Hi there

Do you like cats? If you’re more of a dog person then you may want to skip to the news section at the bottom of this post. Otherwise – read on.

My son is a Leapling – that means that his birthday (29th February) only comes round once every four years. So each year, as well as having an argument about which day we should be celebrating, we pretend. This year we pretended at The Kitty Café in Leeds.

It’s a lovely place – all bright colours and squidgy sofas. There’s a varied menu, lots of teas and coffees to choose from and an impressive selection of cakes. And about twenty cats and kittens just wandering about looking for a home.

I have to admit that I was a little sceptical – hygiene being my main concern but actually the café was entirely delightful. The cats were gorgeous ( if you like cats) and the place was spotless. You have to watch your food or you might be sharing it but all in all it was a lovely place for my son and five of his friends to pretend that it was his birthday. Only 732 days to go until the real thing!

Last week was not just about the cats! The giant twitter chat went really well and our hashtag was trending in the Top Ten in the US. If you missed it, you can always catch up with what’s going on for the Lake Union authors by searching #LakeUnionAuthors or check out our Facebook page for giveaways and news.

I’m really enjoying writing the first draft of book 3 and have been toying with various titles which I’ll share when I’m feeling more confident. I do have some publication dates though. Postcards From a Strangers is going to be republished by Amazon on 1st August and The Thing about Clare is coming on 1st December just in time for Christmas. I’m very excited to finally have some dates to put on my calendar and am looking forward to developing the artwork soon.

This coming week we are all being told to brace ourselves in the UK against a patch of hideous Siberian weather so I’m going to work hard on my edits, light fires and read. I’m really enjoying  The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock although all  the London accents are playing havoc with my writing of North-Eastern characters!

Happy reading.