I got to meet most of the Headline Publicity Team, all of whom were exceptionally kind and lovely, and we got to have lots of bookish fun with cakes and wine on the side. It was quite an unusual experience for me, because I have only ever met one other blogger in real life, so putting a face to someone you have spoken to for months online is the strangest feeling. I met Jo (Once Upon a Bookcase), Carolyn (Book Chick City), Becky (The Bookette), Sophie (So Many Books, So Little Time), Liz (My Favourite Books....finally!!), Sammee (I want to read that), Gav (Next Read, and yes he spoiled the illusion) and a whole other load of UK bloggers whose names seem to have evaporated from my memory, like so many other things.
First up was a presentation of their upcoming books and we got given a goody bag, a goody bag!!! Yes you heard right. This is the first real publicity event I have been to since I started blogging, so being put in a room with other bloggers and people saying to me "here, have these books" was like something I could only dream about. Plus, getting to meet the lovely Headline authors was just bizarre. I will say without a doubt, Dan Wells has to be the funniest author I have met. He had this hat that I wanted to steal, plus, he had a wicked cool accent, although he did dispute that it was us who had the funny accent.
Then we had a quiz and we were separated into little groups, one author per team. I would like to say that we wiped the floor clean with the other groups, but we epically failed. Then it was time for a little mingle and off to a little pub round the corner. Then, it was off to some dodgy student hall come hotel for the night, which was spent rolling around the room laughing at the mould on the wall, my crazy youth and the fact that we didn't even have our own bathroom, just a sink nailed to the wall.
Day two in London was crazy, I mean that in the nicest way possible. Me and Jenny went and met Nina Douglas, who is the Children's publicist for Orion and had breakfast and coffee and talked about all the upcoming books this year. It is so much fun to get a glimpse into the life of a childrens book publicist, because although it seems like such a fun job, you kind of realise how much work these people do to get books onto shelves and get the word out. I promise, people who do this as a job are god sends, they work like crazy.
Then it was off shopping, where we had a ball in Foyles, kind of moved into the Flagship Waterstones, visited every coffee shop we passed and lugged about bags that weighed more than ourselves. I even found a rare book in a little second hand book shop, its of John Miltons poems and it was published in 1914. Its a real collectors book and it was a friggin steal let me tell you. Then we wandered around and got the train home, much to my dismay.
I would like to warn you future London visiters - You are going to want to move there. This is how I feel now, only I don't want to move there, I am going to move there. Yes, this is my impulsive side coming out, hell, i've even started looking at houses and apartments. The mothership is calling me home people. London, I blame you for my erratic behaviour, but yes, I still love you baby.
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