My novel From Notting Hill with Love...actually. will be published by Sphere in winter 2010 and I’m thrilled to bits!
Now if you’re the sort of person that doesn’t believe in fate, coincidence and all things mystic then stop reading now, because I’m about to tell you all about the rather weird things that happened on the run up to me finding out this wonderful news, & even what happened on that fateful day itself...
You remember how everyone was talking about the Perseid meteor showers in August? Well just after that in the week preceding my big news, me, my husband, and my two children all saw lots of shooting stars over our garden at night. And amongst all the other things we’d wished for separately, this was the one thing we’d all agreed on...
If you’ve ever read my blog entry on here for 5th November 08 which tells you how I started writing, you’ll know that the very beginning of that story starts with me buying Ronan Keating’s CD Destination. Well I found my original copy of that CD the other day and put it on in the car, but it was scratched and kept jumping, so I added it to my Amazon wish list meaning to buy it some time, and when we wanted some other bits & pieces the other day I ordered a new copy. Guess which day it arrived? Yep the same day I found out I was going to be published...
Oh yes there’s more... one of my friends – Carol who was heavily involved in making that first internet story such a success, told me she had got her old copy of the story out that same day I got my news and began reading it again...
And the big one. Even though I wasn’t really expecting to hear anything on that day, (my novel had been to an acquisitions meeting the previous afternoon and I knew it might be a few days until I had any news,) I couldn’t really settle down to do to anything because the it was playing on my mind all the time, so I thought I’d put a DVD on. Ok I was probably punishing myself a bit with this choice – especially if it had been bad news, but I choose Notting Hill. Notting Hill is such an important part of my novel (you’ll see why when you read it – wow I can say that now!) that for a while it would give me mixed emotions when I watched it. Desperation, when I wondered if anyone would ever love my novel as much as I did, would then turn into a determined hope, when I just knew that one day they would.
Anyway the point to this is, on this day the film was just ending and was in the final scene - the press conference when Hugh Grant asks Julia Roberts the question about staying in England, and my phone rang...
I swear I’m not making this up when I tell you it was my agent, Hannah, and as she told me the good news (just as well it was good or I may never have been able to watch that movie again!) and was talking, and I was trying to take it all in, pinching myself that this wasn’t all a dream. I could hear the strains of ‘She’ by Elvis Costello playing in the lounge as the final credits began to roll up the screen on the TV. It could have been a scene from my book it was so perfectly timed!
So next time you see a shooting star be careful what you a wish for, because you just never know it might just come true...
Until the next time,
A x
Oh I almost forgot I’m on Twitter now! Alimac141 if you’d like to follow me for more frequent updates.
The Blog will be kept for my infrequent yet longer ramblings on life ;-)
Photos of me celebrating below. The rest will be on the Facebook link at the end should you wish to take a look ;-)
Me with Champagne!
At the restaurant with balloon and flowers!
These are the two signs I bought in Notting Hill when I first went to do research for the book, and they've been pinned to my wall above my desk ever since!
Presents from my children: A poem from my son & a collage of all the films from the novel from my daughter - I cried!
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5 comments:
Ali, I know Ive said it before - but many congratulations again, u deserve it all.
Cant wait to be able to buy it!
Lots of love to everyone
Carol x
Aw soo glad you've finally got to write this blog entry!!:)
K-Sav
xxx
Well you two were there at the beginning, and I'm so glad you're still here to share it with me now.
Couldn't have done it without either of you back then...xx
And I'm very pleased that you've written this blog entry -- because it means I'm now really your editor! Really looking forward to working with you and making the most of your wonderful writing, excellent ideas and celebrity contacts!
Caroline x
And I'm very happy to be working with you too, Caroline.
Really enjoyed meeting you yesterday.
Hopefully this is just the start...
Ali x
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