From Notting Hill... with cup cakes :-)

Hello,


Can you believe it’s been another month since my last blog! I cannot believe how quickly the year is flying by already.

I had a lovely day out in the Notting Hill area of London in March with ‘Team Notting Hill.’ This is the title that Caroline, my editor gave to those of us working on my novel. There’s herself, me obviously and Hannah, my agent. And the three of us spent a lovely morning visiting all the places in the novel that Scarlett (the main character) goes in her quest to live out her fantasy of living her life like a movie.

This was partly for our own amusement, partly so we could sample some of the delicious cup cakes at The HummingBird Bakery on Portobello road, but mainly so I could write a guide to the area for some little added extras that are going at the end of the book...
Of course I’d visited this area to do my research before I’d begun writing my novel, but it was fun to revisit some of the places again, this time knowing that my book was going to be published, and also imagining my characters there for real. Here's just a few of the photos and places we visited. More will revealed later in a book promo video I'm hoping my tecno-minded daughter will assist me in making...

                                               The Coronet Cinema,  Notting Hill

Me outside Hugh Grant's infamous 'Blue Door' now painted black!!

THE Travel Bookshop!

This is the road that Scarlett house sits in, during my novel.

And just the sort of houses she & her neighbour, Sean live in.

The locked gardens of Notting Hill complete with bench...

And Caroline & Hannah smiling contentedly after enjoying delicious cupcakes!

While we stopped for some well earned refreshments at the Hummingbird Bakery Caroline had a little surprise for us – alright a big surprise! It was my new cover.

(Click on it to see a bigger version)

I’m not often lost for words. But to actually see it there in front of me for the first time was wonderful, I couldn’t stop looking at it. In fact none of us could stop looking at it. It was just so fabulous. The designer , Lucy Truman has done a wonderful job. The cinema on the front that couple are standing in front of is the Coronet Cinema in Notting Hill. (The One Hugh Grant wears the diving goggles at in the movie) and we thought that the way the couple are standing in a clinch together with the girls leg kicked up, very much reminded us of the final scene in the Bridget Jones movie where Bridget kisses Mark in her undies. Both movies play a big part in my novel.

Oh there was another Notting Hill link during the day. Guess who I stood next to on the tube train?

Well it was his wife I spotted first – Pam Ferris, who you may know from Gavin & Stacey (Smithy’s Mum) Darling Buds of May, Harry Potter, and Rosemary & Thyme.

 But it was when I was standing next to her I spotted a man that I recognised from the Notting Hill movie (although I’m sure he’s been in many other fine pieces of work since!) It was the annoying customer who comes into the Travel bookshop and asks Hugh Grant the first time if he has the new John Grisham Thriller, and the second, does he have Winnie-the-pooh! – Actor, Roger Frost. Here he is at the beginning of this trailer for Notting Hill

To actually spot someone on the tube from the movie that had inspired my novel... well from that moment on I knew it was going to be a good day.

It was a bit like the first time I went down to London to meet my agent, Hannah. To get to The Marsh agency offices you have to pass by the Ritz hotel. The Ritz hotel is the hotel where Julia Roberts is staying while she’s in London in the Notting Hill movie, and where she takes Hugh Grant after they’ve spent time in the garden after the dinner party. When I walked past that hotel on my way to meet Hannah for the first time with it's link to the movie and to my novel, however nervous I felt, I just knew then that everything was going to be alright.

Signs, you get them all the time. Sometimes they’re obvious like those two, sometimes you just have to know where to look.

So until the next time, keep your eyes peeled...

A x                      
                  
Thought you might like to see these lovely cover proofs I've recently received from my publishers. You can't really see it on the photo, but the title has an embossed font. :-)
(Again for a larger photo just click on the picture.)

Twitter v Facebook -The battle for No1

Which is better, Facebook or Twitter? Is one superior than the other, or do they both have their own individual place in the battle for the No1 social networking site.

And what exactly is a social networking site? You will often hear these words uttered by a bewildered grandparent (or even a parent) to a teenager when they start babbling, or even Twittering (did you see what I did there!!) about re-tweets and tagging on their pages.

