Coming Soon: U.K. Domination Tour

Yes, it’s true. Tomorrow night I hop on a plane and fly to London, England, to begin a whirlwind 10-day book tour, thanks to my incredible U.K. publisher, Andersen Press. I’m going because they will soon be publishing the first-ever U.K. edition of “Word Nerd” – here is the U.K. cover. It is beautiful in real life – silver and a bit shimmery. Then, in February 2017, they’ll be publishing my new novel, “Optimists Die First.” Here is the U.K. cover: This is a glimpse into my itinerary: Bristol (school visit), then Cardiff Wales for a CILIP youth libraries conference.  Who else will be there, you ask? Oh, just people like Marcus Sedgwick, 2016 Carnegie Medal winning Sarah Crossan and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award-winning Meg Rosoff (“she faints for a moment”).

After that it’s on to Huddersfield and Lytham St. Anne’s for school and bookstore visits, then a long weekend in Dublin, where I will attend Eason’s Deptcon 2 and meet some dinks. Seriously. I am still trying to get more intel on the dinks. When I do I will pass it on. What I CAN tell you about Deptcon is that 1) it is sold out. And 2) there are more big names there. Um, David Levithan much? Sarah Crossan, again? Eoin Colfer? (“she faints again”).

I will also get the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong (well, since I was a teenager) dream of visiting the Haworth Parsonage, where the Brontë sisters grew up. My wonderful editor is going to take me there on my day off. It’s particularly special because Wuthering Heights gets more than a passing mention in “Optimists Die First.”

Am I excited? Hells, yes. Nervous? Oh, certainly.  I promise to write updates here on my seldom-used blog. I will also tell you if I manage to somehow fit all the clothes I want to bring into one suitcase (hey. Ten days, with day and evening events, means sometimes a gal needs more than one shirt per day, so as not to gross out the people they stand close to).

The storm before the calm

I will also let you know if this inflatable neck pillow I bought is actually worth the twenty-five bucks I spent on it. And also whether or not over-the-counter Sleep-eeze helps a gal get some shut-eye on an international flight (my hair stylist swears by it. I’m going to combine it with at least two big glasses of wine). Wish me luck, and here’s hoping I say trousers instead of pants, and that no one laughs when I say “tomato.”