Kristen Bailey

The first thing most people usually ask me about Souper Mum is whether she is me. I know the book doesn’t really stray too far from real life: Jools has four, I have four. We both married dependable if sweary Northerners. We both like a manic school run and can’t cook or bake for toffee. Geez, she even has a kid called Jake! The bare truth is there are similarities, I can’t lie but Jools is far braver than me. Life has thrown her many a curve ball, and she always manage

What. A. Week. Are you still standing? I'm just about vertical at the moment. The other night, I passed out at 9.30pm clutching half a bottle of bellini, trying to binge watch OITNB but waking up and realised I'd slept through episode two in its entirety. But then it has also been a week of awesomeness. Souper Mum has been launched. What a strange word. It feels like we loaded it into a catapult and sent it flying into the atmosphere. The launch will stay with me as on

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

A lot of people have asked me about my writing process. What shapes my craft? Why write? How do I find the ruddy time? I’m not sure there’s a succinct equation which explains how I do it. There are some answers here but in terms of genre, I’ve always known I wanted to write stories that relate to the experience of being in the thick of modern life. I only write at night like a little owl. This means I’m always in my pyjamas. I like to drink green tea and I keep notes

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

So what did I say yesterday? A blog post for every day until the 16th! I'm gonna write like a fricking maniac in the run up to my book's release....look at me go! Well, that was the plan and just like most of my life, the plan decided to do me over. I currently write this from Arya's bedside as doctors pump her full of antibiotics for a horrible eye infection that's gone a bit awry. And all at once, while I'm dancing inside because of writing and books happening, there is not

So, tomorrow will mark exactly one week until Souper Mum gets published. How do I feel? I feel like this most days. Occasionally I feel a little like this. Monday was a high; copies of the book arrived in a big box and I got to hold an actual book written by me in my actual hands. And do you know what that felt like? It felt like the time two and a half years ago when I was on all fours over the side of my bed (oi, oi…get your head out of the gutter…) giving birth to Daenery