This is the WASTED BLOG. For my main author website, click this link.

Awards: WASTED won the Read it or Else category in the Coventry Award and was runner-up in the North East Book Award. It is longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Manchester, Grampian, Angus, and RED Awards.


Friday 28 May 2010

Pick ME!

Sometimes what we call luck is about being noticed. People who are too pushy can be really irritating and that makes others not want to choose them or do good things for them. These over-pushy people can sometimes be really successful at first, but they fall hard and painfully when people cotton on to the fact that their heads and mouths are bigger than their talent. But not being pushy enough means you don't get noticed. A lot of the whole art of "getting on" in life is about treading the line between being too pushy and not pushy enough.

What is my point? My point is that I'm giving you a chance to attract luck by being just the right amount of pushy. I'm asking you to ask me to pick you to receive a free copy of Wasted. So, if you'd like to win a signed copy, sent** anywhere in the UK, (sorry!), then add a comment to the bottom of this post, a comment which must include the words "pick me". So, wow me, amuse me, impress me, tell me something I won't forget, intrigue me, lie to me, persuade me, bribe me - it's your choice. Push the right buttons.

Also, whether or not you're entering the pick me comp, I NEED YOUR HELP to fill a space in my diary for May 31st. So, what I'd like you to do is ask me some questions. I'll answer them all in a post on May 31st. I'll need tham by Sunday, please. Hurry!!

** or possibly handed over personally - see below...

Over to you!

WASTED BLOG TOUR - WHERE AM I TODAY? At Iffath's place - and I was nearly late - sorry, Iffath!

In real life, I'm at home, partly writing - I've got two books on the go, one fiction and one non-fiction - and partly indulging in my favourite hobby: cooking. I'm having a lunch party for Wasted next Tuesday and I want to get some puds in the freezer. My patent lemon cheesecake and a tiramisu gateau, plus some meringues marbled with raspberries. (Experiment suggested by my agent, who is one of the guests).

Yesterday, I found myself on Talli Roland's blog, accidentally. Talli's blog is amazing and she is a lovely person and a talented writer. I met her recently, when I handed over a copy of Wasted that she had won. It turned out to be very lucky for me that she won it, because she loved it and wrote about it. She was also, over on my other blog, my first blog baby.

And, inspired by my meeting with Talli, here's a suggestion for you:

EXTRA: If by any chance you live in London and can manage to meet me on June 8th (as long as we can agree a time and place that will suit us both) I will actually hand over your copy to you personally and buy you a coffee! (If you are under 18, this might not be appropriate - we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.)

15 comments:

catdownunder said...

Oh miaou? Are cats allowed to ask questions of other cats?
Spike, I know that human thinks she created you (little does she know) but how do you feel about being such an important part of Wasted? Was it a comfortable experience fitting in to a book? Did you have problems getting that human to understand you as a cat?
Were there points at which the human had to stop and listen to what you were saying all over again? Do you think it is difficult for humans to portray animals in books in this way? Did you find there were pitfalls in agreeing to be a character in Wasted? Would you do it again, or encourage another cat to do it?
Yes, I understand that the human may have some difficulties with translating this for general readership but I remain, curiously, your feline friend from Downunder.

Dan Holloway said...

You see this is what I try to tell people about self-publishing. There is a certain kind of person who says do this do that tell the world I'll dance naked in stilettos on Simon Cowell's chest if you just pick me, and to a certain extent they're right. They will often sell quite a few copies of whatever it is they are trying to sell.

But if that something is junk, they will have served simply to disappoint and alienate, and no matter how good what follows, their bolt is shot. On the othehr hand, if one puts one's book up on Amazon and sits back, it could be the best thing ever written and no one will ever read it.

To build a sustained following and a sustained career means attracting the attention of people who will be genuinely interested in what you are writing, giving them soemthing worth having on the page, and a little of yourself as well.

It's about being the friend they look around the room for when they get to a party in the hope they'll be there; the friend they know will be on the other end of a telephone when at one's lowest. it's not about being the person who turns up p***ed and armed with Diamond White every Friday night. Nor the person who sits alone and solves the world's problems to an audience of their cat.

There, I got through the whole of that moderatley coherently whilst thinking about cheese after your tweets.

Questions. Hmm. I can't think of a better person to answer the first question I always used to put to creatives for my "View From the Shoe" column:
So, Converse or Louboutin?

Affy-Ann said...

I can't leave a pick me comment seeing as I don't live in the UK *sob* but I still want to help so:

I think this first one is a common question but anyway:

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

As a kid, did you have a teacher or aunt or someone like that who continues to inspire you today?

Which novel or author has influenced you the most?

What's your favourite kind of weather?

What thing would you use to describe yourself and why?

---I hope I helped. =)

Nicola Kim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nicola Kim said...

Alice chose to follow instructions EAT ME, Don't let this oppertunity be WASTED - PICK ME!

fairyhedgehog said...

I live in Epsom so the chance to meet you in London would be wonderful if only my CFS was a bit better!

It's a fine line between too pushy and not pushy enough, that's for sure. I think I err on not pushy enough but it's hard to know how you come over to other people.

Nicola Kim said...

Questions for the 31st:

1. Can you sing?
2. What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?
3. If you could bring one character to life from one of your books, who would it be?
4. If you joined the circus, what act would you perform?
5. Do you collect anything?

Sangu Mandanna said...

Question for the 31st: did any of your characters give you a lot of trouble? i.e. did they just refuse to do what you wanted them to?

PICK ME, pick me! Instead of going out and getting WASTED, I'll stay home and read!

Anonymous said...

Well I've already bought and read Wasted (as you know) so I think I'll just sit here on the sofa and pick me nose. But I am in London on June 8th so if you want to buy me a coffee...
Actually, what the hell - I'm buying.

Anonymous said...

Well that didn't work as my real name didn't show up on the comment.
So don't pick me because I'm pushy but useless.
Lev Parikian

Lara Williamson said...

Fingers crossed because I really want to read this book...PICK ME...

THE FLIP OF A COIN, THE ANSWERS THERE,
ON A JOURNEY JACK GOES, WE KNOW NOT WHERE,
HE WORSHIPS LUCK, THAT MUCH IS CLEAR,
BUT AN EVENING OF MADNESS WILL COST HIM DEAR,
A LIFE IN THE BALANCE, THE COIN IT SPINS,
LIFE OR DEATH? DO YOU KNOW WHICH WINS?

Sarah Callejo said...

Please, please, please PICK ME. I can do a headstand if you want? Not really, so please don't ask me to.

Averill Buchanan said...

I'm never lucky, so there's probably not much point in asking you to PICK ME, even if I add PLEASE

Barbara O'Connor said...

I've had a cotton-picking awful day. My nit-picking boss picked fault with me then tried to pick me up with one of his smarmy pick-up lines. Well, he picked the wrong girl! I told him, there's only one person who's gonna pick me and that's Nicola.

christine said...

I'd like you to pick me because it would be a wonderful way to celebrate the fact that at 56 I've graduated with a first in Creative Writing and English Literature at UCLAN - my graduation is next Friday/ If you pick me, I'll let you laugh at my gradutation photos!!! Can't say fairer than that, can I?

Call in for a chat with me! Christine's Chatter is at :-
http://cadugdale.blogspot.com