Tag Archives: Katy Birchall

Guest Post – 5 Ways To Cope With Being Grounded by Katy Birchall

Guest Post – An EXCLUSIVE Interview with It Girl, Anna Huntley By Katy Birchall

Anna Huntley is back in this third instalment of The It Girl series, Don’t Tell The Bridesmaid and being a big fan from the beginning I am super excited!

I LOVE this series.

This third book in the series is due to be released on the 12th January 2017 published by Egmont and I can’t wait to laugh at Anna once again.

But that’s not the only brilliant thing!

All of the series has had a makeover with these fab new awesome covers!

Just look at them!

Super gorgeous!

So today I have an exclusive interview with the girl herself!

The one and only….

Anna Huntley!

Our main character in the It Girl series chats to us about book 3, Don’t Tell The Bridesmaid!

About The It Girl Series

A hilariously funny and deliciously romantic ‘clean teen’ book for teens. Perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Girl Online.

Everybody wants to be a famous It Girl. Don’t they?

Anna Huntley’s aims in life:

1) To recreate famous film scenes with Dog (pet Labrador) such as the lift from The Lion King during that Circle of Life song.

2) To not accidentally set Deputy Queen Bee, Josie Graham’s, hair on fire. Again.

3) To keep first and only school friends by not doing anything in usual manner of socially inept dork and outcast.

4) To work out whether 1) and 2) constitute being socially inept – or outcastish.

5) To hide in the cupboard FOR LIFE after her dad gets engaged to one of the most famous actresses EVER, the paparazzi move in and everyone in school (The World) is on the brink of discovering why no one wants to be friends with Anna . . .

A fantastic, laugh-out-loud read for girls aged 11+ who love Louise Rennison and Zoella.

You can find my review of The It Girl: Superstar Geek here

The brilliant sequel to The It Girl. Hilariously funny and deliciously romantic – perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison.

If everything Anna does is going to be seen by more than 10 million people, then she’s determined to find something that she’s really good at. Everyone else seems to have a ‘thing’ – especially the new girl at school, who’s been distracting Connor with their shared love of art. Luckily the school sports day is looming, and Anna is limbering up!

What could go wrong?

The third book in the hilariously funny, super accessible and charmingly romantic The It Girl series. Perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison.

Preparations for the Wedding of the Century between Anna’s dad and super famous actress Helena Montaine are in full swing (all Anna needs to do is escape having to wear the biggest meringue of a bridesmaid dress that EVER existed.) And not only that but Anna, her friends and her ACTUAL BOYFRIEND (definitely requires shouting), Connor, are due to go on a school trip in romantic Rome.

So as long as Anna can avoid doing something like falling face first in the Trevi Fountain, nothing could spoil this perfect pasta-filled moment. Could it?

You can buy the books in The It Girl series here or from your local bookshop

An EXCLUSIVE interview with It Girl, Anna Huntley!

On 12^th January 2017, a new book will be hitting the shelves, the third in a series all about ANNA HUNTLEY. Anna was first launched into the spotlight when her father proposed to Helena Montaine, the most famous actress in the world. Today we talk to Anna about how she feels in the lead up to book number 3, DON’T TELL THE BRIDESMAID.

Thank you for joining us Anna and agreeing to do this EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Sure, yeah no problem. I was actually quite pleased to get out the house because Dog, my yellow Labrador, was driving me NUTS. He kept attacking any scented candles around the house so I put them all away in cupboards and he got in a sulk with me and now won’t stop howling at my slippers.

Right…OK…well, anyway, we’re here to discuss the third book coming out in January…how does it feel to have three books written about your life?

I guess it’s weird because I’m not really the sort of person that has books written about them. Like glamourous celebrities or whatever, they’re the people who should have books based on their lives because they go to parties and win awards and stuff.

I mostly sit at home eating Nutella out the jar.

But then I guess Dad did go and ruin my life. So that’s kind of interesting I suppose.

It must have been bizarre to go from a normal teenager to a famous one…

Yeah, well, it kind of sucks because whenever I fall over or anything it’s in the news.

Do you fall over a lot?