A social networking site can be exactly what you want it to be. It up to you what you put in and what you get out of it. It can be a place to stay in touch with your friends and family (didn’t we used to have telephones for that,) to share photos (ditto photo albums,) or just somewhere to keep up with all the latest gossip (similarly OK magazine.)
But these days social networking sites have become so much more. Leaving aside the two other contenders for the crown - Bebo and MySpace. Both big in their day, but now well past their sell by date. Facebook and Twitter are these days the clear front runners in the race to grab today’s up and coming ‘social networker.’ But how do you choose which one to use?
Here’s my guide to what they have to offer.
Let’s start with Facebook.

Facebook is great if you like to pretend you’ve got lots of ‘friends’ but don’t actually like talking to them face to face.
It’s excellent for sharing photos of yourself and others in large and extensive photo albums. And even better, fantastic for embarrassing other people by putting bad photos of them on your page, then ‘tagging’ them so everyone else can share in their embarrassment too...
It’s good if you feel a need to build your own pretend farm, flower garden, or run your own cyber cafe.
And it’s also the site for you if you like quizzes that find out if you and your ‘friends’ are vampires, sex gods, or mass murderers.
And if you like joining groups with names such as ‘You’re so plastic, it says "Made in China” on your arse’ ‘I would say it to your face but there’s too much make up in the way.’ ‘Can this sausage roll get more fans than Cheryl Cole?’ Or my own personal favourite, ‘I don’t care how comfortable Crocs are - you look like a dumb ass!’ then why aren’t you on Facebook now...

Ok, not all of those things might be classed as plus points in Facebook’s favour... Perhaps I’ll move on.

Twitter.
Twitter was launched in 2006 but started to become popular in the UK in 2009.
Twitter is great for the celeb obsessed. It’s used regularly by many celebrities the world over, and if you like to follow what your favourite star is doing on a daily basis (as long as they’re a regular tweeter) then Twitter is for you. You can also send a message (Tweet) to your favoured celeb in return – just don’t bank on a reply though!
Twitter is excellent if you don’t want to read people waffling on and on for pages on a Blog about their day to lives (not this one obviously!) Twitter messages are restricted to 140 characters which makes you really think about what you say in each Tweet.
It’s good if you want to get a message across the internet super fast. The recent Daily mail article by Jan Moir about the late Stephen Gately published only days after his death, caused such an outcry on Twitter, that the Press complaints commission received more complaints over one weekend than it had in a total of 5years previously. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/feb/18/jan-moir-stephen-gately

The main difference between Facebook and Twitter seems to be that Twitter is nearly all about the messages (Tweets), although you can Tweet a photo (Twitpic) too. Where as Facebook is a much broader site in terms of sharing your photos, videos, music and games. Some people prefer one, some another.
A difference comes in your link with other internet users too. With Facebook you are immediately linked to a ‘friend’ once you’ve accepted them. With Twitter you choose who you want to follow, and who follows you. This is why it’s so popular with celebrities. They can have thousands of fans (followers to give them their correct Twitter title) hanging on their every Tweet, but they don’t actually have to reply to any of them unless they choose to. The perfect situation ;-)

And me, well I use both!
I will soon be launching a Facebook page for my novel ‘From Notting Hill with Love...Actually.’ so keep an eye out for that. But at the moment I do tend to Twitter a bit more than I Facebook (I get many more hits on my website through my Twitter link than my Facebook one.) I just prefer the speed and immediacy of Twitter without all the other waffle on my home page. And as you can probably tell, I’m not really interested in running my own farm, or even growing my own flower garden, if I was going to do those I’d rather do them for real. Although I do draw the line at my last statement when it comes to the game Mafia Wars - which is probably best kept to the small screen...
Until the next time, enjoy your social networking and why not come and join me on mine.

I love them both really ;-)

Twitter: @AliMcNamara http://twitter.com/AliMcNamara
Facebook:

www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1032877752
A x

Ronan, Robbie, Bradley, Archie - Four men. One awesome weekend!

