Apparently Adele is dating Skepta which makes this the best Nigerian news ever!

Happy October! I swear I blinked and we're here. I'm currently on annual leave—forced to take by Helen. I feel like I just need a day or two off, she said, “Take a week. Book a holiday!” I am trying very very hard to not work but it I am finding it difficult. Usually on my birthday I feel well rested during August but this August just seemed full on for some reason and I didn't feel like work slowed down at all. So I'll try to enjoy my time off.

I have a title for my third Emily Knight book. Are you ready? It's Emily Knight I am...Becoming. Yay!!!!! And I got my editors notes back and I dread editors notes. The email actually said 'Don't dread the notes. This manuscript is so strong.' Ya'll I almost fainted. I was reading through them and it's stuff that at the back of my mind I did think have I said enough about this? Should I have more on this character? And basically my thoughts were right. For once I'm excited to work though the notes but not quite yet ;) after some chill time. EK 3 is out September 2020 and you can pre-order your signed copy here 

I've been working on a new fantasy story. I won't say much until it's done but very much loving it. I think it's going to be more of a teen book but if I say so myself, it's a very cool idea.

I'm going to be honest about this blog. I did try to blog weekly or every other week and to be honest it's just not me! I prefer bundling a months worth of info into one post so that's what I'm gonna do. I don't have the time to do this weekly stuff. I tried, I failed and I'm okay with that.

Happy Nigerian Independence Day. Apparently Adele is dating Skepta which makes this the best Nigerian news ever!

I had my last birthday present at the beginning of September. I FINALLY went to see Magic Mike curtesy of Ebru. She thought it was a magic show! I cannot deal!!! I'm not sure why she thought I would be so excited to see a magic show. She asked me if I knew what the show was about and I said yeah, it's a strip show. She was like what????? Looool and she has never seen Magic Mike which is crazy! I said watch the second one, the first one is missable.
It was really good but it wasn't as sexy as I wanted it to be. Like I wanted a Jada Pinkett-Smith type person to be hosting it but instead it was a Scouser who was more the funny friend, which did kill the vibe. The guys were good and the dancing was good. Some of the music choices was a little bit odd. A guy I know is in the show and I had no idea. At one point he was doing this solo on the stage and one of the dancers came over to where I was sitting and was trying to catch my eye, then the girl near me who was soooo drunk, shouted in his face, “I WANT A LAP DANCE!” So he took her with him and I assumed it was because he was going to dance but it was actually the dancer that I knew! He put her on the table and it was a lot. He put some cream on her boobs (she had a low top and thinking of it, so did I so that's probs why he was going to pick me) and then licked it off, then made her to do it to him which she looked very happy about. I would of died of embarrassment if I had to do it to him. I did get 3 lap dances and they made it rain on me, which was fab.

Thank you LoveReading4Kids for making Emily Knight I am...Awakened your weekly staff pick. You can read the amazing review here  and can you believe that EK 2 is 2 years old! This book has honestly done me so proud. Amazing reviews, Carnegie nominated and winner of London's Big Read. My girl has done so good!

I got to speak to BBC Radio Derby about Hashtag BLAK and we are still looking for Black British authors so submit to info@hashtagblak.co.uk

I'm still dancing! And still loving it. I posted a vid of me in action on my social media and it got so much love. Really encouraged me. Then I got a message from Kloe asking me to come back and do the 10 year anniversary for Myself in November. I was very hesitant, mainly because I'm just having fun, so adding rehearsals and a million girls didn't sound like it would be super fun. In the end I figured let me do it and see how it goes. It will be good to see the girls I danced with and hopefully we'll actually be dancing together! I went to Kloe's class just to get back into her style and she was going through Hip-Hop grooves before the routine. Why did my body feel so awkward doing it?!

Gen Alpha-Z is almost here and the short stories are INCREDIBLE! Thank you to Egmont for all the amazing books and sponsoring this round of The little BIG Book Comp. You can pre-order Gen Alpha-Z here 

I was lucky enough to do two panel talks this month. One was bringing back my Girls Can Do Anything panel to host Sara'a book launch for Ticking off Breast Cancer (you have to buy this book. Plus it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month). The night was just something else. Leanne and Caroline Jones were also on the panel and just to hear from these ladies about cancer and how it has affected them was honestly one of a kind. Then Helen and I got to host an SYP event all about non-traditional ways to get into publishing and it was in Hachette. First of all they have the best publishing house office that I've seen so far. It's so creative. It was really cool talking to all these people who wanted to get into publishing and just showing them that really if Helen and I can do it, you for sure can!

How good was Top Boy??? I binge watched that in like two days and Jamie is so fine. I was fully rooting for him to be Top Boy. I just loved his relationship with his little brothers and obvs his face. Dave's character was so good. I wished they did more with him though.

Then I was watching the Mercury Music Prize which Dave won best album and then it hit me. Dave is 21 years old and has a successful career. He is focused on making music. Now I know books take much longer to make than music but sometimes my focus is on so many different things when it just needs to stay on writing books. I'll get distracted by this event, social media, deals.  I have released 3 books and each time I have done, it comes with all these blessings and opportunities. None of what I'm doing now wouldn't have happened if I wasn't a writer. So I had to remind myself keep your work focus on writing books and everything else will fall into place as it has done.