Cover Talk: interview with Bella Kotak

I am super, super excited today to introduce you guys to the totally awesome Bella Kotak. I managed to wrangle Bella into doing an interview with me (thanks, Bella!)

Bella is the cover model on the UK edition of The Lost Girl, which is now officially available - yep, that's her face below! - and she also happens to be the photographer too. Which seems twice as cool to me. I'm normally so intrigued by cover models, and the process behind designing book covers, so when my editors at Random House Children's Books told me about Bella, I jumped at the chance to find out more.

Hi, Bella! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

Hi Sangu! Alright, well my name is Bella and at the moment I work as both an architect and a photographer. 

Did you always want to work in photography? Or was it just something that happened?

Photography for me began really as a hobby. I'd always been interested in taking pictures and in 2006 discovered Flickr and the incredible amount of talent on that site. I came across a few people who were doing a 365 project ( a self portrait a day for a year) and that inspired me to pick up a camera and see what I could create. It was this project that really challenged and fuelled my passion and by the time I bought my first dSLR I was completely hooked. After that it really was a case of friends seeing my work and either hiring me or recommending me to new customers. I wouldn't have come as far as I have if it wasn't for their support.

The photo on the UK cover of THE LOST GIRL is a self-portrait, right? So you were the photographer and the cover model. Can you tell us what that was like?

Yes it's a self-portrait. Taking one is relatively straight forward, it's just a simple case of setting the camera up on a tripod and using a wireless remote to release the shutter. The edit is later done in photoshop.

I was given a synopsis of the book as well as several precedents of the style / look the publisher was going for. They'd already been through my work so were able to tell me what they liked and wanted me to provide expressions that was akin to the concept of feeling lost, watchfulness and so on. 

I provided them with a selection of images and we then began discussions.

What are some of your favourite books?

I guess anything with an element of fantasy and adventure. I love Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and South of the border, West of the sun both by Haruki Murakami and of course Harry Potter! I also love flicking through photography books, my favourite is Pictures, by Tim Walker. It's huge and bursting with creativity!

And finally: you're stranded on a desert island. What three things would you take with you?

Shampoo, ipad, hammock. If I had to be stranded at least I could be comfortable ;)


Isn't she fab? Hope you're all having a fantastic week!

Hello, 2013!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope you've all had a fantastic Christmas, New Year and general holiday season. My parents and brother came to visit so, for the first time in about five years, we were all together on Christmas Day. I have the baby to thank for that (yeah, they weren't going to make the effort for me) so... thanks, Jem!

I have a lot to look forward to in 2013. The UK edition of The Lost Girl is out on Thursday, I'm working on exciting new projects, the baby is healthy and (when he gets his way) happy and is growing more fun to watch every day, and I HAVE A MACBOOK AIR. I'm a kid, an instant-gratification kind of girl, so as excited as I am about everything I've just mentioned, I kind of have to admit the thing I am really and truly looking forward to doing first in 2013 is playing with my Mac. 

I think I may be addicted to expensive electronics...

As for you guys, I have a lot of cool stuff planned for you too! I'm going to have a contest soon, because it's been yonks since my last one; I'm hoping to finish some new Lost Girl extras and snippets and share them in the near future; I've putting together some writing-related sketches and drawings for those of you who might like to see more of the book, its world and my other writing; I... well, actually, that's all I can think of right now, but I promise this will be a fun year!

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Happy Holidays!

My tree is up, (most of) the presents are wrapped and Christmassy music comes out of the radio almost constantly. I normally love this time of year.

I'm probably going to be off the blog during the festive week, so I'll see you all again in the New Year. Until then, merry Christmas, happy holidays and I hope you all have a lovely and safe end to this year!

One Year On

Sunday was my son's first birthday. And yes, I'm still recovering from the party and the cleaning up and the exuberance of a too-excited baby, but it's deeper than that. I'm struggling to process the basic fact of it. Jeremy has been around for a whole year. How is that possible?

You know how people tell you that you should make the most of every moment with your baby because it's over in the blink of an eye? It's true. I'd probably only add that it feels like an eternity while it's happening, but when you look back you're like WHERE DID ALL THAT TIME GO?!

So yeah. I am in possession of exactly one child. He is twelve months and two days old. He is now fully qualified as a baby.

ONE YEAR AGO

NOW

 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Book of the Year

I know the year's not over yet, but I feel like this is the time I look back and think about everything I've read this year and narrow in on one particular book that really shone for me. And it's hard this year. There are a lot of great possibilities, like Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races (actually, I may have read that late last year, but I can't quite remember... either way it's fantastic) and This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers; there were a lot of exciting second or third installments in series I love; quite frankly, I read a ton of good books this year.