Hello again!
Got lots to tell you this month. Yes another month has flown by, where has all the time gone already this year?
Last week I was up in Glasgow to spend time with two of my favourite people. My Scottish pal Karen, and my Irish pal (I use the word - pal more in a wishful sense there!) one Mr Ronan Keating. Although I wouldn't mind being the mic stand in this photo....

I won’t bore you with details of the two concerts that I went to see Ronan perform in - been there, done that (concerts I mean, not bore I hope!) but just some of the things that happened and also occurred to me while I was there.
On the first night I took my camera along to the show - you’ve got to take some photos haven’t you? Ronan’s just a little bit too photogenic not too ;-)


And on the second night I decided no, I’m putting my camera down tonight, I’ll just enjoy the show. And how much more I enjoyed the second night without the constant constraints of trying to snap a good shot, or the difficultly of holding onto my camera while clapping along to a song, or even in my case because we were lucky enough to be on an extremely spacious front row – dancing away all night without a camera dangling from your arm!
Concerts without cameras – I highly recommend them... Either that or bring someone else along to take the photos for you ;-)

Also the night we were there a certain footballer - Mr Robbie Keane made an appearance at the gig.

This got me thinking about all the celebs that I’ve either seen at Ronan’s/ Boyzone’s gigs over the years, or I’ve heard about going to them. Off the top of my head I can remember Dermot O’Leary, Frankie Dettori, Brian May, Gareth Gates, Katie Price, but I know there’s been many more.
I also found out recently that there’s a reporter on GMTV - Sarah Moore who’s a huge Ronan/ Boyzone fan. No reason why she shouldn’t be, but it’s almost as if you can’t be a ‘normal’ person and be a fan of someone at the same time. I know I was reticent to admit how I began writing when I first started submitting manuscripts to agents and publishers. But now I’m proud to tell my story. http://www.alimcnamara.co.uk/4.html
Yes, there are an awful lot of fans out there that aren’t what you’d call ‘normal’ and take it that one step too far. (Oh I could tell you some stories...) But your average Joe going about his or her daily business, just taking a like to a band or a singer, or even a football team aren’t some sort of freak, they’re just doing something that makes them happy, and without them buying tickets to concerts and matches where would their heroes be?

I'm going to make a promotional YouTube film for my novel before it's published on 25th November, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Notting-Hill-Love-Actually-Standing/dp/0751544957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262725812&sr=1-1

all about the different places my characters go during the story. So while I was up in Glasgow Karen and I popped along to the Radisson hotel where the characters stay for a night. Now remember that Scarlett, my main character lives for the movies, and when she stays at the Radisson she thinks the receptionist looks like Barney, the concierge from Pretty Woman (the one who helps Julia Roberts out with her cutlery etc.) So imagine my surprise and delight when standing behind the front desk was a small man looking not unlike Barney with grey hair a moustache and beard! I almost asked for a photo with him!

But here instead is me posing outside the Radisson.
While I was away in Glasgow it was also the big Eastenders storyline reveal. ‘Who killed Archie Mitchell?’
Being a big Eastenders fan I really wanted to watch the live episode without knowing whodunit, so had sky+ it to watch on my return. But with everyone talking about it and it being all over the media how was I going to get from Glasgow to Peterborough on the train, and then home after without finding out?
So in a day akin to the episode of the seventies sitcom ‘The Likely Lads’ where they try not to hear the result of a football match, I set out for home on the Saturday morning after the episode had aired, avoiding first a newspaper in my friend’s house which helpfully detailed exactly what had gone on the previous evening; the radio in the car on the way to the train station had to be switched off so I didn't hear any DJ's randomly gossiping about it; and then when I arrived at the station I had to avoid all newsagents and keep my head turned away from any fellow travellers reading newspapers. I plugged my ipod in all the way home to avoid hearing any passenger chit chat about the previous night’s TV; and then at Peterborough station my ipod was not removed from my ears until I was safely ensconced in my family’s car – where of course they had been primed not to tell me anything about the episode - even though my daughter was desperate to!
And what did I think when I finally reached home and was able to watch Thursday and Friday’s episodes for myself...
Absolutely brilliant! Well worth all the trouble & stress :-)
RIP Bradley :-( But long live Eastenders!
Happy 25th Anniversary.

