Kristen Bailey

I met Tara about eighteen months ago at a Guardian Masterclass in London. Amongst a sea of very varied writers, Tara and I seemed to be in a similar writing place: we had both started writing (seriously) after the birth of our firstborns, and had both experienced about a decade of writing, agent hunting and further childbearing before our novels found their final homes. About to be published by small independents, we met at the Guardian offices near Kings Cross and sat thro

Sometimes you just meet someone and you know. I met the lovely Cheryl at a book launch a couple of months ago. She's a writer of crime fiction and a fellow Accenteer. Anyways, talk turned to how we handled public readings and appearances....this is when Cheryl told me she practised in her front room, talking to a life-size cut out of Daryl Dixon. Who the hell is Daryl Dixon? Well, Google it...Daryl's only my TV husband! That's how I instantly knew she was a little bit c

This author malarkey can sometimes feel like quite a lonesome experience so it's always a real joy to meet other local writers. I met the lovely Harri last month at the launch for 'Second Helpings' through a mutual friend. Like me, her debut novel, 'Inside The Cuckoo's Nest' was published earlier in the year. It's a thrilling, taut tale of the dysfunctional O'Rourke family - a really well-crafted novel that I'd truly recommend you put on your Christmas wish lists. Very happy

I like meeting writing kindred spirits and Christina falls under that category - we're both from the Surrey/North Hampshire area, published by small independents and are juggling writing with little kiddies. I would say Christina is far more accomplished at doing it than I....not only is she a novelist but also a prolific blogger and book reviewer. A pleasure to meet her at my book launch last month and have her here today... Thank you, Kristen, for having me on your blog. I

So....finally, someone has bought some alcohol to the party! Yay! And double yay for the lovely Jackie Kabler who's blogging with me today. I had the pleasure of meeting Jackie in October at the launch of her second book, The Deadline. It was a fab event because up until that point I'd not really met many Accent folk... so I was truly grateful to have been given the chance to meet lots of talented authors and network with some fantastic book bloggers. A warm festive welcom

There are no words (mainly because I've been at the prosecco). But it's out. Souper Mum has been released into the wild. There are no words to tell you how fucking amazing that feels. So here's five dance scenes that express my insane levels of joy. Another glass and I will try to recreate these scenes in my living room. Join in, please do. I'll warn the dog to get in the kitchen. Take it away, Gene.... #publicationday #SouperMum #writing #fiction #happydance #GeneKell

#whoissoupermum? So I’ve given you small clues along the way about Souper Mum’s real identity. Her name is Jools Campbell, she has four kids, she can’t really cook for shit. There are shades of me in her: we both like Primark and fish fingers and we both stumble through life and motherhood knowing that we are both not the all-singing, all-dancing wundermothers that you see in commercials and 1950s American TV shows. But then seriously, who is….really? The one thing I’ve fou

Lots of people asking how to help Souper Mum, how can I get the message out, how can I help her get noticed. She's a classy bird ol' Souper Mum...she won't go for the naked selfie or some random sex tape to get her name in the papers. She'll hopefully get noticed on her own merits. But as a reader, there is plenty you can do to give her a nudge in the right direction. Can I just thank everyone for their unwavering support and love? I hope this will all still be forthcomi

So, I’m sorry for making people cry yesterday. Hopefully, they were good tears because the Hound is better and the story had the happiest of endings. I turned my shit around. I submitted the first 1000 words of Souper Mum to a competition, they got back to me a few months later saying they loved it and that it had placed second. I remember that email very well. Cue the happy dancing. After that it was a whirlwind of good that came sweeping in. One of the lovely editors,

Spanners, works. I know all about those at the moment. We’re out of hospital and back home now. I can hardly see for fatigue. I feel disgusting mainly because I’ve been living off a diet of Walkers, Snickers and vending machine drinks for the past two days. I’ve also done a lot of colouring. Isn’t colouring great? Colouring kicks ass. Arya and I spent most of our time colouring minions which means we used a lot of yellow, a lot of blue and I attempted to draw bananas t