Let’s meet up! I’m going to be at the Guildford Literary Festival on Friday October 21st as part of the Girls Night.

I’m appearing in part two alongside writers Judy Astley and Kay Burleigh (yes, the one from the telly!) Part one features the amazing storytellers, Penny Vincenzi and Penny Jordan, who have apparently sold 80 million books between them. Phenomenal!

We’re going to be talking about how to bring all your life experience to your work.

You can find out more on the Guildford Book Festival website.

Really look forward to seeing you there!

Check out the new cover for the sixth Secrets at St Jude’s book, Party Girl. It’s absolutely brilliant. I love it.  A party in a cover… a party in a shoe! Unfortunately you will have to wait until August 4^th to get your hands on it.

I have been chained to my desk, literally typing my fingers to the bone for you my lovely readers. I’ve just finished Party Girl and put the final touches to the brand new (v v exciting) story The Jewels of Manhattan which comes out in November. Much, much more about that all soon.

Meanwhile, I am really enjoying all my new multi-media ways of connecting with readers.

You can now read Annie’s very own blog at annievalentine.wordpress.com – learn more about summer tights, fake tan and Kate Middleton’s dress sense right here. Annie also twitters @AnnieVshopper plus you can find the real me and lots of other Carmen readers (geddit? Sorry!) on the Facebook author page.

I look forward to catching up with you!

Oooh and here’s a little pic of me talking to some lovely St Jude’s fans. I do love to do a school visit, it’s one way of having a captive audience. (If you’d like a visit to your school email me at carmen@carmenreid.com and I’ll see what I can do).  However, I may have to take some Annie advice re author visit outfits. I mean I never want to be over-glammed for school visits, but grey Mary-Janes… what was I thinking?!

Yes, that really is me in the photo with the world famous Sophie Kinsella, Joanne Harris, Nicholas Parsons and the other fabulous authors at my publisher’s 60^th birthday party. Is the lovely Ms Kinsella not rocking her 8-month bump in the leopard skin dress? Go girl!

Now, I’ve had lots of email about the reading order of the books. First of all, don’t panic! The books are written so you can pick any one of them up, dive in and get to know the characters without missing anything vital.

But, if you’d like to read them in order, the Annie Valentine series goes: The Personal Shopper, Late Night Shopping, How Not To Shop and Celebrity Shopper (so far!)

Secrets at St Jude’s reading order is: New Girl, Jealous Girl, Drama Girl. Book four, Rebel Girl comes out in June.

My first four books are ‘stand alone’ titles, so no special order required.

I’ve done some fantastic visits and events during March. I’ve been talking about books, reading and writing in schools in and around London. I was talking at Waterstone’s in Guildford, then Stockton-upon-Tees library, I did a books festival and a Unicef event in Glasgow. Oh and a lovely primary school in Glasgow too. It’s been fantastic to meet so many readers and hopefully inspire lots of future writers.

This is some of the feedback from the lovely ladies I met in Stockton:

‘Carmen was an enlightenment – inspirational’

‘Really enjoyed listening to Carmen read extracts from her books. I’ve wondered how an author wants her books to ‘sound’ when read – now I know’

‘Carmen was such an interesting and charming person’

‘I really enjoyed the evening, Carmen was inspirational and funny’

Awwwww! Thank you so much, incredibly kind.

This is a picture of me and the lovely Jill Mansell (author of more than 20 bestselling books – wow!). As you can see, we are ‘relaxing’ in the bar after our Girls Night Out event.

I have some events coming up soon. Here’s hoping I will see you there!

There’s the main, big ticket event: Aye Write Festival in Glasgow. On March 6th 6.30pm at the Mitchell Library, you can meet me and the lovely Jill Mansell on our Girls Night Out.

Dress up (I know I’m going to… well I don’t get out much!), bring your friends (I will too) and we’ll all swap favourite books, worst ever changing room/ outfit disaster stories and have a laugh. Book the tickets and the babysitter now! Here’s the link www.ticketweb.co.uk/INFO/AYEWRITE/ or www.ayewrite.com for information (although they had the time wrong, last I looked. It’s definitely 6.30pm).

I’m also going to be in:

Hemel Hempsted at the Astley Cooper School on March 1st at 12.30pm. (With a book signing open to the public from 1.30pm.)

Burntwood School in London SW17 on March 2nd

Guildford, St Catherine’s School on March 3rd

Waterstone’s evening event, Guildford High Street, Guildford, also on March 3rd.

Come along if you can! It is always fantastic to meet readers.

Spring

The first hit of bright Spring sunshine has arrived and suddenly the windows look filthy, the house seems covered in clutter and dust, plus everything in my wardrobe is now hideously drab, black and grey.

