Catherine Isaac's Blog, page 5

Are we nearly there yet?

There was a time around the start of last year, when it felt as though 2018 would never arrive. Despite the fact that I’d written a first draft of ‘You Me Everything’ a century ago (two years actually), my various publishers decided that the best date for it to be released worldwide was Spring 2018. There were lots of important scheduling reasons for this, but anyone who’s ever seen me waiting for my nine-year-old to get his school shoes on in the morning will be aware that patience is not o...

The calm before the storm

With three kids, this time of year - for me and every other working mum - involves a long round of nativity plays, Christingles, Christmas jumper days … and so many school events that you’re tempted to dig out a sleeping bag and not bother coming home. But, on the writing front, this December feels like the calm before the storm, as my novel You, Me, Everything prepares for UK and worldwide publication in Spring 2018.

Despite this, 700 miles across the North Sea in Norway – the only country in...

The puppy, my muse

Writing books is a pretty solitary endeavour. In that sense, the life of an author is very different from other professions. We have no team briefings or ideas workshops and the closest we get to an HR strategy meeting is texting our other halves to ask them to pick up some loo roll. While publishers do let us out for good behaviour and the odd awards soirée, you basically have to get used to your own company.  In the olden days (what my kids call anything pre-2005), an author might have fou...

48 hours in Norway

‘You, Me, Everything’ hits the shelves in most parts of the world in Spring 2018. But in Norway, readers will get a sneak preview – there, it’s out on September 20th. There are various important publishing-related reasons for this, but the best bit (from a brazenly selfish perspective) is that I was invited to jet off on my first foreign trip to promote the book.

I love travelling and Norway has long been on my bucket list. I was only in Bergen and Oslo for 48 hours but, along with the dynami...

New Podcast!

I was interviewed this month by Sara-Jade Virtue, from Simon & Schuster, my UK publishers about writing, books, movie rights and You, Me, Everything. 

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Judging a book by its cover

Seeing the cover of your book for the first time can be one of the best things about being an author. It can also be one of the worst. Because what makes a cover appealing, original and representative of the story are all entirely subjective matters. A stunning package to one reader can be a turn-off to another. Ditto a publisher and an author. What makes this scenario tricky is that an author doesn't usually get the final say in what the jacket of their book will look like (although I think...

The UK cover of You, Me, Everything

Seeing the cover of your book for the first time can be one of the best things about being a novelist. It can also be one of the worst. An author doesn't usually get the final say in what the jacket of their book will look like (although I think there's a general acceptance that life's easier for all concerned if they don't hate it with a passion). Although I feel I've been lucky over the years with mine I've do know some authors who've hated what their publisher has decided to run with. And...

The call that changed everything

Summers are quiet in the world of publishing. But even after the ten years I'd had to get used to this, it's still disconcerting when an author is dying to hear how a manuscript has been received. Particularly one that felt as risky as that which I'd submitted to my agent earlier in the year.

As July and August 2016 passed in a blur of lacklustre sunshine and school holidays, my nights started to become distinctly restless as the phone failed to ring. If I'm honest, I was almost getting used...

The year of writing dangerously

So how did the craziest period of my professional life begin?

It was Spring 2015 and I'd been happily writing romantic comedy novels for more than a decade, managing to pay my mortgage and feed my kids from the proceeds. I was very lucky. I didn't know anyone else who loved their job as much as I did. Nothing about this scenario would make any sane person want to rock the boat. I was, as the Instagram posts say, #blessed.

Then I had this idea for my tenth book. Trouble was, it was clearly NOT...