Until the next time,
A x

What's Occurrin'? Gavin, Stacey, Editing & plenty of emulsion paint!

Well hello there!
Sorry it’s been a while since my last entry, I’m not quite sure where the last two months have gone but let me try and tell you in Reduced Shakespeare company style.
Most of November was taken up with our house being permanently covered in a layer dust when we redecorated our lounge. Only we didn’t just re-decorate, we had all our walls re-plastered too, plus removed a doorway and replaced it with an archway. Result: mess everywhere for about 3 weeks, much hair ripping out, stress and a constant feeling of grit in places there shouldn’t be! But now a lovely new lounge where it’s a pleasure to sit of a winter's evening!
Then it was Christmas – fairly uneventful I’m pleased to report this year. Except to say Christmas 2009 will always be remembered as the Christmas we discovered the joys of Gavin & Stacey.

How we’d ever managed to miss this wonderful BBC comedy before I don’t know? But I caught an episode just before Christmas (the one with the Puff Daddy wedding ring) and that was it, I knew I just had to see all the others too. So I ordered the box set off Amazon of every episode for £22 ( quite a bargain I thought at the time.) And I was proved correct, and then some! The Christmas TV was pretty rubbish as always, so we ended up watching the entire lot from start to finish! Brilliant! If I can ever write something as funny as that, I’ll be very, very proud.
And then on 14th January came my Birthday. Thought you might like to see the cake I was surprised with this year. Made by local baker Tom’s cakes http://www.tomscakes.co.uk/ it tasted just as good as it looked!

We seem to be on a decorating binge right now. Just last weekend we finished my daughter's room – she’d saved up all her money from Christmas and her Birthday (she’s a New Year’s day baby) and put it towards completely re-vamping her own room, And it looks really lovely in shades of lilac and blackcurrant, plus the traditional teenage black! But her penance for doing this was she had to sleep in her brother’s room for a week while it was being done. It’s a long time since they’ve shared a room – and they won’t be doing it again in a hurry... well until it’s his turn to have his room decorated!!
And now it’s my turn. My bedroom and study is currently being redecorated, so I’m sleeping in the dining room while it’s being done! Ah the joys of home decoration - a nightmare while it’s in progress, but so worthwhile when it’s over. If you’re interested, I’m going for a look from the Cath Kidston range. With pale blue & dark raspberry walls to match.

And what’s been happening on the book front I hear you cry? Well maybe you don't, but I’ll tell you anyway. From Notting Hill with Love ... Actually is now on WH Smith, Waterstones and Amazon websites to pre-order! How exciting is that. My husband said I nearly burst his ear drum when I found it on Amazon for the first time.
It got a fab pre-review on this site http://chicklitreviews.com/2010/01/18/book-news-from-notting-hill-with-love-actually-by-ali-mcnamara/ I just hope the reviews are as good when it’s published on 25th November!
And I’m currently working on what’s called a copy-edit. For those that don’t know this is really like being at school and getting a piece of homework back from the teacher with lots and lots of red pen across it. Except this time its a copy editor who's picked up every little spelling, punctuation and grammar mistake you’ve made and changed it. (she also picks out lots of things we’ve missed along the way too, and you wonder how on earth no-one has never noticed that before!) Copy-Editors are worth their weight in gold at this stage of the novel’s process from manuscript into proper book, because it’s after this that the novel will be type set ready for printing I believe (so there’s no going back!!)
I should have a cover to show you very soon too, as they’re working on it as we speak at the publishers...
More on that soon.
So that’s my round up of what’s been going on in my life. Nothing majorly exciting, but enough to make the time whizz by so that we’re now fast approaching February!
I’ll be back very soon with more.
Not very 'Reduced Shakespeare' in the end I know, but then I always was a bit too wordy for my own good! ;-)

Until the next time,
A x

'What do you get if you cross a Hollywood movie star, an Irish pop singer, and a BBC TV series? A fantastic break away in Dublin...

