“Spooking” Out Today

Well, today’s the day. Friday 13 April. Always good things happen to me on Friday 13 – for instance, Martin and I married on Friday 13 September.

Today’s big event is that Spooking is out! (YA paranormal romance.) Actually, it’s very romantic and the paranormal bit isn’t scary or irreverent.    

It’s possibly the fluffiest, most light-hearted story I’ve ever written. I really look forward to all of your comments. I’m especially interested in hearing from my students in my Writing Novels for Young Adults class. Is this a proper YA book? Does it obey the rules or does it bend them? And if you can’t afford it, guys, there will be one given away later. I’ll also be reading excerpts from it at the Prestwich Book Fest on 23 May, Prestwich Library 7.00 p.m. she says, unashamedly plugging another event. I’ll be there with Sherry Ashworth form MMU – another YA writer who is also an academic and she will also read from her latest e-book.   

It’s always a strange feeling when a book comes out.  A mixture of excitement and nerves. The type of useful feeling that makes you give a better performance when you’re on stage. Mind you, as a prolific writer and as a creative writing teacher I suffer from Constant Editor Syndrome and I have to stop myself editing as I read out loud.

But back to Spooking. It’s a nice little tale and I am rather fond of it. I think it sits well with Alex Smith’s Calling for Angels, published by TheRed Telephone. It’s a similar sort of story. We’ll gloss over the difference in age between the writers!

I hope you’ll read it … and give it a nice review, if you feel that’s appropriate. And come and join me later on this site, 4.00 to 6.00. British Summer Time for the real-time launch if you can. Bring teenagers!