Not on purpose but it happens a lot more recently because I always have stupid flashbulbs going off in my face from the photographers trying to get a shot of Marianne or Helena, so I get all those splodges in my vision and can’t see anything.

Marianne did buy me this posh pair of sunglasses but Dog ate them.

How does it feel to have a step sister like Marianne Montaine, the renowned It Girl?

I mean, it has its disadvantages. Like the other day when I put on my favourite jumper and she was like, ‘what on EARTH are you wearing? You look like a fruit pastel. Go change.’ So, you know, she’s quite blunt. And she hogs the bathroom a lot.

But most of the time it’s great, because she looks out for me. She’s one of the best people I know.

Your best friends must be super excited to see that there’s another book coming out about you?

Danny has been very sweet about it and says he thinks it will be a ‘witty and fascinating read’.

Jess on the other hand has been very rude and keeps saying things like ‘what are they going to write about in this book? All those times that you walked into a lamp post? HAHAHAHA.’

Which is extremely unfair because that was literally ONE TIME and it was her fault anyway by distracting me with an ice cream.

Finally, Anna, what’s in the future for you?

It would be great if I could do fewer awkward things like, you know, when I set a classmate on fire, when I fell into a plant pot which was filmed and went viral, and the time I hit the same classmate in the face with a discus… If I could not do stuff like that, that would be great. Here’s hoping!

You can buy the books in The It Girl series here or from your local bookshop

You can catch some previous guest posts from Katy and my review of the first It Girl on the below links….

How To Survive Sports Day

10 Things I’ve Learnt About Being An Author

Spotlight and Extract of The It Girl: Superstar Geek

Review – The It Girl Superstar Geek

About Katy Birchall

Katy Birchall is the author of The It Girl: Superstar Geek, The It Girl: Team Awkward and its eagerly-awaited sequel The It Girl: Don’t Tell the Bridesmaid. She also works as a freelance journalist. Katy won the 24/7 Theatre Festival Award for Most Promising new Comedy Writer with her very serious play about a ninja monkey at a dinner party. Her pet Labradors are the loves of her life, she is mildly obsessed with Jane Austen and one day she hopes to wake up as an elf in The Lord of the Rings. Katy lives in Brixton, London.

Find out more about Katy on her website – www.katybirchallauthor.com

Or why not follow Katy on twitter – @KatyBirchall

A huge big thank you to Katy for such a fab guest post and Alice at Egmont for asking me to feature this post and for being so super wonderful!

Have you read any of The It Girl series? What did you think? What was your favourite part? Are you excited for the third book? If you have not read it yet have we tempted you to go and grab a copy? I would love to hear from you! Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this post or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!

Happy Reading!

Guest Post – How To Survive Sports Day by Katy Birchall

4 Replies

Today, 7th January, marks the release day of The It Girl Team Awkward (The It Girl 2) by the hilarious Katy Birchall!

Happy Book Birthday Katy!

I loved the first book in the series published by Egmont, The It Girl. It made me laughed so much my sides hurt. Reading all about Anna who when she is not setting a girls hair on fire with a Bunsen burner loves nothing more than spending weekends reading comics and watching csi and probably eating milk bottle sweets. She is a bit of a geek and you also see her hanging upside down at one embarrassing point in the book in front of EVERYONE!

You can find my full review here

I simply cannot wait to find out what Anna has been up to since I last left her! I can imagine she will have me laughing with in seconds especially if this fab guest post by the author Katy Birchall is anything to go by!

I present to you – How To Survive Sports Day by Katy Birchall…

What could go wrong?

How to survive Sports Day by Katy Birchall

In the second book of The It Girl series, Team Awkward, Anna has to face one of her biggest fears: Sports Day. It is the most dreaded time of year for the athletically-challenged and nothing strikes more fear into the heart than the words ‘on your marks’. ARGH.

So, as someone who can relate to this, I have decided to offer you my top tips on surviving Sports Day:

1. Throw up all over your Headmaster/mistress during assembly that morning.

I never managed to achieve this but my brother did and it had highly successful results. He spent Sports Day reading books and sipping Calpol in his cosy bed while I was enduring the torture of hurdles.

