... but my knees really hurt. What kind of old age issue is this?!

Do you know I've been featured in Cosmopolitan UK Magazine?—yes I was in Cosmo! https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/worklife/careers/a14471156/changing-careers-tips-advice/
Just wanted to throw that out there :)

I'm back in dance! No where near the life I was living before. I want to have the choice of filming myself for the Beats book and I figured if I give myself a year of training I will kind of, maybe where I was. I've made myself accountable to two people who I know will ask me what classes I've done so no excuses. So Monday came along and I was planning what classes to do for the week and Aleta tells me she's teaching back to back and I should do it. I'm not gonna lie, I did think wtf? TWO HOURS! Then I remembered I used to dance for four hours back to back so if I can't do two then I really have fallen. The first routine was to Diva, Beyonce Homecoming album which is actually one of my fav songs so I really loved that one. I was done after that class. I was drenched, my head was full of counts so when we went into the second routine, a Chris Brown song, my head was still on Beyonce. It took me about 30 minutes to finally get it together! I took my tired ass to the changing room and I literally just sat there not moving. This girl asked me if I was okay. I tried to explain how tired I was but no words came out. Me and Aleta went for a Jamaican patty afterwards and chilled out outside. I was surprised that the next day my body felt okay but my knees really hurt. What kind of old age issue is this?!
Real talk, I am so proud of myself for just going for it. I'm going to try and do two classes weekly but now I'm seeing this heat wave and I'm like err...

Speaking of Beyonce I am obsessed with her Spirit video. How gorgeous? If you haven't seen it you should and the song is beautiful as well. I just love how she celebrates her blackness from her videos to The Lion King: The Gift album. I LOVE that The Lion King is majority a black cast. It's about Africa so let's represent better. I can't wait to see The Lion King in a few days. I'm not sure what people can complain about—it's pretty much the exact same film! I do think it will be weird hearing Nala sounding Texan but I can overlook that.

We launched our, I want to say 16th book under Hashtag Press on Thursday. There is no better feeling than seeing a book in print for the first time especially one with such a pretty cover.

Michael is out of the villa! Thank God. His bizarre self needed to be kicked out.

My birthday is soon and I don't feel excited. 31 is such a random age and to be fair, going to Wakanda last year was always going to be a comedown this year. I'm just hoping that the weather doesn't play up. The fact I have to wonder about the weather in August shows me that I am not living in the right country!

This Takeover show that I'm organising for the 25th August is actually stressing me out. There is so much material to do and it's literally August next week. I'm trying not to stress out but I am stressing out. Deep breaths are not making me any calmer. Plus, I have a week to finish my last edits for Emily Knight book 3 to get it to the editor and I don't even know how I'm going to have time to do it.

I miss Game of Thrones. I started re-watching it but then I remembered how annoying the season was when it ended so I can't be bothered to deal with the disappointment again.

Fingers crossed we meet some talented authors for Hashtag BLAK!

Make sure to follow the blog! Instagram @abiolabello and Twitter @emilyknightiam

In the words of Carrie Bradshaw and just like that I was a YA author

It feels like the right time but this will be my last entry. I know! I've been writing in this blog for TEN YEARS but this year it just felt off. I couldn't pinpoint why that was but the other day I realised I started this blog because I was a dancer who was trying to understand the publishing world. I also was so scared of anyone reading my work hence why I started a blog. Ten years later I have fulfilled my goals! Back in May I had finished my first YA book, a love story based around a Black owned bookshop in Stoke Newington. How I wrote this book when I was heartbroken I have no idea. I vaguely remember sitting on the couch with headphones on playing O Holy Night on repeat at 3am writing. I made my deadline and I wasn't sure if the book was good. My first round of submission for another book had very conflicting feedback and honestly I didn't have it in me to experience that again. I just wanted a deal. Fast forward to September 21st and my book was sent on submissio

I have a new book out!

That's right book 4 is out! This is my first anthology and it's absolutely gorgeous. I was asked to be part of The Very Merry Murder Club maybe a few weeks after my dad and I remember just thinking why is this opportunity coming now?! And it's with Farshore and imprint of HarperCollins. There's no way I can do it. I literally couldn't write. My agent Gemma spoke to me and the editors knew what had happened to me so it was really up to me. I prayed on it and God said to me you're not going to feel this way in October so I said yes. I won't lie I was worried that I really couldn't write this book but thank God for his strength and amazing agent and now it's here! I've been ill all week but I saw loads of pic on social and my copy hasn't come yet so I dragged myself to Waterstones Islington to take pics of the book on the shelves. The booksellers were looking at me like are you going to buy this book. HA! The amazing thing is I have even more

My meal was £22 and it was so small I ate it in 3 mouthfuls.

Happy World Afro Day! I had no idea this was even a day so yes for us! How gorgeous is this? I can't remember what country it's in but I saw it some weeks ago on Twitter. Getting into the swing of writing these blogs is harder than I thought. I'm not sure why I'm finding it tricky to stay on top of it and I know I'll regret it especially when I read back over it at the end of the year. I turned another year older and despite it being a year that is turning out to be unpredictable I'm thankful that I'm here to see another birthday. It's always hard planning what to do, something that I know won't cost an arm and a leg. In the end I spent it eating lol. Helen and I went to this amazing Creole restaurant, literally a hidden gem that had the most amazing food and drinks that were even too strong for Helen! I have no idea why it rained on my birthday! In the middle of summer!! Honestly sometimes I can't deal with this country. Then I got changed for

life of a street dancer

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