I am ABSOLUTELY thrilled to have been invited to be part of Storyville: Women Writers Festival at Brighton Dome.

“The festival includes readings, Meet The Author & In Conversation events with Jackie Kay, Bonnie Greer, Ali Smith, Lionel Shriver, Aminatta Forna, Roma Tearne, Emma Henderson, Justine Kilkerr, Deborah Kay Davies, Anjali Joseph, Amy Sackville, Caroline Smailes, Cathi Unsworth, Frances Kay, Catherine O’Flynn, Lois Walden & Louise Welsh.”

My event is on Sunday 21 Novemeber at 2pm, with Amy Sackville and Anjali Joseph. I’ll be talking about Like Bees to Honey, focusing on identity, secret longing, grief and family ties.

I’m planning on being in Brighton all weekend so that I can attend some of the other events. Hope to see some of you there!

Novelist Jenn Ashworth has drawn my attention to a writing project called ‘Out on a Limb’. It’s an online collection of stories about the Wirral and the outcome of a four-month project. It’s definitely one to check out. The stories have heart and offer a real flavour of Wirral life.

And, it has also come to my attention that you can buy In Search of Adam on the Kindle for a mere 70p (bargain!) and Black Boxes Kindle edition for a mere 91p (another bargain!).

And, I’ve uploaded photographs that will give you a glimpse into what inspired Like Bees to Honey over on my facebook page (I also managed to upload photos of me in a bikini, but you’ll be happy to know that they’ve been deleted now!) and also photos from my book events in Malta.

And, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has posted reviews of Like Bees to Honey online! It was very perfect to discover some new (and super positive) ones on my return.

And, finally, a plug for the Bloomin’ Good Books Festival that Silverdell (the award-winning independent bookshop) has organised in association with Lancashire libraries. It’s a mini literature festival within a specially reserved area at the Southport Flower show! I’ll be there on Friday August 20 at 1pm, if any of you are around. I’m very much looking forward to seeing Tamsyn Murray, Jon Mayhew and Steve Hartley at the festival too.

More soon.

In amongst the many ‘unexpected’ things that happened to me during my time in Malta, there are two that scream out.

The first occurred when my cousin arranged for me to visit the Mayor of Dingli, to gift him 2 copies of Like Bees to Honey for the local library. It was ridiculously hot, I had sweat dripping down my back, I was wearing heels and I was slightly nervous about the prospect of having to be grown up and serious.

We arrived, I managed not to slip on the pavement or inside the government buildings and soon I was in the ultra cool Mayor’s office. We sat around a table, the Mayor, officials and I. We talked books, my connection to Malta and the plot of Like Bees to Honey. Then the official photographer arrived.

I stood (still not falling over) and made my way to the designated photo shoot spot, to be snapped handing over a copy of my novel to the Mayor. It was then that he foiled me. Seriously, it took everything in me not to squeal in a ridiculous way. The Mayor handed me a coin medal, in a fancy box!

I didn’t hug the Mayor, I didn’t squeal, I didn’t drop my shiny silver medal. I did, however, go on to show it to every single person that I met. In fact, with a bit of sellotape and a piece of string, I am planning to wear it wherever I go. It is so pretty.

The second ‘unexpected’ thing occurred last Saturday, when I had a day off to travel to Gozo and spend time with my family. We were sightseeing in the capital of Rabat, when a tour guide arrived with a crowd of Russian tourists.

Now, this tour guide had happened to be at a party held in my honour the night before, but clearly none of the Russian tourists knew that when she suddenly shouted across the crowded main square, “Look, there is the famous British author Caroline Smailes.”

You can imagine my expression and possibly the words that ‘slipped’ from my mouth!

“Quick,” she said to the Russian tourists. “Get your photo taken with her!”

And so I spent the next ten minutes having my photograph taken with Russian tourists, whilst hearing my family giggling ridiculously in the background.

Seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up.

(To see my coin medal and other photos from my stay in Malta – nip on over to my Facebook page)

For the last 7 days I have been surrounded by beautiful family and friends. I have felt warmth, sadness, absolute joy, overwhelming love and pride. I have been ‘exposed’ across the Maltese islands and I have been so very welcomed.

Like Bees to Honey is buzzing in Malta. It’s a BEST SELLER on the island (currently at number 4 and an interviewer on Monday told me that I’d outsold Dan Brown in the process!). This tiny island has embraced both me and my writing in a way that I have never experienced before. There are so many well-wishers, so much support and so many willing to shout about my novel from their rooftops.