Hello,
I’ve just returned from a well earned (even if I do say so myself!) break in Ireland. Both my husband, Jim and myself were working really hard before we left. Me, trying to get all my edits finished on my novel, which I’m pleased to say I finally completed just a few days before we left. And Jim was working mad hours (as he often does) to get various different jobs completed. Jim runs his own business called Jim’ll Fix It property maintenance services. He specialises in tiling kitchens & bathrooms, but really he can turn his hand to any sort of DIY job you can think of. And since he’s constantly in demand, he’s pretty good at what he does.
As I’ve mentioned on here before, every year Jim and I try to have a break away, just the two of us without our children. This year we chose to stay just outside of Dublin for a few days in a beautiful coastal town called Malahide.

I’ve been to Dublin many times, and for quite a few of those trips I’ve stayed in Malahide in a hotel called the Grand. http://www.thegrand.ie/ It’s a lovely hotel and this was the longest I’ve ever had the joy of staying there.We had a lovely relaxing time, just walking along the coast, going out for meals and generally just chilling!
In fact the only time I ventured into Dublin city centre was once to go shopping (minus Jim – he went to visit some of his relatives for the day...) and once to go to the Marie Keating foundation’s Pink Ribbon ball. But more on those two events later, because firstly I must tell you about the two young chaps sitting behind Jim and I on our flight over there...
We were just settling down into our seats, buckling ourselves in etc, when we quickly began to regret our choice of seating. (it was Ryan air so we were able to choose where we sat) Because behind us two studenty types in high volume had begun to voice all sorts of ridiculous pretentious opinions about the state of the world and the young people of today (they were hardly OAP’s themselves!) Jim and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes – great a whole flight of this! But after the air stewards had given their safety demos, counted the passengers, and tried to sell us condoms (ok they were smokeless cigarettes, but they looked like condom packets – when did they start selling those?) and the plane began to taxi down the runway, suddenly all fell silent behind us. Were these two gobshites nervous fliers I wondered – holding each other’s hands while silently saying their prayers?
No, it turned out they’d just fallen asleep! But that’s not the end of the story. They stayed asleep (to our joy) for the whole flight, until the exact moment the plane hit the tarmac on the Dublin runway. And then, like Jack in the boxes released from their confinement, up they popped again – mouths turned on full volume and full speed just as though someone had suddenly re-connected their power supply – which had kindly been disconnected throughout the entire flight.
It was a trip of missed celebrity spotting too – ie everyone else seemed to bump into them and not me! While I was shopping in Dublin, an assistant came rushing into Boots to start her shift announcing to her colleagues that she’d just shook hands with Jack Nicholson in Captain America’s ( like an Irish Planet Hollywood only better) in Grafton Street!! The boys from Westlife were staying in our hotel while we where there – they were spotted by a friend we met up with for the ball. And during the ball itself my husband spoke to Gay Byrne, who some readers will know as the former presenter of the Late Late show in Ireland. Why was it always me in the wrong place at the wrong time? I didn’t see any of them!
But I wasn’t in the wrong place when it came to the Marie Keating foundation’s pink ribbon ball held annually at the Burlington hotel in Dublin.
This was the fourth time Jim and I have been lucky enough to attend this fundraising ball, and as always it was a fabulous evening organised by Linda Keating and her dedicated team.


Me posing in the hotel room before we left.
This year we were booked to be on a table with lots of friends old and new, so we knew we were in for a good night.
We arrived at the reception with our two friends Charlene & Davy, who had driven down from Northern Ireland for the ball, and were immediately offered glasses of pink champagne – my favourite! Luckily for me not Jim’s, so I managed two glasses ;-)

