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 ...

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...

I am literally up to my eyeballs with The Author School. We are running our full day of classes on Saturday and you know when everything is calm and going to plan, then suddenly a few days beforehand, there is so much to do including my presentation! Our line up is truly epic. I'm so excited! Check out this interview we did for Virgin StartUp We have published all the books for Hashtag Press this year!!!!!! I am so proud of me and Helen for doing them and they all have done so well. So excited to get a new batch of manuscripts and re-create the magic. Submit to us at submisisons@hashtagpress.co.uk if you have a book. Looking for great stories to publish mid/end of next year. Finally Zarah got to redeem her J Cole birthday present from February. I'm not the biggest J Cole fan, I was even thinking about selling my ticket. I only have one album of his which is live but I know the words to like 3 songs but thank God I didn't. The concert was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! I even br...

My book is out in on Thursday!! Can you believe it? The book tour has officially begun so I've been seeing the book pop up all over the place and the review copies have gone out. I'm anxiously waiting that I get good reviews. I can't lie, my book looks AMAZING! Like seriously gorgeous and so thick (who knew I could write that many words?) And the cover doesn't look dark! Went to Waterstones to double check the space for the launch and believe the man who was my contact there had left and Waterstones are looking at me like are you sure you're at this branch? Took forever for them to figure it out cause they thought maybe I was launching at Piccadilly! Thankfully all was in hand and it's going to be a great night. Nervous for Thursday though. It's so cool seeing the gamer box from SpearCraft Book Box. I've been getting loads of Instagram tags of people getting the battle cards and really liking it. It is so weird hearing people sound so excited ov...

I have done it. I have officially written a short story! Let me take you back. I was asked by Sarah Odedina to write a short story for her magazine. Now Sarah edited Harry Potter (remember I said all roads lead to Harry?) so it was a big deal to be asked. The problem was guys, I legit couldn't write a short story! I re-wrote it FOUR TIMES because it kept sounding like an opening to a novel. Ahhh I was getting so frustrated so I asked an amazing lady called Eden, who writes shorts stories to have a look and FINALLY it's done. Okay, not done done but it's a short story. I can breathe. The joke is I run a short story comp for kids and teens. Ironic right? My books come on Friday :) I got sent a proof of my cover and sometimes when covers are printed it can look darker and my cover looks darker than it does in the below pic. I was looking at it for time like is this too dark? Can you see anything? Just getting real dramatic. Then I thought let me get it lightened but then th...

Check me out with my weekly post :) Let me not get cocky before I go back to blogging monthly So I get Emily Knight I am...Awakened NEXT WEEK!!! I cannot wait to hold it. I can't lie I'm a bit nervous to give it to reviewers. I feel like the first book got so many good reviews and it was such a blessing, so I hope they don't read book 2 and think what is this?? Men. I don't get them. I swear at 29 I still don't understand them. I still don't know who are the ones you should invest your time in, who are playing games. I legit get a headache when I think about them. The experiences that I have had, my friends have had could fill a billion page novel. I do wonder what was God thinking with this man/woman thing. I get pregnancy and all that but man, they are so exhausting. Even as I write this, I have a headache and I'm tired. Then I was talking to my friend about relationships and to be fair, my mindset can be quite masculine, so we were talking about a s...

It's my birthday next week! 29 years old. Seriously how did this happen? I think I blinked and it's my birthday again. One kid said to me, “I feel like you just turned 25.” I'll be on holiday so I can party away my sorrows. I'm only half-joking. I'm running a birthday giveaway on Instagram from the 1st August to win a signed copy of my second book and some battle cards. Speaking off holidays, Zarah and I went to book and we had fraud done! As we went to book our holiday, someone used the money to book themselves a holiday! The bloody cheek. We got the money back but they tried to book twice. The the original deal we found was gone. Typical. Emily Knight I am...Awakened is officially with the typesetters! All glory to God because after I did book 1 I was like how am I going to do this again? It is so stressful! But this time round seems a lot more calm and I just can't wait to hold it. I got a book review for I am yesterday from Pop the butterfly. She said ...

