Keris Stainton's Blog, page 8

100 good things that have happened in my life

I’m having one of my quarterly clear-outs and being even stricter this time, since we’re hoping to move house this year. I just found this list in a notebook and thought I’d post it here for posterity (mine).

Since I mention getting pregnant and seeing the scan, but not, you know, having a baby, I assume I wrote this while I was pregnant which a) explains some of the odd choices – I was in a total dreamland when preggers; and b) means it was written about 10 years ago.

There are quite a few things on here I’d forgotten all about and one (sunset from the Brooklyn Bridge) I don’t remember at all, but I’m glad I found it. Now to chuck out the rest of the half-completed notebooks (so many notebooks).

1. Meeting David

2. Being best friends with my mum.

3. Being best friends with my sister.

4. Jake.

5. Toby.

6. Moving to London.

7. Travelling around America.

8. Getting pregnant.

9. Seeing the scan.

10. Seeing Christopher Eccleston in Manchester.

11. Seeing The Darkness live.

12. Discovering Barry Manilow.

13. Discovering Armistead Maupin.

14. Finding the real Barbary Lane.

15. My friendships with Susan, Sarah and Byron.

16. Going to university.

17. Meeting my friends.

18. Working at Waterstones.

19. Meeting authors.

20. My grandparents.

21. Eating shrimp butties.

22. San Luis Obispo.

23. Discovering O Magazine.

24. The Wish List.

25. Whitby.

26. Barcelona.

27. Malta.

28. Samos.

29. Standing on top of the World Trade Centre.

30. Watching the sunset in Seattle.

31. When Harry Met Sally.

32. reading Bread Alone all the way through when I was ill.

33. The lovely Christmas at Jo and Andy’s.

34. Waking up on Christmas morning and feeling with my feet if Santa had been.

35. Hearing the bells and getting a kiss from “Santa.”

36. American TV: Friends, ER, The West Wing, Six Feet Under.

37. The email from Dad when we were in America.

38. Horse drawn buggy in Central Park.

39. My wedding.

40. Seeing the rabbits on the Red Noses.

41. Eating pizza in Piran.

42. Being published in Smash Hits.

43. Working for Bob Geldof and Paula Yates.

44. Feeding ducks.

45. Meeting Gemma (dog).

46. Being librarian at primary school.

47. The view from the balcony in Piran.

48. The Red House Hotel in Bath.

49. And the curry.

50. Getting a first for a university essay.

51. Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge.

52. The Chuckle Club.

53. Euro 96 at Finchley.

54. Mrs C (at Finchley).

55. Eating crepes in Paris.

56. Sunday lunches at Ealing.

57. The Booths.

58. Charlie and Lucinda.

59. The ‘Drunk’ episode of Men Behaving Badly.

60. Driving through the mountains in Majorca.

61. Reading In Her Shoes with a latte and a Danish in the Royal Exchange Arcade.

62. Seeing Barry Manilow at the Royal Albert Hall.

63. Having a song dedicated to me at Don’s gig.

64. Getting a thank you on Bjorn Again’s LP.

65. Working backstage at the Floral Pavilion.

66. Watching Bros from side stage in Trojes.

67. Reading Mallory Towers.

68. Walking from Euston to Lancaster Gate and looking at the paintings on Bayswater Rd.

69. Getting the train across America.

70. Seeing the Grand Canyon.

71. Sunday night baths.

72. Martha Beck.

73. Watching the dancing on the pier in Chicago.

74. Seeing Blackburn Rovers win the Premiership.

75. Seeing Janet Evanovich at St Ann’s Church.

76. Lying on the beach at Brighton, shielding out the light.

77. Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset.