Then after finding where we were sitting on the seating plan, having some photos taken and chatting to a few people, a bell rang and it was finally time to enter the ballroom.
We found our table and seats – complete with large pink gift bags full of goodies, and settled down for our meal and night’s entertainment.
After Lillian McGovern the foundation’s Chief Executive had welcomed us, and the MC of the evening was introduced - Irish radio’s Tony Fenton, then it was Ronan Keating’s turn to step up on to the stage to say a few words. Apart from talking about the foundation’s work, he thanked everyone for coming – pointing out that so many of these types of events were being cancelled these days due to lack of support. He also talked about how he had only just flown in from a promotional trip to Australia about 4hrs ago, and how he’d had to bring his children with him tonight because they’d wouldn’t have allowed him to just walk in from a week away and walk right back out of the door again! How this year had been one of mixed emotions for him, and unusually he talked about what his future plans were professionally, which is something he normally wouldn’t do at the ball. But I think everyone was so aware of what had happened recently with Stephen Gately, it would have seemed strange not to mention him. So in a very emotional few minutes Ronan talked about Stephen, and thanked his family, friends and the public for all the support they had given him over the last few weeks.
During dinner Ronan visited all of the 40 tables in turn, talking to people and posing for photos if requested. In past years I’ve always managed to have a bit of a chat with Ronan at this point. But tonight I’m not sure why I didn’t begin to babble on to him like I usually do. I think I was very aware there were other people waiting around the table for their moment and photograph with him too, so instead when he smiled as I approached and said ‘Howrya it’s good to see you again.’ I just smiled back and said ‘Yes it’s been a long time.’ Then, as he put his arm around me for a photograph I looked about desperately for Jim – where was he? ‘Now where’s my husband?’ I said wondering where he could be. But Ronan knew where he was. What’s always quite amusing to me is that Ronan now recognises Jim as well as me when we’re at an event or a concert – he usually gives him a manly wave or nod of the head. As if to say ‘has she dragged you here again!’ ;-) So pro that he is, as the crowd parted Ronan was already looking in Jim’s direction as he held the camera up to take the photo. The problem had been Jim was still sitting down to take the photo at the table, which is why I couldn’t immediately see him. Something I was cross at him for doing afterwards (everyone knows the worst angle you can take people’s faces at is from below!) but actually the photo came out quite well in the end. (& yes I did apologise to Jim afterwards!) I thanked Ronan for the photo, and then he thanked me for coming, and said ‘It’s good to see you again.’ There was so much I would have liked to have said to him that night about all sorts of things – including the novel. But as I said before it just didn’t seem the right time, and I’m sure they’ll be others. And anyway when Ronan Keating puts his arms around you and says ‘It’s good to see you again.’ twice in one evening, what more can a girl ask for?! ;-)

After the meal we danced the rest of the night away to James Walsh formerly of the group Star Sailor, Ronan himself for a couple of songs, and then a DJ until the wee small hours when we finally returned tired but happy to our hotel.

A big thank you to Carol & Lizzy for organising everything this year

& thanks to Lucy C & her crazy camera for this photo of me!

On our last day in Ireland we took a drive down through the Wicklow mountains, a pretty area we have visited before, and look what we found there – Ballykissangel! Well it’s really called Avoca, but this little town was where they filmed the BBC TV series that ran for 5years. I never watched it the first time around, but as part of the research for my new novel I’m writing about an Irish island, I Sky+ed the whole series at the beginning of this year on ITV 2 to get a feel for the Irish language and humour, so I knew this little place like the back of my hand. But what was really surprising considering the series ran from 1996-2001 is that all the places like the pub and the shop etc are all still called the same names as in the TV series. So there’s Fitzgeralds pub, Kathleen Hendley’s shop etc etc.
So apologies if you’ve never seen Ballykissangel, but if you have or remember it, here’s a few photos of some of famous places from the show. Fitzgeralds Pub, the bridge leading into the town where the characters always went to do their 'thinking', and the church.

So that was our break away in Dublin. Eventful, relaxing, yet very very enjoyable.
More photos on my facebook page of Malahide, the ball & Ronan perfoming on the night. Just add me as a friend if you can't see them.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=113183&id=1032877752&ref=nf

This must be a record breaking length of a Blog - even for me! Thanks for sticking with it to the end ;-)
Until the next time,
A x

