The publishing year

Inspired by the annual Guardian piece where big-time editor types review their misses and wishes of the year gone by I thought I'd do my own little post on this matter.

The book: Milicent's Book by Charlotte Moore is a lyrical coming-of-age tale written from the point of view of fourteen-year-old orphan, Milicent Ludlow. Milicent's innocence is tempered by a keen eye and a sharp mind, creating fantastic insight into an unorthodox family life in Victorian England.

Why it deserved better: Charlotte's writing is sublime and this book picked up some fantastic reviews, as well as a mention in the Guardian sandwiched between literary giants, Meg Rosoff and Patrick Ness. This is a book that should make its way into more readers' hands - and minds.

I wish I'd published: If I had a *slightly* bigger budget, then I wish I could have published Divergent (HarperCollins). This is pacey, exciting and deeply absorbing - everything you want from a teen read and I hope it does better as the brand builds in the UK over the course of the trilogy. But thinking more realistically, I wish I'd published Cold Hands, Warm Heart (Walker) this is a story that explores the issues surrounding organ donation on a personal, deeply touching level. As someone who screams 'SIGN THE FORM' at episodes of ER, I really loved this humanising tale of loss and life. It's the sort of book that I imagine with a fair wind, a sharp eye and a quick-off-the-mark offer Catnip could pick up in the future...

Excuses, excuses...

Hello all. It’s been a while. In fact I didn’t blog for the WHOLE OF OCTOBER. Naughty blogger Non.

What I did instead:

I worked silly hours in preparation for going on holiday. The downside of being the go-to person for Catnip biz is that I am lured into a false sense of responsibility. I start thinking that the company cannot possibly manage without me for two weeks. TWO WEEKS? I may as well just hand in my notice considering the disasters that will kick off as a consequence of my absence.

I went on holiday where I saw a bit of this:

Go Aggies! (I am referring to the college football team you see in this pic. The one with the 90,000 strong crowd and the army doing the cheerleading. Crazy – and amazing.)

I also ate a bit of this:

And indulged in a bit of that:

(If you haven’t listened to Jack’s Mannequin, you probably should. This one’s one of my favourites.)

All in Texas, which involved a couple of long flights in which the Catnipper proceeded to prove all my fears about travelling with a small thing entirely unfounded. After giggling on take off she then proceeded to cruise up and down the aisle high fiving and hugging fellow passengers. Basically she is:

When I got back and discovered that the publishing world kept turning without me, I went here there and everywhere on editing business. (I say "here there and everywhere" when I mean, erm, the North East and the British Library.) I am beyond excited about the projects I’ve been working on with Colin Mulhern, who has made a teaser trailer for his thriller Arabesque which will be out next September and Victor Watson, whose third Paradise Barn book is (I exaggerate not) the best yet. We’re just finalising the title for May publication. I also met up with a yet-to-be Catnip author whose idea for a novel for the 8-11 market makes me grin from ear to ear and think very big, very exciting things. I’ll keep you posted on that one.

Amongst all that there was an undead book launch to attend, a birthday to be a-partied over and an anniversary to be acknowledged and…and…and…

So maybe I’m the one that’s about to explode?

Sick bed bother

Argh! Last week wasn’t the smoothest ever – the weekend led in with a sick Catnipper, then family visits meant I took a couple of days holiday with a return to work that perfectly co-incided with me catching whatever terrifyingly virulent flu-bug the Catnipper had just recovered from.

You may have noticed that this added up to a week of almost no tweeting and absolutely no blogging. But the upshot of me taking holiday and getting sick isn’t just a quiet patch on the social media front. It’s a hiatus of all things Catnip.

As Catnip’s only employee I have an amazing amount of freedom and responsibility (I don’t think you really get one without the other). Most of what I love about my job arises from this freedom, but the downside is that because it’s about how much work I put in to keep things running, if something gets in the way of me doing my job, then there’s no one else there to fill in.

So this means there’s no one to do simple things like…

• Change my Out of Office to say that I’m DYING of flu
• Answer the phone
• Send polite apologies to people who are chasing me for something I said I’d get done that week
• Find those uber-urgent files needed for a key presentation TOMORROW
• Tell a poor author that OF COURSE I can have a chat with them next week
• Reply to an agent saying I’ll read that submission/approve those terms/sign that contract as soon as I can see straight
• Chase a printer on books that were due to be delivered YESTERDAY

Basically, there’s no one there to be polite or to fire-fight and by the time I’m back at the desk, people are starting to get annoyed/let down by my radio silence.

At least here I can say I’m sorry that I missed y’all and that I wished I’d not had such a stupidly rubbish week that my weekend was too busy for me to check in to the rather awesome ABBA lit fest… or write any proper blog posts.

Now, there are some emails with my name on (and a red exclamation mark).