But I've managed, somehow, to pick one. And here it is, my book of the year.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home

by Carol Rifka Brunt

1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most.

An emotionally charged coming-of-age novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a tender story of love lost and found, an unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again.

(Summary from Goodreads)

If you haven't read this, please do. I don't think I've ever loved and hated a protagonist in such equal measure. I bawled my eyes out. Just sayin'. 

Did you read anything this year that really sparkled for you?

My Top Writing Apps and Tools

There are a lot of 'Best Apps' posts out there, and a lot of those posts are devoted to the best apps and digital tools for writers, specifically, but I thought I'd have a go at making one of my own anyway. Partly because a few of my best-loved apps never seem to feature on any of these other lists, partly because I get a silly giddy feeling when I download a cool new writing/bookish app and I want to share, share, share!

I won't make an exhaustive list here, because I'll just run on forever, but here are some of my favourite apps and tools for writing and/or bookish people.


1. iA Writer

App. I love, love, love this app. I wrote virtually the entire first draft of my most recent synopsis using this. This seems to be Apple/iOS only. Its beauty is in its simplicity. There's no messing about with fonts or settings or formatting. There are no options. You open it and you write. That's it. For someone as obsessive-compulsive about fonts and how things look as I am, it's remarkably restful to be forced to just get on with it.


2. Scrivener

Tool. There is, alas, no iOS or Android version of this yet. 

I tried this out for the first time only recently. And promptly wondered how I'd ever done without it. You can use this to write, but I use it to outline. Much as I love notebooks and pens, I'm also a sucker for Post Its, corkboards, pinning things to corkboards, and visual representations of my notes, and Scrivener gives me all those things (minus the tactile pleasure, of course, but honestly I hardly miss it!). I can make character sketches, create little corkboard notes for places and chapters, move things around and have my actual content move around too, and probably a whole host of other things that I haven't quite gotten to grips with yet! It's amazing. 

Note: you do have to pay for it, but you can try it out for free for 30 days and, if you don't like it, can export all your content before the trial expires.
 

3. Dropbox

App and tool. This is like having a suitcase hovering above you, weightless, unnoticeable and unobtrusive, but it's there when you need it and you can dip into anywhere. It's a handy-dandy way to store and back up all your important files and, most importantly, to be able to open them on any other device on which you've downloaded and installed the Dropbox app. You have an account, you can access it from virtually any computer as long as you're connected to the internet, and all the content stored in your account syncs across all your computers, phones, iPads, iBrains (I'm pretty sure we'll have those instead of real brains one day...)


4. Evernote

App and tool. It took me a while to get Evernote, mostly because I had a bunch of other apps and notepads that did separate, individual things like allow me to make voice notes, checklists, take photos and label them, etc. Evernote kind of makes those other apps redundant. It does it all. Record ideas like a voice memo, take photos, tag locations, make checklists, write notes, file everything in themed digital notebooks - it's all there. And, like Dropbox, you can use and sync your content across all kinds of platforms and devices. 


5. ColorNote
App. I don't use this anymore, because there doesn't seem to be an iOS version of this (at least not last I checked), but I loved this app when I had an Android phone. It's a little like Scrivener and, while it doesn't have most of the tool's cool features, you can use this app on your phone. If you love sticky notes, as I do, you'll love this. It arranges all your notes via color-coded Post Its. You can create notes with plain writing or have checklists. And - my favourite bit of all - you can add one of your notes or lists to your phone's home screen (I used to do this with my To Do list) and it looks just like a little sticky note stuck to a surface!


Do you use or love any of these tools? Do you have any favourites to share? Tell me about them!

Me, Elswhere. And Cats...

Life and writing have once again got on top of me, so just a quick one today. I'm very excited to be part of Michelle Sedeño's blog feature celebrating debut authors of 2012 (that's me! Yes! I'm one of them!). Her interview with me is up here, so go check it and the other author interviews out - we're giving stuff away!

(Side note: I'm alone at home right now. At least, I think I am. But I'm hearing mysterious noises. Creaks. And scrapes. It's most peculiar. If I were imaginative I'd say a half-destroyed zombie was dragging itself across the floorboards in the hallway...

...lucky I don't have an imagination, eh?)

And books! On the one hand I feel like I have tons of books in my reading queue. On the other I feel like there's nothing I feel like reading right now. Anyone have any great recommendations to share?

(PS. So, the noises. Not a zombie. A cat got in. I rescued it and sent it home.)

(PPS. OH MY GOD. Speaking of cats! Have you seen this live stream of a family of kittens? GO! GO SEE!)

