It’s my last post on here. I’ve had an absolute blast chatting to you all every month and I’ll miss it… but I’m so glad to have had the chance to write for this blog in the first place.
I never saw myself as a blogger. I have zero confidence so it always comes as a complete surprise to me that anyone would want to listen to anything I have to say! Stories are different. You can make the people in your stories as interesting as you like and everyone will want to hear them.
I’ve always had a problem with using my own voice. I was an actor for over a decade basically so that I could hide behind the words of other people. And then I took up writing. It gave me an opportunity to use my own voice through the characters and stories I created. Not everyone has to be loud to be heard.
My new book ‘Gaslight’ has just come out. *Fanfare* And I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you to go for it! Whatever it is that’s important to you!
I had a launch for ‘Gaslight’. I wasn’t sure I wanted it. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to stand up in front of people and make a speech AS MYSELF. I wasn’t sure anyone would come. I did it anyway.
Not only because I think the story deserves to have a party but because there are times when you just have to bite the bullet, put yourself out there, be brave, take chances. Live.
I know JK Rowling gets quoted all the time but:
And also Maya Angelou:
It certainly helps if you’ve had some super, amazingly smashing writers saying nice things about your work.
‘A darkly delicious romp through the backstreets of Victorian Cardiff. I loved it!’ Emma Carroll. Strange Star. In Darkling Wood.
“an absolute firecracker of a book – gorgeously raw, dark and Dickensian… dreamlike and intoxicating… genuinely terrifying… so wonderfully atmospheric I could almost smell the greasepaint…” Lucy Strange. The Secret of Nightingale Wood.
But even if you haven’t, what’s the worst that could happen?
I think that trying to do something is so much more impressive than never doing anything because you are too scared. Don’t you?
And the explosion bit in the title is a reference to how very dangerous gas-lighting was and the fact that at times I thought my head would actually explode with joy at my launch. I looked seriously tomato like by the end of it. But it was worth it. So thank you to everyone who came and thank you to Firefly Press who convinced me to be brave! And thank you to everyone who reads my books and has given me the confidence to follow my heart and step into the unknown.
Wishing you the very best of luck in life and hoping that our paths cross while you are following your own adventure! xxx
GirlsHeartBooks 