(Seriously, what is the point of hurdles?? Why am I jumping over these stupid things whilst running? WHERE AM I RUNNING TO?!)

2. Hide behind a tree.

And if you are caught by a teacher, simply pretend that the tiny mark you handily have on your leg from when you misjudged a doorframe last week, is actually from hitting that stupid pole when you attempted high jump and thus you can’t possibly partake in further activities.

(This is obviously not a story told from experience. No, a friend did that. I never hid behind a tree or anything when I was 11. That was my friend. Yeah, a friend of mine. Who told me exactly what happened. So, yeah. A friend. Definitely not me. Let’s move on.)

3. Tell a teacher you have urgent government business to attend to.

And then when they tell you off for making it up, say something like, “OK, well, if you’re happy to deal with the consequences of me missing this urgent appointment then so be it. I’ll let you handle the phone call from 10 Downing Street.”

(The seed of doubt you plant in their mind will blossom and soon enough they will be ushering you away from the track. Just to be sure, at some point during the day when they’re watching you, put a finger up to your ear and nod as though you have a radio in there, like they do in the Secret Service.)

4. Switch round the ‘CAR PARK THIS WAY’ signs.

You can’t have Sports Day if there are a load of cars parked on the track, can you? Mwahahahahahahaha!

5. Realise that it doesn’t matter where you come in the race; that what is really important is whether there is an ice cream van present and if it sells Twisters.

Sure, Sports Day sucks and everyone knows that athletics is completely pointless but the best option is just to go along with the silly rules anyway and not care in the slightest if you come last. Nobody else does. Have a great day in the sunshine with your friends, dig into a picnic and laugh about your ridiculous friend hiding behind a tree.

I mean, who does that…?

You can buy The It Girl and The It Girl Team Awkward here or here or why not visit your local independent bookshop 🙂

A huge thank you to Katy for making me laugh out loud whilst putting this post together!

About Katy Birchall

Katy Birchall is the author of The It Girl series. She also works at Country Life magazine as their Deputy Features Editor. Katy won the 24/7 Theatre Festival Award in 2011 for Most Promising New Comedy Writer with her very serious play about a ninja monkey at a dinner party. Her four pet Labradors are the loves of her life, she is mildly obsessed with Jane Austen and one day she hopes to wake up as an elf in The Lord of the Rings. She grew up in Essex and currently lives in Brixton.

You can find out more about Katy on her website – www.katybirchallauthor.com

Or why not follow Katy on Twitter using @KatyBirchall

Want to know more about The It Girl Series?

I have featured some previous posts…

The It Girl Extract

10 Things I’ve Learnt Since Being An Author

Or find out more about The It Girl 3 in this exclusive interview with, It Girl, Anna Huntley here

Also check out this hilarious video!

You can buy The It Girl and The It Girl Team Awkward here

Another huge thank you to Katy for yet another brilliant guest post! You never fail to make me laugh 🙂

Also a huge thank you to Alice at Egmont for asking me to feature this and sending me the book for review and of course to laugh 🙂

Happy Reading

Review – The It Girl by Katy Birchall

5 Replies

Everybody wants to be a famous It Girl. Don’t they?

Anna Huntley’s aims in life:

1) Must keep my two lovely new (and only) school friends by not doing anything in usual manner of socially inept dork and outcast.

2) Train Dog (my labrador) to high-five. This is probably the most ambitious life goal on this list.

3) Do not set the school’s Deputy Queen Bee mean girl’s hair on fire (again).

4) Work out whether 2) and 3) constitute being socially inept or outcastish.

5) Go to Africa and give out rice.

6) To hide in a cupboard FOR LIFE with Dog now Dad is engaged to one of the most famous actresses EVER, the paparazzi want to splash my face all over the papers and everyone in school (and The World) is soon to discover the level of my social ineptitude.

7) Is rice a bit done now? Maybe I can give out chocolate in Africa too. I do like chocolate. Must work out how to do it from the cupboard…

Publisher – Egmont

Date Published – 7th May 2015

Pages – 352 pages

Format – Paperback

Category – UK YA, Contemporary

Source –

I was sent a proof copy of this book by the publishers, Egmont for review. This does not affect my review or my opinions in any way and am delighted to write an honest review. Thank you to Alice and Egmont for sending me this fab book!