Five Random Things for November

1. Is anyone else watching The Mentalist this season? And is anyone else growing extremely weary of the fact that in four and something seasons they still haven't got hold of Red flippin' John? Just get rid of the loony, please. There's only so many melodramatic twists and dead daughters and we-killed-him-whoops-it-wasn't-him-oh-noes moments I can put myself through.

And I'm still angry about the fact that the show does not do red herrings well. A good red herring tricks you and when you realize you were wrong, you're like oh, I see. On The Mentalist, a red herring is sly, and slips in, and makes you think aha and when you find out what's really going, it leaves you with no explanation whatsoever. (Yeah. I still want to know why, two seasons ago, Bertram was quoting the same William Blake poem Red John did - and why that potentially OMG moment turned into nothing.)

(If you know nothing about The Mentalist, none of the above will make any sense to you. It's okay. A lot of it makes no sense to me, either, and I've watched pretty much every episode.)

2. On the bus the other day, I overheard this

BOY: You know how girls wear knickers, right?
GIRL: What, you don't wear underwear?
BOY: Yeah, but yours are tight-fitting. You know? So do you think they're supposed to be, like, a bra for your bum?

3. I saw Skyfall at the cinema last night. So, so good. (And just as good was getting a babysitter and getting out of the house, just my husband and me, without the baby for a while! We really don't do that often enough...)

4. The weather is ***t. Really. And much as I get the dismals on a dreary day, in some ways it sometimes feels worse when there's a bright day. It's like you look out of the window and it's all sunny and bright and shiny, and you think hooray, the sun's out and it looks so gloriously warm and I can almost feel it on my skin, and then you go out in a T-shirt, and you practically die on the spot. Because it's effing freezing.

Yeah. The sun lies.

5. And speaking of good red herrings, I really do love Agatha Christie.

Anyone else seen Skyfall recently? Are there other frustrated used-to-be-Mentalist fans out there?

And most importantly of all, do you think underwear is just a bra for your bum?

Where I Live

It occurred to me a couple of weeks ago that I moved here two and a half years ago and I still haven't written a post about where I live! So here's that post.

I live in Norwich (which is pronounced Norritch and is in the county of Norfolk, for those of you who don't know the UK). It's tucked away into the eastern bumpy part of a map of the England. It's a city, which means almost everything you'd want or need is right here, but it's also a small city, which means it never feels like I'm about to be smothered by crowds or crushed underfoot on public transport. It's old, which means plenty of lovely cobbled alleys, medieval streets, and ancient bridges, and it's only a forty-minute drive to the sea in three different directions. 

Sometimes it does feel like I'm far away from a lot of things (for instance there are only a couple of theatres and it's not often I want to go see whatever is on; and it's two hours on the train any time I want to visit my UK-based agent or editor in London), and that not much happens here, but most of the time I love being here!

And the thing I love best about Norwich is that it's beautiful. Plenty of parks and rivers tiny hills and woods in the city, and gorgeous countryside just outside it.

Our house kind of overlooks this. Envy me.

The city is also due to become England's first UNESCO City of Literature, is home to the University of East Anglia and the reason I mention this is because the university can boast some impressive (literary!) alumni. Tracy Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring), Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go) and Ian McEwan (Atonement) have all been and studied here, which I think is pretty cool and totally justifies me hoping that I'll absorb some bookish talent from the air. (Seriously. I moved here out of convenience. And turns out the city is literary! Freaky, right?) 

(Actors Matt Smith (Doctor Who), John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones, The Lord of the Rings) and Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean, Coupling) also went to UEA, and I love them, so WIN!)

So there you go. This is where I live. And before I leave you, here's one of the best places in the city.

That's the Forum. It has a lovely little cafe, BBC East, a Pizza Express... and my favourite library.

(Note: I was about to post this when my husband, who loves football, somewhat irately reminded me that just because I'm not into sports does not mean they don't exist. Sorry, Steve (and other football fans!). Norwich is also home to Norwich City, a Premier League football club. Which I knew. Obviously. I just... kind of forgot to mention it.)

What do you love most about where you live?

Go Look at: the United States of YA

Okay, I'm officially terrible. One week into my new schedule and I'm already late! I'm sorry!

To anyone who may be struggling with Sandy, I hope you're all okay.

Today I want to show you this incredibly awesome map made by EpicReads.com and posted over at their blog. If you read any YA at all (or write it!) you'll really love this one. It's a map of the US in books! I'm reposting the picture below (and yes, I do know it's virtually indecipherable but consider it a teaser. I couldn't get it any bigger without making it too big for Blogger!), but the original is over at EpicReads.com so do pop over and take a proper look - and if you like it, show them your love.

 
They're also putting together a Planet YA map (and right now EpicGirl's got The Lost Girl earmarked for India, yay!) so head over if you have any suggestions for young adult fiction in any country!

What cool things have you discovered this week?