A Not Illustrated Guide to UK Touring, Days 7-13

My. My. My. The holidays are finally over. I know you're thinking: oh ho, no they aren't, Maggie Stiefvater, there's still New Year's. But as I neither drink nor enjoy sleep deprivation, I can assure you that the end of the year will find me watching reruns of either Scrubs or the Big Bang Theory and then going to bed at an hour reasonable to humans. I have other vices, and they are not contained to any one particular day of the year.

Anyway, I am now going to wrap up my UK touring posts. I've been putting this one off as it requires a bit of assembly of the not-illustrated variety. See, after an assortment of school visits and travel in the middle of my UK tour, we finished with a rather impressive pair of events. One in Liverpool (which looks like Liverpool, if you've ever wondered) and one in London, with the assistance of Jonas & Plunkett. Blog readers will recall that Jonas & Plunkett are one of the bands I adore and also that they did a cover of Sam's "Summer Girl" from Shiver. I was revoltingly pleased when they agreed to play both "Summer Girl" and my personal favorite, "Spaceship," for the London event. In all honesty, I do have to admit that Adrian Plunkett did ask me to sing along with them. And I did write harmonies in my hotel room. But in the end, I did what happens whenever anyone asks me to sing in public. Here are the videos for those who couldn't be there (thank you, lovely reader, for video'ing these two songs)!





Sorry, Plunkett. I did actually think I would overcome my dislike of singing in public, but it turns out I'm still more comfortable playing my bagpipes for the entire planet than crooning for a roomful of readers. Rematch? With a harp or piano next time? (Also, for those of you who haven't heard the rest of their incredible music, it's all available on iTunes and you can listen to the studio version of Summer Girl here).

After these final events, the most perfect any author could ask for, I had a few days off to pursue research for MagicalNovel. I met up with my great (and musical) friend Erin Hill and she, my mother, my sister and I

got lost on the moor (for an hour)


went to Wistman's Wood (which looked like a lost 80s fantasy movie set)


Found wild ponies! (or maybe they found us)


climbed Glastonbury Tor (crawled Glastonbury Tor)


Saw the whole world (or at least the pretty parts)


Found this crazy Bough House made by a guy in Dartmoor and had it shipped home for Things 1 & 2 for Christmas.


(no, seriously, is it not the coolest thing ever? that came in a crate bigger than my car?)
And thus ended my touring for the year. A perfect ending, and as always, I can't wait to go back to the UK. Thank you to all of my readers for reading my books all over the world!