78. Venice – the view from the bridge.

79. Climbing trees with Angela.

80. Lying in the long grass on Hilbre Island.

81. Winning Bits & Pieces at the Radio One Roadshow.

82. The Lake District with D.

83. Attending the premiere of Interview With the Vampire and sitting in front of Tom Cruise.

84. Peter Cox walking me home.

85. Seeing Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci on Broadway.

86. The Roosevelt Island tramway.

87. Running the Race for Life.

88. Nipper.

89. Walking down Hollywood Boulevard and putting my hands in the handprints.

90. The Natural History Museum.

91. Matt singing Face the Wind at Bury.

92. Writing my blog.

93. Join Me.

94. The Amalfi Drive.

95. Red wine.

96. Stevie Wonder live.

97. Watching Il Postino and Cinema Paradiso at the Phoenix.

98. Drinking orange juice in Symi.

99. Uni leaving do at The Life Cafe.

100. Hot chocolate and churros for breakfast in Barcelona.

Happy New Year!

My favourite things of 2013

I love the end of the year. I make a slideshow of photos taken throughout the year and we take down the pinboard of tickets, leaflets, etc., and reminisce (then, tomorrow, we’ll put the pinboard back up – bare and ready to be filled up again). And I just wanted to look back and write about a few things that I’ve loved / have made me happy this year.

(This year hasn’t all been happy, of course. We lost David’s lovely mum. But this is a happy post.)

One of my favourite things this year has been Oh Life. It’s an online diary that emails you every day to a) prompt you to post and b) share one of your old posts. It’s been brilliant as a reminder of things I need to do (I make a note of when, for example, I cut the guinea pigs’ nails, so when it pops up in my email I know it’s time to do it again) and the fun things we’ve done throughout the year. It’s also been handy for noting patterns: ‘boys really good, got loads done’ came up three months in a row! It’s also been invaluable in helping me organise my photos from the year. (If I make one resolution it’s to upload and edit my photos straight away. What a mess.) You can actually go in to your archive and add photos to the entries, which would be a cool thing to do if I had time. It’s also a helpful reminder of the times you had too much to drink and forgot you’d already replied to the email. Twice.

Obviously having the boys at home continues to be totally ace. (And I write about it here, if you’re interested.)

Fantastic new (to me) TV included Parenthood (thanks, Diane!), Orange is the New Black (thanks, Diane!) and of course more Parks & Rec (thanks, Diane!).

Best experience of the year was the Authors for Philippines auction. God knows, it would have been better for it not to be needed, but I was so overwhelmed by people’s generosity and kindness… it was just fabulous. Oh and Armistead Maupin praised the auction (and me, in the comments) on Facebook, which I still can’t think about without going a bit… *falls over*

I had a novella out with Hot Key, All I Want for Christmas (writing as Esme Taylor), which I loved writing and am really proud of. Still available in all good ebook shops and it’s only £1.99! I also self-published As Delightful As a Carrot, a book of Harry and Joe quotes which actually has the best reviews of anything I’ve ever written (bloody kids). And it’s really cheap!

 

I saw The Heat, The Way Way Back and Gravity at the cinema and loved them all.

I went to London and did the Walk for Women with my lovely friend Susie and it was inspiring and awesome. And I had three weekends away with other lovely friends. (I think last year one of my resolutions was to spend more time with friends. I’ve done pretty well this year. MOAR next year!)

I made this plum cake quite a few times and ate pretty much the whole thing myself each time.

I got a new book deal with Catnip that I’m VERY EXCITED ABOUT.

(I was going to include my favourite books of the year, but there’s loads so I’m going to do that in a separate post. Probably.)

We were lucky enough to have three lovely short holidays. And we spent a lot of time on the beach…

Roll on 2014! Happy New Year to all my lovely readers. xx

Happy Christmas

Thanks to having a deadline – and to my approach to deadlines being mostly flail-based – I am utterly disorganised this Christmas. I only managed to send a couple of cards, the presents aren’t yet wrapped and David’s out this afternoon looking for a tree.

But now I’m done and I’m having three days off and trying to RELAX. (Of course there’s already a little voice in my head saying “Well, you could do a bit of writing…” No!).

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas or, if you don’t celebrate Christmas, a restful and love-filled few days.

