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And so, the big day arrives.

Publication day.

It’s been a while in the offing, since August 2009, but it’s most certainly been worth the wait.

Quite a bit has changed since then. We now have three children instead of two, live in a building with stairs of our own, drive a car with more seats that I ever thought I’d need. Oh and I’ve written a second book as well, or at least I’ve tried to. Agent and editor may yet disagree.

In some ways publication day itself doesn’t really mean much. The book has been in some stores since before Christmas, but it feels important to mark the date somehow, as it’s a big moment in many ways.

It’s twelve years this month since I worked my last shift in a children’s home, and for a long time I didn’t think I would find anything that would fulfil, challenge or make me as happy as those long shifts ironically often did.

What made it harder was leaving because I emotionally couldn’t do it any more, well, not without sending myself completely doo-lally.

For quite a while, whichever way I looked at it, I felt guilty, like I hadn’t finished the job off properly or was running away from it.

How bloody lucky am I then, to not only find something that I feel as passionately about (children’s literature), but to be able to use it to talk about the kids that I worked with.

I don’t believe in fate, nor want to slip into sentimentality, but there’s something so pleasing about this book coming out. It doesn’t offer closure or any such nonsense, but it does make me feel like the last twelve years without these kids in my life hasn’t been a waste. If anything it’s given me the headspace to get around to writing about them, in all their brilliant, flawed and feisty glory.

It is of course possible that this will be the only printing of ‘Being Billy’.

How many people will really want to read about the kids whose existence we choose to ignore?

To be honest, maybe all that doesn’t matter (although I’ll probably feel differently tomorrow!), for I have a penguin on my spine, and no bugger can ever take that away…..

Hello all,

A quick post to say happy new year and to make sure I can remember how to use this spangly new site without breaking it……

Christmas in the Earle household was manic, if not a little on the exhausting side, our first with three smashers under five, so no wonder there was little reading done, and absolutely zero writing….which is slightly problematic given that book two is due in in January. The good news is that there’s only really one chapter left to complete.

I wish I could say that I’m putting off writing it, that I don’t want to finish, but to be honest I’m keen to get the first draft in the bag, send it off to my agent and editor and tinker with some new ideas for a few weeks. A year pretending to be a fifteen year old girl is long enough for a thirty six year old bloke….too long many would argue.

The other writing that needs doing is some blog interviews for various wonderful sites. The blogging and reviewing community is still pretty new to me, but it’s fabulous to be involved, and incredible to see reviews start to appear….and no stinkers yet either… (let’s give it time, eh?)

So, if you’re a UK blogger, and would like to review ‘Billy’, give me a shout and I’ll do my best to find a copy that I can send…..and if you’ve read it already, let me know what you thought…..

Cheers for now….

…well this is all very nice isn’t it?

Who’d have thought it, my own site…

A lot of exciting things are happening, smashing christmas presents, Singin’ in the Rain on the telly box, and my book starting to appear in the shops.

I’ve poppd in to a couple of fabulous bookstores to sign copies already, a brilliantly surreal feeling, and like any paranoid want-to-be writer, been carefully plotting the books rise and fall in the amazon chart. So far, peaking at 11,466! (note to self, must get a life…)

I really do love this rather snazzy site, put together by my good friend and ever-so-patient designer, Jason. He’s done a cracking job hasn’t he? Don’t let the fact that he supports the Aussie cricket team put you off, he’s a mighty talented man…

So I’ll be doing my best to keep updating the blog as we go, especially with official publication of the book looming. It’s a big month, and one I’m determined to enjoy, not worry about!

Anyway, enough waffle from me. Take a look around the place while you’re here, don’t laugh at the photos and put the door on the latch when you’ve finished….oh and come back whenever you like….