I am craving fresh air and colour. I even tidied up a bit of the garden and I pretty much hate gardening and kill everything I plant, so clearly I must have Spring Fever. (Plant pretty flowery thing, watch it die, weed it out, plant new pretty flowery thing… that’s how it is in my garden. Yes, plus slash and burn undergrowth control). Ivy seems to grow brilliantly in my garden. Ivy and snails.

I’ve put out a pink bedspread in the room with yellow walls. I have a total thing for yellow and pink at the moment. I’m not convinced I’m going to wear it. In fact, much as I love pink, I’ve not yet discovered a shade that really suits me. But it must be out there somewhere.

Following a good old clear through the wardrobe, I can honestly say that there is very little Spring/ summer wear in there – an incredible amount of tights and hold-ups though. Unbelievable. I could open my own little concession. Winter clothes, I have piles of: jumpers, dark jeans, cardigans, a wide selection of Uniqlo thermal tops, woolly everything, scarves, tick. (Oh GOD! I lost my purple gloves. For Christmas I got these fabulous purple leather driving gloves with a knitted stripy lining; Noa Noa, I think, from my Mum. I was so in love with them, so ultra careful with them… I hardly even dared to wear them anywhere. Now they are gone. Disappeared. Completely lost. I am only just coming to terms with this. There is no way I can tell her. No way. She will never give me anything as nice again.)

Anyway, I’m definitely going Spring shopping. I am going to buy pale green and bright blue and heck, even white, maybe even a hit of yellow and orange. Then I will just have to trust that the weather improves and I get a chance to wear it all.

For my St Jude’s fans.

There is an eating problem in the new book and I wanted talk about that a little.

Just like lots of my school friends, I under-ate when I was a teenager. I remember lasting a whole day on a handful of strawberries. Yes, the result was I was thin, but I didn’t have much energy to do anything and I often fainted. I gave up doing any kind of sport at about 15. So then I was unfit as well as unenergetic.

It probably took a full 10 years before I saw the light and got really healthy. At 25-ish, I joined a gym, started eating really well and finally gave up the dreaded cigarettes. Eating well and exercising are the only way to go. Please put all the faddy diet books down right now.

Nowadays, I’m pretty Californian about my health! It’s 3 square meals with lots of fruit and vegetables, hardly any junk and some vigorous exercise every day: tennis, the gym, the treadmill, long dog walks, even running up and down the stairs. Usually I’m full of energy and although I’m not underweight like I was, I’m not overweight either.

It’s a good guideline to know your recommended BMI: body mass index (you can look up tables on-line) and try to keep well within in. Don’t get too underweight, don’t get too over weight.

If sport is uninspiring at school, I really urge you to join something with your friends: a gym, a dance class, a netball or athletics club. It’s always much more fun and motivating to go together with pals and the people running sports and athletics clubs are usually great. They always want to help more people into the sport. Yes, even if you are a beginner or rubbish!

My favourite eating tip: if you are craving something unhealthy, eat a good thing first. So before you tackle that packet of biscuits, have a big banana first. Or a crunchy apple before the crisps. It will concentrate your mind on what you are putting into your precious body.

Drink loads of water every day. Loads…. glasses and glasses of the stuff. Tea, coffee and fizzy drinks do nothing for you or your skin. Water is the thing. I drink it from the tap, I’m not fussy.

If you think you have an under- or over- weight problem, you need to speak to your doctor and get really good advice. The only diet book I’d ever recommend is French Women Don’t Get Fat which is packed with truly sensible advice from a woman you will think of as your surrogate French Maman. Plus Mirelle is so cool. She’s a champagne ambassador and splits her life between New York and Provence. Just how jealous-making is that?

I went to Blackpool – fantastic to meet readers and writers there. I did one reading with Jane Costello then read her very funny The Nearly-Weds on the train home. I highly recommend.


Tragically, I don’t have any photos of the brilliant Girls Nights In at Portlethen or Fort William (if anyone wants to send me one, please do!)

Portlethen was a family event as I took my daughter and my Dad. Dad was giving me a lift and I’d forgotten all about his punctuality issues and the fact that the Land Rover can only go at a certain speed, so we arrived just 15 minutes before kick-off, but everyone was incredibly calm! Claudie was all dressed up and looking lovely as she worked her way steadily through the many snacks provided. Can I just say how incredibly glamorous everyone looked: sparkly pink shoes, pink tops and jazzy scarves, it was very fashion-forward. We talked lots about writing. I think they are a very keenly creative lot up there. Thank you for inviting me along!