** Please note Tales Of Yesterday Reviews are written as spoiler free as possible**

Okay so I thought I would try something a little different for this review *gulps*

Whilst reading and loving The It Girl there were several exchanges between Anna and her best friend Jess via email with often hilarious conversations.

You can read an extract from The It Girl here which features examples of the emails between Anna and Jess.

So I thought I would email my lovely friend Sofia from www.thereadingfangirl.wordpress.com and tell her all about this book and have a little catch up!

Here’s what happened….

From: Chelley.Toy@zingmail.co.uk

To: Sofia.STRF@zingmail.co.uk

Subject: Fab Book Alert!

Hi Sofia!

So Kevin and Corey are out at cubs tonight so I have a peaceful few hours at home to myself so I thought I would pop you an email to see how you have been? I’ve not seen you for ages! Hope your doing okay and your exams have gone okay too!

What have you been reading lately, except for revision books of course.

Did I tell you about the book I’ve been reading! It’s called The It Girl by a fab debut author Katy Birchall! The book starts with the main character Anna setting a girls hair on fire with a Bunsen burner!? I laughed that loud whilst reading it in the garden that my cats looked at me with embarrassment …. oh and also disgust at the sound I made! It seemed to scare all of the pigeons away that they were licking their lips at and eyeing up to pounce on so I am now officially the pigeons saviour! I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not?

Anyway…went slightly a bit of topic there! You really must pick up a copy of The It Girl! It has lots of very funny moments! I’m sure you will love it! It’s about friendship too and the friendship between Anna and Jess is THE BEST!

I liked the message of the book as well….friendship and family and the fact that you don’t need to have everything to have everything if that makes any sense at all!

And before you ask…..no it wasn’t my mobile phone that started playing Jar Of Hearts on my iPod in the middle of an author event! *looks guilty* The thing wouldn’t turn off! I almost chucked it in my glass of orange juice to drown the embarrassment away!

Speak soon

Love, me xxx

***************************************************

From: Sofia.STRF@zingmail.co.uk

To: Chelley.Toy@zingmail.co.uk

Subject: Pigeon Saviour!

Hey Michelle!

So sorry for the late reply! As soon as my exams finished, I just read a lot! I’ve been well, no problems on my end! How about you? It has been way too long.

That book sounds hilarious! Bunsen burners are a deadly weapon! I’ve had a few near misses at school myself!

You saved all of the pigeons! Don’t you think that’s a weird word? Pigeons. Pig-eons. Sorry that’s just my brain going at it being weird again.

Oh god that was you? I thought it was my mum so I was hiding in embarrassment. I’m glad it was you and not my mum! That would have been embarrassing for me. Not that it was embarassing for you…. well it kinda was..I’m so glad I wasn’t sitting next to you!

Hopefully we can speak soon,

Tell me more about this book!

Love from the slightly weird teenager you somehow put up with xx

***********************************************

From: Chelley.Toy@zingmail.co.uk

To: Sofia.STRF@zingmail.co.uk

Subject: Friend?

And there was me thinking you were my friend! lol

It really was kind of embarrassing ….literally everyone was looking…I’m sure I went the colour of a beetroot!

Talking about beetroots! Remind me never to sit in the sun whilst reading again! Chelley + sun = lobster….I took a selfie but I’m too ashamed to show it *presses delete quickly*

So anyway….more about The It Girl! It was so so funny! It’s about a girl called Anna who loves nothing more than spending weekends reading comics and watching csi and probably eating milk bottle sweets (yummy). She is a bit of a geek I guess and fancies the popular guy in school! One day her Dad brings his new girlfriend to their house and it turns out she’s a famous Oscar winning actress and her daughter is a famous It Girl! When Anna’s Dad announces they are getting engaged this catapults Anna into the spotlight and she has to learn to become an It Girl herself! And it turns out Anna and being an It Girl don’t mix!

