Novel Madness!!

It's hard to know where to start when a week feels a lifetime and then something which happened over a week ago feels like it only happened a second before!

On Monday it will be three weeks to publication day and still a part of me hasn't taken it all in, a part not quite believing the publication of my first novel is actually happening.

My head is busy yes, thinking about plans for the launch night which will be happen on the 5th September, the knowledge that actual copies of Red Ribbons will arrive late next week at the publishers, and that for the very first time I'll hold my own novel in my hand - something I never thought possible.

A small number of people have read the manuscript at this point, and so far the feedback has been amazing, but yet I'm filled with anxiety, self-doubt, all those demons that can hold you back from ever writing in the first place. We all experience them I know, it's part of what makes us who we are, and hopefully in the long run better at what we do.

I'm still in the zone whereby if someone tells me they absolutely loved Red Ribbons, I want to absolutely love them back, and I hope that part never changes. Hopefully there will be a lot of love!!

But I'm also trying to prepare for the negatives, and part of that preparation will be taking myself aside and giving myself a good talking to before any of this becomes totally real. I honestly can't predict how I will feel, and again I know this is something others have gone through - but there is no denying it's a tough part.

On the news front, there's a trailer going out mid next week which I will let you all know about, and I really hope you like it, and it gives you a flavour of the novel. Trailers are somewhat new to book promotion, but for me it has been a hugely positive experience.

I've been working on a new website too, which I think is going to be amazing, and I'm hoping you'll agree when you see it. My ambition for the site was that it would be an enjoyable experience to move within it, more pleasure than hard work, and be a fair reflection of what my novel, and future novels will be about. The blog will be incorporated into it too, so it won't feel like you're switching from one site to the next, but rather that the website is very much alive and not some stale thing that doesn't change for months on end.

Next Friday the 17th August, I'll be reading in the 'Writers' Circle' event at the Axis Centre in Ballymun @  6.30 pm - part of the DNA festival. Entry is free and all are welcome! So come along.

The Launch Night is set for the 5th September, at Hughes and Hughes, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, again @ 6.30 The utterly brilliant Niamh O'Connor (True Crime Editor of the Sunday World) will be launching the night, Hughes & Hughes have been fantastic, and I can't thank them enough.

Digi-posters of the novel will be on display at all their stores from this weekend onwards, and they've posted an exclusive interview with yours truly in their VIP ezine this week as well.

If you're on facebook, you can join the Launch Party HERE, or you can email me at phillips.louisem0@gmail.com and I'll put your name on the list - I have visions that the night will be a re-run of my 21st, when I had a heart attack that no one would turn up, and again, I know I need to give myself a good talking to, and to say, Louise, calm down, enjoy the experience and know that this is going to be a very special moment, because it will be a turning point in your life.

So join the launch night HERE, contact me by email if you have any queries, or on Twitter @LouiseMPhillips, and again thanks so much for all your support!!!