I think the most important thing I’ve learned throughout the whole Blog to Book process is to write what you love and love what your write. If you’d have said to me six months before I started the Bailey Boat Cat blog, that in a year’s time I would have a book deal with a huge publishing house, writing from the perspective of my cat … Continue reading Blog to Book (Part 10) – Lessons Learned
The book promotion got so much more exciting the closer we got to the book launch. I was very aware that I couldn’t solely promote the book on Bailey’s blog, or people would lose interest. I continued to blog about our life and other things of interest with sailing and pets as the subject matter. In the week running up to the book launch however, … Continue reading Blog to Book (Part 9) – The Book Launch
Like all writers, I LOVE a great story. That’s why one of my favourite bookshelf beauties is The Complete First Edition of The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. It’s such a wonderful book! The introduction is informative and interesting, it explains how the original tales were rediscovered. I learnt a lot about the brothers and realised that they didn’t actually travel … Continue reading Bookshelf Beauty – The Complete First Edition of The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
I have a whole shelf on my bookshelves dedicated to writing books and my favourite by far, in terms of beauty, is Wonderbook – The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer. It’s a fantastic book to pick up and flick through to get the creative juices flowing. The book can really turn your ideas upside down and inside out leaving you with … Continue reading Bookshelf Beauty – Wonderbook
I’m currently reading Earnest Hemingway’s On Writing which is a book compiled of Hemingway’s comments and observations on writing throughout his life and career. I’m throughly enjoying it and I think it’s a great book that I’ll dip in and out of again. Its next to my new Bonsai tree which I’m in love with. I’ve wanted a Bonsai for ages but until this week, … Continue reading Hemingway’s House – Key West
I love Harry Potter. I grew up reading the series and waited impatiently with millions of other fans for each new book to be released. I was already an avid reader, but Harry’s world captivated me and I wished so hard for a letter to arrive inviting me to Hogwarts. (There’s obviously been some sort of terrible admin error, but I’ve still got my fingers … Continue reading Bookshelf Beauty – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Illustrated Edition)
I’m a real sucker for pretty books. Not only do I love reading but I also appreciate beautiful books both old and new. In this new series, Bookshelf Beauties, I’m going to highlight some of my beautiful books and why I love them so much. To start with I had no choice but to share this stunning Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Classic Collection copy of … Continue reading Bookshelf Beauty – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Other Stories
Even though I was contacted by the publisher asking if I’d be interested in turning the Bailey Boat Cat blog into a book, I still had to prepare a proposal that the editor could present to the sales team. I had no idea what I was doing or what was expected for a proposal, and of course no agent to guide me, so I was … Continue reading Blog to Book Series (Part 2) – The Proposal
Sorry I’ve been off the radar for a while. We’ve sadly moved off the boat in Rome, due to work commitments, and moved into a beautiful house beside Lake Maggiore, near Milan. We moved at the beginning of April and we’re finally starting to settle in. Although I’m sorely missing the boat, I’m also enjoying the perks of living on land. The main plus is … Continue reading Moving and settling in
One of the suggested reading books for the MA in Professional Writing was a book titled ‘Becoming a Writer’ by Dorothea Brande. It was first published in 1934 and Brande refers to using a typewriter throughout. I am now embarrassed to admit that when I started the book, after seeing the first publication date, I was not looking forward to it, assuming that it would … Continue reading Why you should never judge a book by its cover… or its first publication date!
Sailing Titanium 