T is for Traumas

So what are these traumas I speak of in my title, you ask?
Well I’m going to try and keep this entry as short as I can today because of my first trauma. Actually it’s not really the trauma I thought it was going to be when I first got my manuscript back from my editor, along with all her suggested edits for the novel. To begin with I felt like I was going back to school and I’d got a piece of homework back with the teacher’s red pen scored all over my work - telling me everything I’d done wrong, and suggestions on how I could go about putting it right again. But now I’m well into the editing process (you’ll be glad to know Caroline if you’re reading this!) I realise that not only will my novel be much improved as a result, but I’ve learnt a lot from doing it, (not only how many times I use the words Well, OK and glared!) and I’m sure my future writing will be much improved as a result too.
My second recent trauma was my hair.
I decided a few weeks ago to return back to blonde hair again. I’d had a year of being a brunette, and although I’d enjoyed it, I felt like it was time for a change again.
So my hairdresser, Helen came around at 9am last Monday morning to perform the transformation from brunette back to blonde. She had warned me it would take a long time, so she had allowed over 5 hours for the appointment. To cut a very long story short, she left my house at 7pm that evening and my colour still wasn’t right! To say I looked like Rapunzel or even Goldilocks was an understatement, I almost glowed in the dark!
But good on Helen she returned two days later and spent another few hours adding yet more colour (or was that taking it away?!) until I eventually turned into what I call a strawberry blonde. It’s still not quite my ideal shade of blonde yet, or back to what I was before, but at least I don’t look like I belong in a fairytale now!
Warning: It’s a lot harder to go from brunette back to blonde, than it is to go from blonde to brunette!
Photos of the transformation...

Me looking slightly bleary eyed but dark haired first thing!

Me with all the colour stripped out of my hair!

Yes it was meant to go this colour!

Looking like an oven ready turkey!

Nope this isn't the right colour!!

Trying to put on a brave face with GOLD hair!!

Two days later.. phew that's better.

My third and final trauma put any minor issues I thought I may have been having with my writing or the colour of my hair into perspective, when I heard on Sunday morning about the sad and untimely death of Stephen Gately, of Boyzone at his holiday home in Majorca.
I was never a fan of Boyzone when they were in their heyday in the 1990’s. I became a fan of Ronan Keating’s when he was a solo artist, and so came across Stephen firstly through listening to old Boyzone songs, and then in the last couple of years when I was lucky enough to see Boyzone reunited together on their last two come-back tours as a band. Even though I have no qualms in admitting that I was there mainly to see Ronan, I was always impressed by Stephen’s stage presence and incredible enthusiasm the entire time he was in front of the crowd.

You hear the term ‘a born performer’ banded about a lot. But that’s definitely what Stephen was. And perform he did over and over again to his many adoring fans not only with Boyzone, but in the West End too in shows such as Joseph and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I met him just the once, backstage at Edinburgh castle in 2008 and again he was just like he appeared on stage - happy, enthusiastic and eager to please.
I send my thoughts and deepest sympathies to his partner Andrew, his family, friends, and all his loyal fans.