My stay in Malta has passed in a whirl. In the last week I have given 5 signings, received a medal by the Mayor of Dingli, had my photograph taken with an Air Malta plane, given an interview for Net TV, attended a party held in my honour, been ‘attacked’ by a gang of Russian tourists to have their photo taken with me, had a tour of Farson’s brewery (and saw the Cisk being put into cans), attended a Beer Festival, been interviewed and filmed by The Times of Malta, spoken to a million different people, met family who I haven’t seen for over 20 years, made new (and very perfect) Maltese friends, visited tourist attractions, visited places that tourists will never see, hugged the Azzopardis a ridiculous number of times, sunbathed and eaten (far too much).

Oh, the stories I have to tell you…

I’m flying off to Malta for a series of book signings and interviews to promote Like Bees to Honey. The novel is already selling well on the island, but I’m taking this kind opportunity (given by Air Malta) to carry out a series of international events.

(I honestly can’t believe that I’ve just typed those last few sentences!)

Of course, I’m terrified! It’s a genuine fear about how the book will be received on the island and anxiety that my portrayals of certain characters will offend. Yet, I’m so excited. I get sit in bookshops (and hopefully sign some books!) on the island I love the most the world. (squee!)

If you happen to be in Malta this week, you’ll be able to find me:

Agenda Embassy 10am – 11am on  July 28th.

Agenda Republic Str 11am – 12 pm on July 28th.

Agenda Pavi 10am – 11am on July 29th.

Agenda Plaza 11:30am – 12:30am on July 29th.

Agenda Tigné 10am – 11 am on July 30th.

And you know that I’d really welcome seeing some friendly faces!

When I wrote Like Bees to Honey I promised that if I ever got it published, then I’d treat myself to a special Maltese Cross. I never (not ever) dreamed that I would be buying it on the island whilst there on a book tour! Seriously, even though I have a pile of clothes waiting to be packed (eek!) and a ridiculous amount of shoes needing to be taken with me, I still CAN’T BELIEVE this is happening, to me! (Note my unapologetic use of the exclamation mark!)

I am so thankful to Air Malta (who are flying me out to Malta and back),  to Marco at Farsons, to Robin at HarperColins and to Faye at Miller Distributors (for pulling it all together in such a short amount of time).

See you when I get back!

At the beginning of this month I went to the HarperCollins Summer Party (I know, I’m so late to blog about this!). Authors, publishing folk, agents galore (who were told not to poach), press and a flurry of celebs all gathered in the courtyard of the very perfect V&A Museum.

The food was amazing, ham cut off the bone served with rye bread, salmon and sun-dried vegetable canapés were delivered by truly stunning individuals, the champagne supply was endless and the dessert display was possibly the most beautiful sight that I have ever seen. It was a celebration.

Victoria Barnsley (c.e.o) gave a speech welcoming us all. Strong women always make me happy, but in all honesty her speech hit a nerve. She spoke about Hilary Mantel and ‘Wolf Hall’ and how it was Hilary’s tenth novel. She spoke about not giving up and about good writing always finding an audience.

At times in the night I probably said a few things that I shouldn’t, resulting in ‘Do you not feel like writer?’ and ‘But you write other things anyway, yes?’. And at times I gushed far too much at a writer I admired, another I was slightly scared of and a very famous man in a cool hat. I spoke to my lovely agent at the party too, she is wise beyond her years.

Nearly a month on and I have realised how much I learned at the party (and thus needed to share this post with you!):

That I’d very much love to be invited to another HarperCollins party (which means I should get my backside in gear and write that second novel of my two book deal).

That good writing will find an audience.

That I need to read ‘Wolf Hall’.

That not being able to recognise famous people is funny.

And finally, that boob glue is clever (thank you Rowan!).

So, let’s tackle the ‘baggage’ side first.

I think that in all of my time being published and doing events I’ve had 2 really bad (and bad in very different ways) experiences. One I’ll talk about when it isn’t as raw,  the other was a signing that I did in Chester a few years back. I sat for two hours, found it impossible to make eye contact with people, saw people cringe when they read the back of the book (a story about a suicidal woman possibly not a selling factor), sold 3 books in total and came away giving myself a really hard time.

So, clearly, I figured that if I never ever went back to that store, then I’d be able to pretend that it never happened (there is logic!). But, somehow, a few weeks back I was passing Waterstone’s in Chester with the kiddies and decided that I’d pluck up the courage and speak to the new manager. The result – he was rather lovely and I’m doing a signing this Saturday.

So, please, if you are in Chester this Saturday (July 10) and would like to buy a copy (it’s on 3for2) of Like Bees to Honey, then do pop into Waterstone’s. I’ll be there from 12pm until 2:30pm, hopefully not looking like a lemon.