I totally loved Anna! I feel like you actually see her grow by the time the book is finished…and you also see her hanging upside down at one embarrassing point in the book in front of EVERYONE!

It’s told in the form of a mixture of emails, voicemails (often to Anna’s Dad when shes watched a horror film and is in the house alone!) and the story from Anna’s point of view. This actually makes the book flow really well!

Awwwww and guess what! Anna has a dog who is called Dog….he’s scared of salad spoons and loves bacon and is just adorable! I loved the relationship between Anna and Dog! At one point she holds Dog up like that scene in the Lion King….do you know which bit I mean! Poor Dog! Anna also wants to train Dog to give a hi five! 🙂

I laughed out loud so much at this book! I feel I have many Anna moments in my life and often consider if Katie Birchall based her on my life lol *checks for Katy Birchall security cameras in my house!*

There’s also an hilarious scene between Anna and her Dad when his new girlfriend is coming around to the house for the first time…it involves Anna making a jump for the stairs and her Dad grabbing her by the legs to keep her down stairs! It’s so funny!

Anna is also always hiding in a cupboard with Dog!

Love,me xxx

**********************************************

From: Sofia.STRF@zingmail.co.uk

To: Chelley.Toy@zingmail.co.uk

Subject: Marvel!

Hi Michelle!

Reading in the sun never works out in anyone’s favour! I’ve heard a horror story about someone who fell asleep whilst revising in the sun and when she woke up, she could barely move! Though, I would pay a hefty amount of money to see that selfie.

That book sounds absolutely amazing. Anna seems like the kind of girl that I want to be! Is there a love story? Romance always makes a book even better!

You’ve now convinced me to read it but should I really be buying more books when I brought ten books a week ago? *hides in shame*

I know the Lion King scene you mean! How funny! Dogs are adorable and that dog sounds hilarious! I must admit I’m more of a cat person myself. We have 4 cats; Thor, Loki, Odin and Black Widow(we’re Marvel fans in this household!).

I love it when you read a book and you can relate to the main character! If you have Anna moments in your life, then I definitely must do!

Love,

Sofia xx

**********************************************

From: Chelley.Toy@zingmail.co.uk

To: Sofia.STRF@zingmail.co.uk

Subject: 10 BOOKS!

Hi Sofia!

Really? Wow that must have been some boring revision session to fall asleep for that long! Are you trying to confess this was you? If so yep! I would love to see that selfie! lol

10 books! Was there any books left in the book shop?! lol What did you buy?

Oh yay! So happy! You will love The It Girl so much! It does have romance in it too! There’s a lovely boy called Connor! Anna and Connor bond in detention over Anna’s list of things to achieve in her life and superheros! I think you would like Connor a lot considering the names of your cats! That’s SO cool! Do you have any pictures?

Also the author Katy Birchall is a HUGE Marvel fan! I think you and Katy would get on really well! I met her at an event at Electric Monkey earlier in the year and she was very lovely! I feel she is also a bit like Anna herself….she accidently confessed that a spider bit her eye!

What are some of your #AnnaMoments?

Love, me xxx

**********************************************

From: Sofia.STRF@zingmail.co.uk

To: Chelley.Toy@zingmail.co.uk

Subject: Only 10 Books

Hey Michelle,

I know right! I can’t imagine how bored she must have been! She must have been revising Biology because that makes me tired.

And no! It wasn’t me! Cheeky!

I raided the Rick Riordan section of the bookshop and bought all 5 books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series plus the Heroes of Olympus series. I must have caused them to run out of his books… *hides in shame*

Ahh romance. I crave romance and that romance in The It Girl sounds so darn adorable!

My brother was behind naming all the cats and he hasn’t even seen Thor! I used to have a load of pictures of them but then my phone crashed and all of my photos were deleted. It was such an emotional time! All of my photos from my events disappeared including the ones from UKYA Extravaganza! Which reminds me, we have no photos of us and that is a complete and utter shame!

I’m so clumsy and silly so my whole life is probably an #Annamoment.

Love from,

Sofia 😛

*******************************************

From: Chelley.Toy@zingmail.co.uk

To: Sofia.STRF@zingmail.co.uk

Subject: Lost photos!

