thank you for joining me today on my blog.
Hi! Thank you so much for having me!

What did you do for a living before writing became your chosen career?
I trained as an actress, so I spent several years pretending to be other people! My favourite jobs were a post-apocalyptic feature film in a haunted castle in Scotland and a national Shakespeare tour (Romeo & Juliet and Twelfth Night) performing outdoors even in thunderstorms - not easy when you’re pretending to be dead on stage for twenty minutes!


How long did it take you to write your debut novel ‘Someone Else’s Life’?
That’s a tricky one - I wrote the first chapter in my second year at university in North Carolina as part of a class there, then wrote another couple of chapters while I was acting and doing other things and searching for an agent. Then I entered the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices competition, just before going travelling through South East-Asia, and discovered whilst I was in a Vietnamese internet café that I’d been chosen as a winner! Suddenly agents and editors started contacting me, wanting to read the whole book - which I hadn’t finished! So when I got home I spent six months solidly writing and finally finished it. So all in all about eight years…or about eight months 

Where did you get the idea for the book?
The story really evolved as time went by. Originally it was going to be a book about a girl who discovered she’d been swapped at birth - I was really interested in how a character would deal with the revelation that everything she knew about herself was a lie. Then I came across Huntington’s Disease - a condition I’d never heard of before - and that became a big part of the story.

Was this your first finished manuscript, or are there others hidden away?
I’ve been writing since I was a child - my Mum is a children’s author - so there are loads of little manuscripts lurking around at home! But as an adult I’ve also written half a dozen picture book manuscripts and a screenplay I’d like to develop and pursue at some point.

I understand an extract of your book was published as part of the Undiscovered Voices anthology 2008, did that help you find an agent?
Yes. Absolutely. I owe an awful lot to Undiscovered Voices. I had been sending out the first chapter of Someone Else’s Life to agents for ages, and while some showed interest, no-one was ready to sign me up. When I was chosen as a winner of Undiscovered Voices I got a lot more interest and one of the judges of the competition was Orchard senior commissioning editor Catherine Coe, who offered to meet with me when I got home. She was completely lovely, but ultimately thought my novel was too old for her list at that time - so I showed her some younger stuff I just happened to have brought along - and she loved it! She gave me my first publishing contract - for eight books! - and my Fairy Tale Twists series will be published in January 2012! I then approached agents all over again and, with a publishing contract under my belt, they were a LOT more interested! In the end I got offers from four wonderful agents and was spoiled for choice, but decided to go with the lovely Jenny Savill at Andrew Nurnberg Associates.

How many times did you have to edit your book before the agent was happy to send it off to publishers?
Wow, my book was LONG when I gave it to my agent - 140,000 words, which is pretty much twice the usual length of a YA novel! So we spent about four months working hard on it together, editing, improving and cutting it down to 100,000 words before we felt it was ready for submission to publishers - then crossed all our fingers and toes!

What was your first reaction when you found out that your book was to be published? 
I was waiting to go to the cinema with my boyfriend for our anniversary- we’d been waiting in all day for a call from my agent but because she was talking to the US it was getting quite late. Finally Jenny emailed me the offer from Delacorte Press - I was stunned! But the editor wanted to chat to me first, so she rang at about 10pm and I was still in complete shock and babbled and even got her name wrong! But fortunately that wasn’t a deal-breaker - phew! My boyfriend and I had pink champagne to celebrate, and still made it to the cinema - the midnight showing!!


How long has it taken for your book to reach publication after the initial agreement?
That conversation was back in Spring 2010, and the book’s due to be published in February 2012 - so pretty much two years! It’s been an amazing experience with so many exciting moments, and now I can’t wait to finally see my book on the bookshop shelves! What was happening to your manuscript during this time?
I have editors in the UK, the US, and Canada, as my book’s being published in all three countries at the same time, and between them they gave me 80 A4 pages of edits! So we’ve been working together all this time to make the novel as good as it can possibly be, as well as discussing titles (the original title was Someone Else’s Footprints) and cover designs - it has a different US/Canadian cover to the UK one - and I’ve enjoyed absolutely every minute.


How are you keeping yourself occupied as you wait for publication day?
I’m working on Book 2! I was lucky enough to be offered a two-book contract, so I’m furiously scribbling away on the second novel. It’s another YA, though not a sequel to Someone Else’s Life - hopefully it won’t take eight years this time, as I’m on a deadline!


How will you celebrate on publication day?
I think it’s actually out on Valentine’s day, so I’d better go out for dinner with my other half! Other than that, I’ll be celebrating with my family - we’ll probably go out to dinner, perhaps play spot-my-book in a few bookshops, and drink something bubbly. We’ll probably play mini-golf too. We’re always playing mini-golf!

What are working on next?
My second book is again YA, but it a bit more of a thriller.
Here’s the blurb:
Tall, dark, and handsome, the first time Sasha meets mysterious Christian she knows he is The One. But Christian is hiding a terrible secret. Why does he clam up every time Sasha asks about his past? Why does he have the initials L.N. engraved on his watch? Why doesn’t he have any family - and why does he dye his blond hair black?
Then when Christian’s house goes up in flames, his tyres are slashed, and he flees for his life, Sasha insists on going with him.
But as Christian’s secret is unveiled in front of the whole world, it seems everything he’s ever told Sasha is a lie. Even his name. Her loyalties torn, her emotions in tatters, Sasha must decide whether to stand by the man she loves, or turn him over to his pursuers. Can what they’re saying about him really be true? Should she trust him? Or is she in terrible danger…?

But Christian isn’t the only one keeping secrets.
For what if their accidental meeting was no accident at all…

Do you write full time now?
Yes. I feel really lucky to be able to spend all my time doing something I love.

Tell us what a typical writing day would be like?
I’m not sure there’s such a thing as a “typical” writing day, as the great thing about working from home is that you have the freedom to be flexible. Plus there’s so much more than just writing to do now I’m nearing publication. There’re blogs to write, pitches, interviews, synopses, edits, websites, Facebook, Twitter - there’s always something! I tend to deal with emails first thing, then after lunch is my best writing time - and late at night! Sometimes I’ll be up till 3am writing if I’m really into it - or if I have a looming deadline!

What advice would you give to aspiring and unpublished authors?
I would really recommend mixing and mingling with other writers at workshops and classes. Writing can be a very solitary existence and there’s nothing more inspiring, encouraging or reassuring than spending a day with other writers - it recharges your batteries and your imagination and leaves you fired up and impatient to get back to your writing! It’s also really useful to give feedback on each other’s work, if you trust their judgement, as family and friends can be a little bit biased! And enter competitions - as well as often receiving invaluable feedback, it can be really difficult to get off the slush-pile as an unpublished author, and if you can say in your covering letter that your work has won or been commended in a competition it’s a real leg up the publishing ladder. It worked for me!

Thank you Katie for joining us today. I shall definitely try to enter more competitions. 
If you would like to know more about Katie, then please click here. You can also follow Katie on Twitter at @katiedaleuk