Wish me luck! (Eek)

There is so much that is really exciting in Chester (UK, my nearest city) at the moment. Rhino Mania is coming, the music festival is in full swing (see what I did there?), I’ve got a new job as one of the Artistic Directors of a brand new children’s literature festival (more on that soon) and Chester Performs are pushing boundaries and doing mega excitingly creative things:

This summer between July 15 – August 8, Grosvenor Park in Chester is transforming into a world of fantasy, romance, heroics and beasts!

Chester Performs are set to create wonderful worlds with a programme of open air theatre, featuring Shakespeare’s comedy ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and a new play, ‘Hercules’. They have designed and built a new, unique (and very ecological!) theatre space which is a combination of picnic spaces and terrace seating.

So, I’m going along to one of the first matinee ‘Hercules’ performances and look forward to taking the children, a rather large picnic, blankets and deckchairs. Perfect summer holiday fun (I don’t even care if it rains, ponchos will be with us just in case)!

I find it so refreshing that Chester Performs have been forward thinking enough to plan for picnic spaces, reasonable ticket pricing, family focused projects and weekday matinee performances. (Bravo Chester Performs!)

(For more details call 0843 208 0500 or pop into Chester Tourist Information Centre. Tickets are on sale now (I know because I have mine!). And if anyone else is going to one of the first matinee performances, let me know and I’ll possibly share a pork pie with you…)

The super talented Orna Ross is someone who has helped ‘me to be me’ in the real world, in terms of my writing and myself. She is truly amazing, talented and inspirational. I think about her and I smile.

If you have a chance to go to one of Orna’s workshops, then I highly recommend that you do:

How To Create What You (Really Actually Do) Want is a practical workshop that enables you to tap into your innate creative potential and apply it to any aspect of your life.

It is not just for writers and artists but for everyone who is interested in consciously creating anything — a good relationship, more money, a happy home, a work of art, a meaningful job.

The process that creates one thing creates all things — but few of us understand that process well enough to be able to draw on it with ease. And trying to catch hold of inspiration is like trying to hold water – the tighter you squeeze, the less you hold. What can be learned is how to work with certain processes and principles in a way that allows your innate creative potential to flow.

HOW TO CREATE WHAT YOU (REALLY ACTUALLY DO) WANT

• Understand the 7 creative principles and the 7 stages of the creative process and how they interplay.
• Experience your own inspiration and creativity in action during the session
• Apply the creative process to a chosen area in your life e.g. money, a relationship, artistic production, work…
• Acquire two transformative practices – Inspiration Meditation & F-R-E-E-Writing – that support you in owning and honing your creative intelligence.
• Learn about the challenges inherent in living a creative life and how to relish them.
• Enjoy music and writing, connection and  conversation — and lots of laughter.
• Be energised, motivated, uplifted and inspired.
• Leave with a personal creative plan in place, together with techniques that you can use again and again, whenever you want.
• Come back the following month to check-in, reconnect and keep on track.

Beginning with what you want here and now, this Creative Intelligence Workshop ignites within you a combination of creative intention and attention that is transformational.

Drawing on the work of poets, philosophers and sages, ancient and modern, the session teaches a number of powerful techniques to foster inspiration and creative breakthrough – and shows you how to apply them.

You leave with the skills you need to make more of what you want in your life (and less of the other stuff!).

The next event is TOMORROW Friday June 25th, 6.30 to 9.30pm, at The School of Life. And all details on how to book can be found here. And for those who haven’t attended before, there’s a ‘Pay Nothing Now’ option…

Talking: Books. An evening with Jon Mayhew, Nik Perring and Caroline Smailes.

Join authors Jon Mayhew, Nik Perring and Caroline Smailes for an evening exploring the world of writing and publishing. A children’s author, a short story writer and a novelist, these three published authors will take you on their journey from beginning to book, answering your questions along the way.

Date: Wednesday, 9 June 2010

Where: At Chester library

Time: 7-9pm

Cost: £3 library members / £4 non members (including refreshments)
People should book tickets in advance, from the Information Desk at Chester Library, or reserve a place by telephoning 01244 977380.

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Giving a talk on how to get published, as part of Independent Bookseller Week.

Date: Thursday, June 17 2010

Where: Booka Bookshop
26-28 Church Street
Oswestry
Shropshire
SY11 2SP

Time: 2pm till 4pm

Cost: A free event but phone to book a place – 01691 662244

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Signing copies of ‘Like Bees to Honey’, then having an informal literary lunch and chat to celebrate Independent Bookseller Week.

Date: Friday 18 June

Time: Signing from 11am till 2pm (Literary lunch and talk at 12:30pm)

Where: Forget-me-not toy and bookshop

Unit 10 CPS Centre, Common Lane, Culcheth, Warrington. Cheshire WA3 4EH

Cost: A free event, but do call to book a place at the literary lunch – 01925 765187

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If you can, please do come along…