Feminism Friday: How the media failed women in 2013

This has been an incredible year for feminism. I’ve only read the sample of Kira Cochrane’s All the Rebel Women, but it made me want to cry and also to stand up and cheer, but it’s still not enough…

Book of the Year: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Oh, this book. I really just want to tell everyone to just read it. Read it, read it, read it. But I suppose I should at least try to explain why…

It’s a historical novel about Alma Whittaker, the daughter of an enormously successful botanical explorer and businessman, who becomes a botanist herself (botany was one of the few areas of science that really welcomed women), dedicating her life to the study of moss.

Actually, I don’t want to say much more about it because I didn’t know much more than that when I started reading and I was glad…

It sounds dry, but it’s not. It’s funny and charming and joyful and feminist and sexy and wise. There are scenes that will stay with me forever. It took me weeks to read it because I didn’t want it to be over, so I kept reading other books in between. (I’m not sure I’ve ever done that before.) It’s a huge book, but it’s never hard work and I would happily read it again (but I’m actually going to listen to the audio version – read by Juliet Stevenson – instead.)

Read it. Read it. Read it. Really.

Feminism Friday: Labels against women

Another video. I know. Sorry. Hopefully in the new year I’ll actually manage to write something again.

You’ve probably already seen this because it’s been everywhere, but still. It’s brilliant.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

I have been mad busy lately, which is why I haven’t been posting here much. I’ve got lots of admin for Authors for Philippines, my first novel for Catnip is due Christmas Eve (!) and I’m writing something else (that I haven’t told you about yet) that’s due in January. Plus I’m way behind on my 2013 reading challenge (I know it doesn’t matter, but I’ll be really annoyed with myself if I don’t make it).

When I’m busy, my natural urge is to stay indoors, eat rubbish and just work work work, but fortunately David and the boys don’t let me do that, so we’ve been out and about a bit too. And it’s been really gorgeous. Lots of my favourite weather lately – cold and bright – with amazing sunsets. And, of course, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… This will be the first Christmas we’ve spent at home, just us, ever and I’m really looking forward to it.

We made it to the Whalley Pickwick Festival for the first time (we’ve been meaning to go for years) and even though it was raining, it was lovely. I had mulled wine, a bison burger and Sticky Toffee Pudding. And there was carol singing.

Harry and Joe laughing at Daddy who picked up his travel cup the wrong way round and spilled (thankfully not hot) coffee all over his face.

This is why I love this time of year.

David and I worked out we hadn’t been out just the two of us since February. So we went to see The Darkness. And it was fab.

One of our (new) Christmas traditions is to go to a local (massive) garden centre, where they have Christmas lights and a cafe and these little Christmassy model village displays that are just gorgeous. Oh and meringue snowmen.

New book news!

I have been sitting on this news for SO LONG!

I am so excited to be working with Catnip and particularly excited to be writing a series. And, yes, I probably should have spent more time today actually writing and less time looking for Snoopy dance gifs, but, you know, woo-hoo!

Catnip Books has acquired World rights excluding US for a series for 11-14 year olds called REEL FRIENDS by  Keris Stainton, author of Della Says OMG and the popular ‘Hearts’ series, from Hannah Sheppard of the DHH Literary Agency.

The series centres on a group of three friends who enter a film-making competition, with each book focusing on a different girl’s life, including first relationships, family life and friends. The first book in the series will be Starring Kitty, which Keris has been writing as part of NaNoWriMo and will focus on Kitty as she works out how she feels about another girl.

Liz Bankes at Catnip says, “We are thrilled to be working with Keris on this series, which has the heart, humour and light touch that reminds me of stories I used to love reading in teen magazines. With this book, we saw a refreshing opportunity to create a fun series for young readers that represents more than just the girl-boy romances that are typically marketed to this age group.”

The first book will be published in June 2014, with a second to follow in October. Keris was one of the driving forces behind the recent Authors for Philippines auction website where authors’ donations helped raise more than £55,000 for the Red Cross Typhoon Haiyan Appeal.

Feminism Friday: Break the Box

I know, I know, another video. But this sums up a lot of the things I’m always going on about. And it’s very short.

via Susie Day