Guest Post – 10 Things I’ve Learned About Being An Author by Katy Birchall

Hilariously funny and deliciously romantic ‘clean teen’ fiction for teens. Perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison.

Everybody wants to be a famous It Girl. Don’t they?

Anna Huntley’s aims in life:

1) Must keep my two lovely new (and only) school friends by not doing anything in usual manner of socially inept dork and outcast.

2) Train Dog (my labrador) to high-five. This is probably the most ambitious life goal on this list.

3) Do not set the school’s Deputy Queen Bee mean girl’s hair on fire (again).

4) Work out whether 2) and 3) constitute being socially inept or outcastish.

5) Go to Africa and give out rice.

6) To hide in a cupboard FOR LIFE with Dog now Dad is engaged to one of the most famous actresses EVER, the paparazzi want to spash my face all over the papers and everyone in school (and The World) is soon to discover the level of my social ineptitude.

7) Is rice a bit done now? Maybe I can give out chocolate in Africa too. I do like chocolate. Must work out how to do it from the cupboard…

I have recently read the hilarious The It Girl by debut author Katy Birchall!  I really enjoyed this book!  It made me laugh….quite a lot of laughter happened actually.  It is a really good fun read!  I highly recommend it!

I first heard about this book at the Electric Monkey Blogger Day back in February 2015 where Katy did a fantastic reading with her lovely editor Lindsey and they had us all in fits of laughter!

Check out my review of The It Girl here

To read an extract from the book click here for my spotlight blog post!

Or a guest post on How To Avoid Sports Day here

 The lovely Alice at Egmont asked me if I would like to feature a guest post from Katy on Tales.  I immediately said YES! and with thoughts in my mind of meeting and listening to Katy talk at the Electric Monkey Blogger day I asked whether I could feature a blog post that included some of Katy’s most embarrassing moments…..after reading the book it does make me wonder how similar author and character actually are……….

Below Katy has written a fab blog post on lessons she has learnt since becoming an author……..and its hilarious!

10 things I’ve learned about being an author

by Katy Birchall, author of The It Girl

1. You will start thinking your characters are real

And then you will get frustrated when people have no idea who you’re talking about when your friend does something and you go, “that is SO like Anna” and nudge people to agree with you. Then you remember that the character is someone you made up and the room will go quiet. This will freak everyone out but mostly it will freak you out.

2. You will suddenly have important, sophisticated meetings and it is essential that you act appropriately

Usually with important, sophisticated people. In my first meeting with Egmont I announced that I was a complete loser. When one of the editors kindly replied, “I’m sure that’s not true”, I replied, “no really, I am.” Sometimes, it’s best not to INSIST that you are a loser to the people you would like to publish your book.

 3. Spiders/ladybirds can bite your EYELID right before you give important talks (no, really. This happened.)

Which, by the way, is extremely selfish of said spider/ladybird. One day a doctor will finally be able to conclude whether it was a spider or a ladybird that bit my eye and when they do I will give that spider or ladybird a piece of my mind, that’s for sure.

(Blogger note – This really DID happen…..I was there…..*whispers*…I laughed…sorry Katy!)

4. If this does happen, it’s probably best to keep that information to yourself

Rather than stop in the middle of your talk to inform your entire audience that you happen to be very distracted by the fact that a spider or a ladybird bit your eyelid the night before and, by the way, your eye is normally not so red and swollen. This will most likely prompt a sea of raised hands from people who are way more interested in the spider/ladybird-bite story than talking to you about your debut novel which is the reason you are there in the first place.

(Blogger note – Yep you’ve guessed it….This really DID happen…..I was there….. *whispers*…I couldn’t resist asking questions….sorry Katy!)

 5. Editors are always right

No, seriously, it’s annoying. How do they do it? In a matter of minutes they’re able to throw light on a section that you have been battling with for days. According to those I’ve spoken to, the general consensus is that it’s all about practice and they’ve been editing books for years. LIES. This seems to me an unsatisfactory explanation and I reckon there’s something they’re not telling us. A secret potion or magical powers perhaps? Or maybe something a bit more Marvel-like such as they had an International Editor Conference which they all went to and were unknowingly blasted with gamma radiation! Just like The Hulk! And instead of turning all green and big they were given extra literary brain powers that enabled them to edit books really well!……………(It could happen)

 6. You will have moments of doubt

“No Mum, honestly, I can’t write. I’m terrible at writing. You know how I know this? Because I have been writing all day. Yes, that’s right. And how much have I written? ONE SENTENCE. Yes, mum, one sentence and it has taken me an ENTIRE DAY. And it’s not even a good sentence. I hate this sentence. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to delete this sentence. There. Gone. You know what that means? I have written NOTHING in an ENTIRE DAY. This is the worst day ever, I can’t even write ONE SENTENCE. I am rubbish at being an author! What? What do you mean I could do something else if I really wanted? I don’t want to do anything else. WRITING IS MY LIFE. Are you INSANE?”

7. During the process of becoming an author, you learn odd things about yourself

When I get writer’s block, do you know what I do? I run around the room with my Gryffindor sword that my sister-in-law got me from Harry Potter world and it always does the trick. Yeah, seriously, that’s the truth. I genuinely find this worrying.

 8. Your friends and family will constantly make you cry

Tears of joy, that is. They say very supportive things when you don’t expect it and the next thing you know they’re making a weird face because all they did was tell you that they always thought you’d make it and now you’re trying to thank them but you’re sobbing so hard your mouth doesn’t form the words right. Instead you’re just making weird sniffly, blubbing sounds and they regret saying anything and question why they’re still hanging around rather than making up elaborate excuses to leave the room.

9. Everything around you becomes a potential idea for book 2

Your brain will never switch off and you will drive yourself mad with the fear of missing some incredible inspiration. You need an idea for your sequel and everything around you is a potential key to unlocking what that perfect plot could be. What is that on the floor? A sock! Could this be a sign? Perhaps a sock could be essential to the next book! I’ve got it! A magical sock! Anna finds a magical sock! No, no, no, you can’t write book 2 on a magical sock. Stop being so stupid, carry on with what you were doing and focus. No distractions this time. Wait. What’s this? A holepunch! Good God, that’s it! A MAGICAL HOLEPUNCH!

 And the most important thing I’ve learnt about being an author:

10. That being an author just happens to be the best job in the world

(Apart from maybe being a jedi)

Check out this hilarious video clip where Anna….I mean Katy chats about the book!

About Katy Birchall

You can follow Katy Birchall on twitter using – @KatyBirchall

You can buy a copy of The It Girl here

For an extract from the book check out my previous blog post here

Check out my review of The It Girl here

Or find out more about The It Girl 3 in this exclusive interview with, It Girl, Anna Huntley here

A HUGE thank you to Alice at Egmont for sending me a copy of the book and for being generally awesome and also to Katy for an hilarious guest post!

I recently ran a giveaway courtesy of Egmont for a chance to win 1 of 3 copies of the brilliant The It Girl!

Thank you for all the entires, retweets and comments.  The 3 winners were picked at random via Rafflecopter and have been notified on twitter / email and they were as follows…..congrats!

*does a little dance!*

Are you looking forward to reading The It Girl?  Have you enjoyed hearing a little more about it?  Have you ever found your self in some embarrassing moments?  I would love to hear from you!  Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this post or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy !

 Happy laughing at Anna!