These Are a Few of My Favourite Things…

No raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens today, I’m afraid. And not a single brown paper package tied up with string. Just a list of some of the lovely things that have happened since Agent Starling: Operation Baked Beans came out last year, because… I don’t know, because it’s Friday the 13th. Because it’s raining (again). Because the new C-word is scuppering plans left, right and centre, bringing fresh concerns every day. Because it’s easy to focus on the negatives in this writing game, without stopping to celebrate the things that make it all worthwhile. And so here, in no particular order, is my list of writing smiles:

1. Friends who left lovely reviews on Amazon, or passed on lovely reviews in person.
2. Strangers who left lovely reviews on Amazon.
3. A friend who bought multiple copies to give out as party favours at her daughter’s birthday and videoed everyone reading it.
4. Twitter writing friends championing the book online.
5. A Twitter friend telling me her son had spotted it in their local library… which led to a fun couple of hours searching out all the libraries stocking it around the country. I was ridiculously excited to think of my little book on so many library shelves!
6. Hearing that a copy had been spotted on a library shelf all the way over in New Zealand.
7. Seeing children dressed up as Agent Owl for World Book Day.
8. Meeting other new authors at the SCBWI Debut Bootcamp.
9. Hearing that a writing friend’s son had adopted his own spin-off joke based on a recurring gag in Agent Starling.
10. The mum who hurried all the way to the bank and back in order to buy a copy after a library event.
11. My brilliant local librarian who baked her own batch of baked bean muffins for an event.
12. The reader who emailed my publisher to tell them how much she’d loved the book.
13. This fabulous review from Little Cornish Writer, which found its way to me while I was on holiday in Oslo: Agent Starling: Operation Baked Beans by Jenny Moore

And there you have it – a far from comprehensive list of this writer’s favourite my-book’s-out-there-in-the-big-wide-world things, with a bonus picture of some baked bean lampshades we spotted in Oslo. And also, most importantly of all, a huge THANK YOU to everyone – friends and strangers alike – for welcoming Agent Starling into the world. You’re stars, the lot of you.