life of a street dancer

I managed to get through the whole of the year without getting sick (well except the suspected heart attack. It wasn't by the way) but now I'm recovering from a cold and yeah it sucks. Plus it's so cold that even with the heating on, it still feels freezing.  2020 was a year and a half. I actually had a pretty good year when I think about it but I just found it mentally exhausting. I am not a home body so lockdown was brutal. Not being able to see my first nephew for the first 4 months of his birth because of COVID was shit. Actually the beginning of the year was really shit that's why I didn't blog in January. I remember I quit my own company! Having a book out this year was interesting. YALC got cancelled, no school visits, no launch party in a bookshop. So many deaths from Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Chadwick Boseman, George Floyd, Naya Rivera, Nicole Thea and so many more. Then COVID stole the lives of thousands of people.  The Black Lives Matter Movement was ...

We're almost at the end of 2020 and I realised this is my last blog before I do my annual year review blog! I'm finally in the Christmas spirit and ready to eat all that food. The amount of chocolate goods in my house is very disturbing and the fact more is coming today is...anyway let's not get into that! It's weird because it doesn't feel like Christmas and I think it's because I haven't been out loads and been around the Christmas lights and my Starbucks Gingerbread Latte, which I heard isn't even around this year. What is going on?! We're now in Tier 4 which is just lockdown, so God knows why they don't just say lockdown *rolls eyes* but luckily I'm not really affected because where am I going anyway?  I'm on the last season of Orange is the New Black and this famous shit season, I thought was pretty good! I randomly was watching this Arianna Grande doc on Netflix. I have no idea why but I didn't hate it. I've gone pink! I...

It's almost Christmas!!!!!!!!! I don't think I've been this excited about Christmas since I was a kid. The fact that I can sit down, eat, watch Netflix and all my movies, read books and NOT HAVE TO WORK, I can't actually wait.  I met this kid in Tesco and I ended up talking to him and his mum about my book. He asked me to tell him what my book was about and I said, “If Harry Potter, X-Men and Dragon Ball Z were rolled into one person it would be Emily Knight.” He told his mum to buy the book for Xmas!  I'm praying that 2021 is a better year for everyone and just less dramatic. That presidential campaign got me all kinds of stressed and I don't even live in the States. But there is a female vice president. The first ever and she's Black/Indian—I just love that so much. I think we all need some calm so Lord please bring calmness. A few weeks ago I felt so stressed and was trying so hard to keep it together. Last week was shit as well. Our Christmas book got ca...

Hello! Yes I know I didn't blog in September. So sorry but I literally didn't have any time. I thought October was my window to relax but it's looking more like December  :( as I still have 2 books to publish by the end of the year. I. AM. EXHAUSTED. There is a never ending amount of stuff to do and unfortunately it's nothing I can pass on to others so I really have to suck it up and just get it done. Lord give me extra strength please.  I have been so stressed out for the past month and I'm so glad everything is starting to get back to normal. I  noticed that my tolerance for things was at a minus 1 and I just didn't care to talk. Every single little thing was irking me so much. I mean things still irk me but it's a lot better now. But I've been evaluating my boundaries. Boundaries is my biggest thing at the moment. I HATE when people email me, then WhatsApp me, then DM me the same conversation. Why??? Why do people do that? Especially when its work rel...

No one saw it coming. I woke up and it was the first thing I saw. I just kept saying, “What? What?” It took me a while to process it. I have nothing but respect for Chadwick Boseman. His grace and class especially with what he was going through. It's just amazing. I remember when Black Panther came out and just the excitement. We were getting a Marvel movie for the culture. Do you know how deep that is? Like I never thought I would see it. I took myself to the cinema because everyone was being long and the guy at the cinema upgraded my ticket for free and gave me free snacks. I remember he said, “Sis, you're gonna love it.” And I did. It was everything I wanted and more. Then the fact it's one of the top 10 highest  grossing movies EVER. We all wanted it to win an Oscar. On some level we knew it wouldn't  - come on we know how the Oscar's role but it should have. My 30th birthday was a Black Panther theme and it was the best party.  When the film came out, I read th...

Where is the year going? I know 2020 is on a maaaaaaad one but it literally is my birthday next week and I'm just like huh? Weren't we just put in lockdown? It feels weird celebrating a birthday in these circumstances. I'm the Queen of just being extra around this time but I just feel like blah. The world is so weird right now. I am currently sitting on my laptop, sweating like a crazy girl (it's 32 degrees) and trying to finish work so I can watch Black is King.  I have been BUSY. Now I'm always busy but this has been on another scale. Literally drowning in work. I'm so pleased that The Diverse Book Awards longlist is done!!!! I can't even believe we found the time to read all those books. Oh the relief is just on another level. It was a tough week getting everything together so we can drop the longlist today. Then a publisher had to pull out one of the kids books but the press release had already gone out. Le stress! The reactions to the longlist has been ...

Hey all! How weird is this year? First of all I can't even believe it's going to be JULY! My birthday is in a month and I don't even understand how it has come around so fast. I am literally like where can I even go on my birthday?? Can I have a launch party in September? I have no clue. One part of me wants to plan stuff and the other part is like just chill. This weekend would have been my epic summer weekend at British Summer Time Fest. All cancelled. YALC got booked for that. Cancelled. I've been doing various interviews about Black people in publishing. I really pray that these conversations aren't in vain and we see some real change for once. I'm tired from having these same conversations and I hope the narrative changes quickly. I have been seeing some dumb things. Someone posted 45 books to help children understand Black Lives Matter and put a book about a Chinese character. Another said white authors here to help Black authors. Oh don't worry I...

Those are the word George Floyd said when a policeman put his full weight on his neck. I'm sure you've seen the images, the video and the words 'I can't breathe' and it makes me feel physically sick. I cried for a full day after reading his story. This is not my usual blog post but I express myself best through words and need to get this out. My Twitter is split in half. It's either Black Lives Matter or Hey let's talk about publishing and right now the publishing side is the least of my concerns. I was actually getting pissed off at the lack of authors, agents and publishers saying nothing about what's happening but I had to remind myself that this is the same industry that only publishes 1% of books with someone of colour as a lead. Who use the #weneeddiversebooks and don't publish or hire ethnic people. Explains everything right? I also don't need a thread on books by black authors unless it is about race. Black authors you should ...

Sooo how are we all doing? I legit don't even know what week of lockdown this is, I just know that I am over it. I didn't even realise that I just miss working in different environments that is not my house. I'm pretty good at self-motivating myself but for the past few days I've just had this what is the point attitude. The problem is I run quite a few companies so as much as I want to live in lazy town I can't! The good news is the Government have issued a small companies loan that we should be able to get. That will be a massive help seeing as bookshops are still closed. I feel so bad for those who have books that had to be pushed back or published via ebook first. It's not ideal but I love when people still push on ahead. And we've come out of the peak! Hopefully everyone can be that little bit more patient so we don't get a second peak. My book cover is now out! Isn't she pretty? I just wanted pure fire and I got it! Ale Artigas is my amazi...