Oh wow! There’s no shame in raiding the Rick Riordan section of the book shop! You go girl!

Oh No! Poor photos! I hope you manage to get them back! And we don’t have a photo together?! How did this happen…or not happen as the case may be! This must be rectified next time we meet up!

So if you do grab a copy of The It Girl let me know what you think! There’s going to be a book 2! I cannot wait!

Speak soon

*runs away from pigeons calling me Mommy!*

Love, me xx

**************************************************

I award this book 5 out of 5 Tales Of Yesterday Books!

You can buy The It Girl here

Or why not add it to Goodreads here

You can find out more about The It Girl, watch a video and read a fab extract here !

Also check out this fab guest post by Katy Birchall about 10 things she has learnt since becoming an author – here !

Or find out more about The It Girl 3 in this exclusive interview with, It Girl, Anna Huntley here

A fab guest post on How To Avoid Sports Day here

Find out what we got up to at the Electric Monkey Blogger Day here

Check out this fab video of Katy talking about The It Girl!

A huge thank you to Sofia also for participating in this different kind of review! xx

About Katy Birchall

Katy Birchall is the debut author of The It Girl series. She also works at Country Life magazine as their Deputy Features Editor. Katy won the 24/7 Theatre Festival Award in 2011 for Most Promising New Comedy Writer with her very serious play about a ninja monkey at a dinner party. Her four pet Labradors are the loves of her life, she is mildly obsessed with Jane Austen and one day she hopes to wake up as an elf in The Lord of the Rings. She grew up in Essex and currently lives in Brixton.

You can follow Katy Birchall on twitter using – @KatyBirchall

A huge thank you to Sofia also for participating in this different kind of review! xx

Go give Sofia a follow on twitter – @SofiaSTRF and check out her fab blog to – www.thereadingfangirl.wordpress.com

Are you looking forward to reading The It Girl? Have you enjoyed hearing a little more about it? Have you ever found your self in some embarrassing moments? I would love to hear from you! Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this post or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy !

Happy laughing at Anna!

Guest Post – 10 Things I’ve Learned About Being An Author by Katy Birchall

4 Replies

Hilariously funny and deliciously romantic ‘clean teen’ fiction for teens. Perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison.

Everybody wants to be a famous It Girl. Don’t they?

Anna Huntley’s aims in life:

1) Must keep my two lovely new (and only) school friends by not doing anything in usual manner of socially inept dork and outcast.

2) Train Dog (my labrador) to high-five. This is probably the most ambitious life goal on this list.

3) Do not set the school’s Deputy Queen Bee mean girl’s hair on fire (again).

4) Work out whether 2) and 3) constitute being socially inept or outcastish.

5) Go to Africa and give out rice.

6) To hide in a cupboard FOR LIFE with Dog now Dad is engaged to one of the most famous actresses EVER, the paparazzi want to spash my face all over the papers and everyone in school (and The World) is soon to discover the level of my social ineptitude.

7) Is rice a bit done now? Maybe I can give out chocolate in Africa too. I do like chocolate. Must work out how to do it from the cupboard…

I have recently read the hilarious The It Girl by debut author Katy Birchall! I really enjoyed this book! It made me laugh….quite a lot of laughter happened actually. It is a really good fun read! I highly recommend it!

I first heard about this book at the Electric Monkey Blogger Day back in February 2015 where Katy did a fantastic reading with her lovely editor Lindsey and they had us all in fits of laughter!

Check out my review of The It Girl here

To read an extract from the book click here for my spotlight blog post!

Or a guest post on How To Avoid Sports Day here

The lovely Alice at Egmont asked me if I would like to feature a guest post from Katy on Tales. I immediately said YES! and with thoughts in my mind of meeting and listening to Katy talk at the Electric Monkey Blogger day I asked whether I could feature a blog post that included some of Katy’s most embarrassing moments…..after reading the book it does make me wonder how similar author and character actually are……….

Below Katy has written a fab blog post on lessons she has learnt since becoming an author……..and its hilarious!