I can't believe that it's Christmas Eve already! This year has flown by and this is my second to last post of the year. This term has been extremely busy and to be honest, I am amazed that I got through it all without getting ill or having a breakdown! It's made me think carefully about next year and what I really want to continue and what I don't. I don't want to feel that stressed and rushed off my feet again - well, at least if I can help it. You can't reach Beyonce level, without a little sweat. All of my classes did their Christmas show and did amazing at that. To be honest, I was surprised because if you saw them in class, you wouldn't know which way the coin would land. Our Christmas Guest service at church was fantastic! There were so many dance pieces including one with my lovely mini's and with the dad's and lads, who performed Men In Black. They all knocked it out of the park and I honestly couldn't be prouder. I think the dad'...

Birthday month is coming to an end *crying* although I still have one last present on Monday. Yay! I had the best birthday and it was full of so many surprises. I saw Finding Dory, which gave me sad and happy tears. One minute I was busting up and the next I'm breaking down and crying,'Where's her family???' I got free drinks at Byron, free cake at Brew Box, then dinner at Absurd Bird. It's the best food I've ever had in London. The next day, I had a party and got a surprise cake and gifts and it was just so overwhelming.  Had lunch at Blue's Kitchen, went Bournemouth Beach (and caught loads of Pokemon OMG). We played volleyball and we were pretty awful. Like really awful but it was a gorgeous day, got a crazy tan and put my big toe in the water. I've had a blast of a birthday and have been surrounded by the best people. Roberta has officially ended. This is my third pop up story and I'm so proud that I wrote it. It's funny because I wa...

Summer is finally here!! Literally, it's only just come now lool and it is amazing. I think there was a Tuesday that was 31 degrees. The worst thing is teaching dance in the weather, cause I legit have nothing to wear. I also had a taster session on Tuesday for this new teaching job and this kid comes up to me and says, “Are you the dance teacher?” I said, “Yes,” and then he goes, “Well I bet I'm a better football player and dancer than you.” You know when it's just too hot and no-one has time for silly people? So I just stared at him for ages until he got so uncomfortable. In my head I was thinking, is he okay? He kind of backed away from me, I'm not sure why and I called him over. He grabbed the nearest boy to come over to me with him – like I was going to swing for him or something looool and then I told him what a rude little fool he was. I think because I said it in one tone, it freaked him out. Then he ran away. I told one of the teachers who said, “Good! I can...

I've finished writing my third book!!! I am so excited, I just need to get it edited and proofread and then I can give it to Val. I am so on just getting these books out once a year. I feel like something pops up when my books are due to come out. They're never bad but then they don't create the result I want,  I'm the one who ends up being frustrated so no more road blocks!! My goal is to do more books than Jacqueline Wilson, so I've got a long way to go. Congratulations to Ellie and Macy Lewis for their story The Magic Horse for The little BIG Book Competition. These girls are 5 and 7 years old! And their story is so good. Read it at thelilauthorskool.com and we are running another competition that ends 29th August. Theme is Superpowers and the first entry is FREE!! All the winners stories are going to be published and get a goody bag, so if you are aged 5-21, get involved! Send your free story to info@thelilauthorskool.com Went to see Into The Hoods Remix an...

On April 11th, Helen and I ran The Author School Day - The London Book Fair Special and it was fantastic!! The venue, the speakers, the authors. I had the best time and I am so proud of us for pulling it together. I wish we could do it every month - it literally is that fun. We have had the best feedback and we were live tweeting from 11am all the way to 6pm. Twitter was going off and I'm sure we inspired authors out there who couldn't make it. I think we have defo proved that we are the real deal! We are going to be doing our next one in London in September so make sure you're there. You won't regret it, I promise! Our next challenge is to get this online course up and running and hopefully run an Author School Day in another city. I was trying to think of ways to get some new art work for Emily Knight, just for promotion and I thought, how cool it would be if if I could do a collaboration with artists. So I hollered at two illustrators. One I have worked wit...

Emily Knight 2 has officially been sent off to the editors. The ball is rolling people! I feel excited but nervous. There is something about putting a book out there that is so daunting. I think the story is good and hopefully the editor doesn't come back with 'this is crap' kind of notes. I am defo going to re-publish Emily Knight I AM and I am now in talks with a cover designer to re-brand the books. I am still always amazed that I actually released a book at 23. Talk about some balls. I am still in two minds about who I will publish the books with. I have a company in mind but let's just say that it will be an investment. A pretty big one, that could work out to be life changing but I'm still debating. My other issue was the title. Initially I wanted to stick with the I AM theme but I didn't like any of the other I AM titles so that went out of the window. I have got a name that I think is cool and makes sense to the book but all will be revealed very soon...