Until the next time,
A x

Three celebrities, Two strangers & One fantastic day out in London

If you were in London on September 10th and saw a woman hopping about the tube with one shoe on and one shoe off that may have been me....
Let me explain further!
Last Thursday, I went down to London to meet with my agent, Hannah and my new editor, Caroline. I had arranged to meet up with Hannah outside Temple tube station which is the nearest to the Unilever building which houses the Little Brown Book group (just in case you get confused Sphere who are publishing my novel are an imprint of Little Brown.) Well unlike some women who (and I take my hat off to them, but heaven knows what it’s doing to their posture, muscle and back alignment for future years to come.) can totter around in heels all day, I sadly can’t. And so I chose to go for the comfort of trainers with my smart trousers until I got to the Embankment tube station where I planned to change my trainers over to my smarter heeled black boots.
Well when I arrived on the platform a train was just pulling out of the station, those of you that have ever travelled on the London underground before will know this usually means you have a couple of minutes at least before the next train arrives. ‘Perfect’ I thought, loads of time to change into the afore mentioned boots. Yes, you’ve guessed it, just as I got one trainer off and one boot on, another train pulled in, so I had to hop on the train holding a boot and a trainer in one hand, and wearing a boot and a trainer on either foot! Not a very elegant sight... However (and not for the first time that day) something very unusual occurred as a result. Someone actually spoke to me on a tube train! Yes, they didn’t hide behind their newspaper or bury their face in their book and pretend like there wasn’t a lunatic hopping about on the train in front of them in odd shoes, a man opposite me made comment about it, and we had a laugh and I told him where I was going.
So after I finally managed to get a matching pair of shoes on! I hopped off at the next stop (Temple) where I met up with my agent, Hannah and because we had a few minutes to spare we had a chat in a coffee shop along the way. This was lovely, you spend so much time emailing people about work matters that some real life contact with someone who has done so much for you is really lovely to have for a change.
Then we set off for the Unilever building where Little Brown’s offices are housed.
Unilever house is extremely impressive on first sight. It was originally built in 1931 but was grade II listed in 1977. It’s very open plan, very light and modern, yet it retains the feeling of the art deco building it once would have been in the 1930’s. It was very exciting to arrive in the huge foyer and look up – even though two people entering through the revolving door at once is probably not such a good idea!
It’s such a vast building we even had to have our photos taken for security passes – think bad passport picture! :-/ But even though bad photos are usually something I hate, nothing was going to spoil this day!
We rose up in the lifts to the Little Brown offices where we waited in a lounge area full of their already published books. Hannah picked up Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman’s book – Long way down. (How exciting Ewan McGregor is published by Sphere like me!)Which is quite funny because at home my children have become quite fed up of me constantly saying "He/she/they/it are in my book." every time we see a celebrity on TV, or hear a song or see a place that’s mentioned in my novel. There’ s a lot of famous people in there as you will eventually find out... and yes Ewan McGregor is one of them!
Then we met my new editor, Caroline Hogg for the first time, and she was lovely. She took us for a quick tour around the offices, which again are very modern and open plan just like the rest of the building, and then we sat and talked about my book and it’s future plans which was fantastic! December 2010 my seem like a long time before its published, but when you hear about all the different stages it has to go through, really its no time at all. We talked about possible marketing and publicity ideas which was very exciting to hear, and ideas I have for future novels also. And then we went for lunch - appropriately at a pub called ‘Shaws Booksellers'!!
But the main thing was, I left the meeting and the lovely lunch we had that day, confident that I was putting my novel in the hands of someone that, like Hannah, loved my novel almost as much as I did. And as an author you really can’t ask for anything more. :-)
Oh and there’s more...
After my lunch (which wasn’t boozy – although I was given the opportunity for it to be!) I went back down one stop to the embankment tube station and got off and stood and looked at the London Eye for a few minutes. I think I’ve mentioned on here before what a key part the eye plays at the end of the novel and it seemed only fitting to go and pay it tribute on this most significant of days!
And then what’s a girl to do when she has a few hours to spare in London but.... go shopping of course!
And in a ‘homage’ to my own novel where Scarlett, the heroine bumps into a couple of films stars on her travels about London, who should I spot out and about on Oxford Street. Well not quite film stars, my celebs have a fashion in common rather than movies...
First Mark Hayes, GMTV’s fashion expert coming out of River Island and then diving straight into Next. I always wondered whether TV fashion expects actually bought their own items of clothing when they’re styling fashion segments or whether assistants go out and get the clothes for them, but he was definitely shopping for female clothing - with a list! And then later I saw Caryn Franklin who used to present The Clothes show many years ago, in Marks and Spencer.
And if you’re still hanging in there with me on this extremely long blog. I would just like give a shout out to the very nice chap I met on my train on the way home, who was the second stranger of the day I got into a conversation with on public transport. This time it went on a bit longer...
He heard all about my novel and where I’d been that day. Who I’d been meeting with, how long it had taken me to get published and what it all meant to me. And bless him he actually looked interested. ;-)
So to you stranger on the train, Hannah, Caroline, and for all of you reading this to the end, I say thank you.
Till the next time,
A x

Thanks to worldachitecturenews.com for the photos of Unilever house

When you wish upon a star...

Well this is the entry I’ve been dying to write since I started blogging. Yes I’ve finally done it - I’m going to be a published author!

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!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=665444&op=1&view=all&subj=100000102878899&id=1032877752#/album.php?aid=106586&id=1032877752&ref=nf