10 things I’ve learned about being an author

by Katy Birchall, author of The It Girl

1. You will start thinking your characters are real

And then you will get frustrated when people have no idea who you’re talking about when your friend does something and you go, “that is SO like Anna” and nudge people to agree with you. Then you remember that the character is someone you made up and the room will go quiet. This will freak everyone out but mostly it will freak you out.

2. You will suddenly have important, sophisticated meetings and it is essential that you act appropriately

Usually with important, sophisticated people. In my first meeting with Egmont I announced that I was a complete loser. When one of the editors kindly replied, “I’m sure that’s not true”, I replied, “no really, I am.” Sometimes, it’s best not to INSIST that you are a loser to the people you would like to publish your book.

3. Spiders/ladybirds can bite your EYELID right before you give important talks (no, really. This happened.)

Which, by the way, is extremely selfish of said spider/ladybird. One day a doctor will finally be able to conclude whether it was a spider or a ladybird that bit my eye and when they do I will give that spider or ladybird a piece of my mind, that’s for sure.

(Blogger note – This really DID happen…..I was there…..*whispers*…I laughed…sorry Katy!)

4. If this does happen, it’s probably best to keep that information to yourself

Rather than stop in the middle of your talk to inform your entire audience that you happen to be very distracted by the fact that a spider or a ladybird bit your eyelid the night before and, by the way, your eye is normally not so red and swollen. This will most likely prompt a sea of raised hands from people who are way more interested in the spider/ladybird-bite story than talking to you about your debut novel which is the reason you are there in the first place.

(Blogger note – Yep you’ve guessed it….This really DID happen…..I was there….. *whispers*…I couldn’t resist asking questions….sorry Katy!)

5. Editors are always right

No, seriously, it’s annoying. How do they do it? In a matter of minutes they’re able to throw light on a section that you have been battling with for days. According to those I’ve spoken to, the general consensus is that it’s all about practice and they’ve been editing books for years. LIES. This seems to me an unsatisfactory explanation and I reckon there’s something they’re not telling us. A secret potion or magical powers perhaps? Or maybe something a bit more Marvel-like such as they had an International Editor Conference which they all went to and were unknowingly blasted with gamma radiation! Just like The Hulk! And instead of turning all green and big they were given extra literary brain powers that enabled them to edit books really well!……………(It could happen)

6. You will have moments of doubt

“No Mum, honestly, I can’t write. I’m terrible at writing. You know how I know this? Because I have been writing all day. Yes, that’s right. And how much have I written? ONE SENTENCE. Yes, mum, one sentence and it has taken me an ENTIRE DAY. And it’s not even a good sentence. I hate this sentence. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to delete this sentence. There. Gone. You know what that means? I have written NOTHING in an ENTIRE DAY. This is the worst day ever, I can’t even write ONE SENTENCE. I am rubbish at being an author! What? What do you mean I could do something else if I really wanted? I don’t want to do anything else. WRITING IS MY LIFE. Are you INSANE?”

7. During the process of becoming an author, you learn odd things about yourself

When I get writer’s block, do you know what I do? I run around the room with my Gryffindor sword that my sister-in-law got me from Harry Potter world and it always does the trick. Yeah, seriously, that’s the truth. I genuinely find this worrying.

8. Your friends and family will constantly make you cry

Tears of joy, that is. They say very supportive things when you don’t expect it and the next thing you know they’re making a weird face because all they did was tell you that they always thought you’d make it and now you’re trying to thank them but you’re sobbing so hard your mouth doesn’t form the words right. Instead you’re just making weird sniffly, blubbing sounds and they regret saying anything and question why they’re still hanging around rather than making up elaborate excuses to leave the room.

9. Everything around you becomes a potential idea for book 2

Your brain will never switch off and you will drive yourself mad with the fear of missing some incredible inspiration. You need an idea for your sequel and everything around you is a potential key to unlocking what that perfect plot could be. What is that on the floor? A sock! Could this be a sign? Perhaps a sock could be essential to the next book! I’ve got it! A magical sock! Anna finds a magical sock! No, no, no, you can’t write book 2 on a magical sock. Stop being so stupid, carry on with what you were doing and focus. No distractions this time. Wait. What’s this? A holepunch! Good God, that’s it! A MAGICAL HOLEPUNCH!

