This time last week I was nervously making my way to Birmingham, ready for my first ever signing as an author. To say I was scared would be an understatement, I had so many worries in my head, had so many sleepless night before hand but there really was no need for my worries because Cassie Hunt (our lovely organiser and all round beautiful soul) had pulled together a truly fabulous event.
Friday night was a relaxed affair, I reconnected with my old friend Nikki after an awful lot of years and meet so many people I knew from Facebook. They were all truly lovely and made me feel as if we had know each other forever. After a late dinner I called it a night, a couple of mugs of vodka later (yep I’m a classy girl lol) I quickly fell into a deep sleep which surprised me as I have trouble sleeping in hotel rooms at the best of times, let alone the night before I stepped big time out of my comfort zone.
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny. First dilemma of the day was what I was going to wear. You see I had this beautiful 1950’s style dress but when I put it on I felt super self conscious so that got flung on the bed and replaced with a white vest top, black skinny jean and my gorgeous 5 inch red suede stilettos’, finally I was ready.
After breakfast we all made our way out of the hotel and on to the bus that was transporting us to St Andrew’s Stadium, trust me, tall girl in heels on the top deck of the bus was interesting and involved a lot of ducking and giggling lol. The atmosphere on the bus was fabulous, if you remember back to being in school and the excitement whenever you went on a school trip that would just about sum up the mood just without the pukey kid at the front of the bus. Within mere moments we arrived at the stadium and again my nerves began it kick in.
Once we were off the bus we all stopped to have our photo’s taken with the lovely Scott King and his friend Tony, now I hate having my pic taken, it was one of my biggest fears but both of the guys made me giggle and helped put me at ease. Sorry I’m babbling I know but bear with me 😉
It wasn’t until much later that I realised the guys were on tiptoes (sorry boys)#TallGirlProblems
Soon it was time to find my table for the day, into the Legends Lounge I walked and the nerves disappeared. Why? Well I think it’s because I had a job to do, my table wasn’t going to set itself up. Between Sue (my assistant for the day) and myself we had the table set up and ready to go quite quickly and if I do say so myself it looked pretty covered in Luca’s paper irises…
Before the doors opened I managed to grab five minutes to chat to VL Moon, L Chapman, JA Heron and my gorgeous girl Laura Smith, to name but a few. It was an honour to meet them all, there was also time for me to share my bottle of Toffoc, introducing the ladies to my fave toffee vodka 😉 After that the day passed in a blur, I meet so many people all of which were lovely and interested in hearing about my work…yep I even sold some books #Result. Have to say everyone seemed to love my swag had so many compliments for the mini book magnets and Luca’s flowers and I managed to sell some of my keyrings and raise some money for Spina Bifida so thank you to everyone that purchased one.
Throughout the day all the authors were looked after by an army of volunteers, they never stopped and were an absolute God send. Cassie was a blur throughout the day making sure everything was going perfectly, honestly she deserved a bloody medal! Sadly I didn’t get change to have a photo with her but I did grab her long enough to get her to sign my photo book.
The readers were a fabulous, fun lot. I had kisses, cuddles and people wanting to have their picture taken with me…yes I know even now a week later that’s still a little surreal, I will add some of the pics to the bottom of this post. I signed everything from books to bags to boobs, I even had my boobs grabbed by a fabulous bunch of ladies from Your Next Hot Read book blog! Love you ladies, thank you so much for all the giggles!
So the day I had spent days, weeks and months worrying about passed by in a fabulous blur and I would do it all again tomorrow.
Now to thank you’s before I throw y’all some pics…
Cassie – without you this would never have happened, I know that it was rough at times but what you did was pure perfection and should you organise another one I would love to join you again!
Aaron aka Mr Cassie – although I didn’t actually speak to you I did see you rushing around taking pics so thank you.
The other authors – You all helped put my mind at ease both before the event and during it. Never have a met such a gorgeous bunch of people who showed each other so much love and support. I am blessed to know you all.
The volunteers – you guy’s rocked big time, thank you!
The readers and bloggers – so many of you took the time to pop to my table and speak to me, for that I will forever be grateful. Being unknown my biggest fear was no one coming to my table but instead I found myself surrounded by love…thank you so, so much.
The model’s – Although I only got pic’s with Scott and Tony the rest of you certainly filled the room with a little something special 😉
The lovely member of St Andrew’s staff that carried my cases down the stairs at the end of the day – thank you, although you were ribbed by your co workers because I called you my hero, you are and always will be!
I’m pretty sure I may have forgotten someone for wish I apologise, honestly to everyone involved in this event thank you from the bottom of my heart!