And the most important thing I’ve learnt about being an author:

10. That being an author just happens to be the best job in the world

(Apart from maybe being a jedi)

Check out this hilarious video clip where Anna….I mean Katy chats about the book!

About Katy Birchall

You can follow Katy Birchall on twitter using – @KatyBirchall

You can buy a copy of The It Girl here

For an extract from the book check out my previous blog post here

Check out my review of The It Girl here

Or find out more about The It Girl 3 in this exclusive interview with, It Girl, Anna Huntley here

A HUGE thank you to Alice at Egmont for sending me a copy of the book and for being generally awesome and also to Katy for an hilarious guest post!

I recently ran a giveaway courtesy of Egmont for a chance to win 1 of 3 copies of the brilliant The It Girl!

Thank you for all the entires, retweets and comments. The 3 winners were picked at random via Rafflecopter and have been notified on twitter / email and they were as follows…..congrats!

*does a little dance!*

Happy laughing at Anna!

Spotlight – The It Girl by Katy Birchall

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I am so excited! Yesterday, 7th May 2015, marked the release day of the hilarious The It Girl by debut author Katy Birchall!

I first heard about this book at the Electric Monkey Blogger Day back in February 2015 where Katy did a fantastic reading with her lovely editor Lindsey and they had us all in fits of laughter!

I have been wanting to read this book ever since and I finally have a copy thank to the wonderful Emily over at Egmont!! *screams in joys and stokes the book*. Thank you Emily! I cannot wait to read this!

Today I am over the moon to bring you a brilliant extract from the book, a Q&A from the book and a hilarious video from Katy!

And it doesn’t end there!

The lovely people at Egmont have asked me to run a giveaway so YOU could win 1 of 3 copies of The It Girl!

Just brilliant!

A huge thank you to Egmont for the kind permission and providing me with the extract and the three giveaway copies of the book!

So kick back, relax and enjoy a sneak peak into the world of Anna Huntley….The It Girl!

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

I also had a fab guest post from Katy Birchall about 10 things she has learnt since becoming an author – it’s hilarious – check it out here

Check out my review of The It Girl here

Or a guest post on How To Avoid Sports Day here

Hilariously funny and deliciously romantic ‘clean teen’ fiction for teens. Perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Louise Rennison.

Everybody wants to be a famous It Girl. Don’t they?

Anna Huntley’s aims in life:

1) Must keep my two lovely new (and only) school friends by not doing anything in usual manner of socially inept dork and outcast.

2) Train Dog (my labrador) to high-five. This is probably the most ambitious life goal on this list.

3) Do not set the school’s Deputy Queen Bee mean girl’s hair on fire (again).

4) Work out whether 2) and 3) constitute being socially inept or outcastish.

5) Go to Africa and give out rice.

7) Is rice a bit done now? Maybe I can give out chocolate in Africa too. I do like chocolate. Must work out how to do it from the cupboard…

About Katy Birchall

Check out this hilarious video clip where Anna….I mean Katy chats about the book!

Extract from The It Girl

Giveaway!

You could win 1 of 3 copies of the brilliant The It Girl by Katy Birchall!

Yep! Three winners will be picked!

Giveaway ends on the 17th May 2015 and the winners will be announced on twitter and on my blog on the 18th May where I will have a fab guest post from Katy Birchall herself!

Please note that there are only 3 copies of the book up for grabs with 3 winners being announced each winning 1 copy of the book.

Winners will need to provide their postal address to myself via DM or email for me to pass on to the publishers to send the book out and must be provided within one week after the announcement otherwise a new winner will be picked 🙂

UK and Ireland Only

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I also had a fab guest post from Katy Birchall about 10 things she has learnt since becoming an author – it’s halarious – check it out here

Check out my review of The It Girl here

Or find out more about The It Girl 3 in this exclusive interview with, It Girl, Anna Huntley here

Are you looking forward to reading The It Girl? Have you enjoyed hearing a little more about it? Have you ever found your self in some embarrassing moments? I would love to hear from you! Wy not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this post or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy ! Happy laughing at Anna!