Fort William… is a long way away! I took the train from Glasgow and it took almost four hours. However the weather was beautiful and the scenery was picture postcard Scotland. Seriously, there were stags leaping from the tracks, then posing in front of blue lochs, velvety brown mountains and Rowan trees full of berries. I was trying to work on the train, but the views were so amazing I kept getting totally distracted.

I got an unforgettably warm Highland welcome from the library and so many people came along! No wonder, there was a chocolate fountain (!) food, drinkies, two makeover ladies. We all had an absolute hoot. I have been told to spread the word, if any writer is even thinking about making the trek to FW, it is totally worth it, I promise.

Thank you to Perth Library for organising such a fantastic event! Here is a snap of me with some of the brilliant people who made it all happen.

We had half an hour of mingling, chatting, hand pampering and hair-styling tips, then we all went through to the theatre where I read to my biggest audience ever. But you know, I didn’t feel nervous, I felt amongst friends. It was great to see that some readers had come with their Mums and their daughters.

Brilliant: multi-generational fans! We had lots of chat about reading, writing and all sorts of interesting things. A fantastic night. Thank you so much to everyone and to photographer Fraser Band who did the pics.

You can see more at www.fraserband.co.uk

Fort William here I come!

The Girls Night In Tour continues… more write ups and photos to come!

I had a brilliant time in Portlethen. I’m in Perth and Fort William libraries this week (to tempt you: there will be hairstyling tips, beauticians and goody bags as well as the latest Annie Valentine and St Jude’s news).

I’m in Blackpool on October 7th at 12.30 in Blueberries at 101-103 Topping Street. Then you can also come and chat to the author Jane Costello and me at 3.10pm at FYC, 154-8 Church St. It all sounds very exciting. Look forward to seeing you there!

I am touring about the country this month (Click on the ‘Girls Night In Tour’ category for details… maybe you can come!) visiting libraries for fun-packed Girls Night In events.

The first was at Cardonald Library in the South Side of Glasgow. What can I say? These people know how to party! We had food, we had drinkies, goodie bags and there was a whole wonderful pink and black theme going on with ribbons on the chairs, flowers and matching plates and napkins. I turned up in pink and black by co-incidence! It was a fantastic evening. I enjoyed the Q and A bit hugely, especially the spontaneous telling of our worst changing room disasters. It was great fun to read extracts from How Not To Shop and Jealous Girl to such a fabulous audience. Thank you all so much for a brilliant night!

Carlisle was also fantastic! We talked about books, writing, favourite authors, but also shoe shopping! We had chocolate and fudge tasting, lovely ladies from Lush and Clinique on hand and the fabulous Marie from Hoopers, a real live personal shopper, talking us through key looks. Marie is a total Annie fan, so it was brilliant to watch her bring little Valentine touches to her talk. According to Marie, every girl must have a red handbag and a pair of Armani Jeans this season. If you live anywhere near Carlisle, book yourself a session with her, it is probably as close as you will come to an Annie makeover!

Portlethen, Perth, Fort William and Blackpool are next.

Dates have been finalised for my forthcoming How Not to Shop/Secrets at St Jude’s tour! Details below – hope to see you there…

Thursday 10th September – 7.00pm
‘Girls Night In’ Launch event at Cardonald Library
1113 Mosspark Drive, Glasgow G52 3BU
Library contact: Myra Paterson
Reading Partners contact: Mary Greenshields
£30 Topshop giveaway
Tickets £1

Thursday 17th September – 7.00pm
‘Girls Night In’ Carlisle Library
11 Globe Lane, Carlisle CA3 8NX
Contact: Helen Towers
Phone: 01228 227287
Mob: 07802 451545
Joint kids / adult event in association with Debenhams

Wednesday 23rd September – 7.00pm
‘Girls Night In’ Portlethen Library
Bruntland Road, Portlethen AB12 4QL
Contact: Lesley Masson – Adult Fiction Librarian
01651 871215
Joint kids / adult event

Tuesday 29th September – 7.00pm
AK Bell Library Theatre
York Place, Perth PH2 8EP
Contact: Katherine McLeod
01738 477023
Joint kids / adult event
Bookseller tbc
£50 Topshop giveaway

Wednesday 30th September – 7.30pm
Fort William Library
Airds Crossing, High St, Fort William, PH33 6EU
Contact: Charlotte Macarthur
01349 868247
Joint kids / adult
Beautician attending on the night

Wednesday 7th October
Blackpool Shopping with Words
Contact: Lynne Pattinson
Venue tbc

On the book front: the next instalment of Secrets at St Jude’s: Jealous Girl is out on 2nd July for everyone who loved New Girl and can’t wait to find out what happens next…

Make a little room in your summer holiday suitcase for the new Annie Valentine, as How Not To Shop comes out on 13th August.

At the AK Bell Theatre in Perth, I served my first ever time on a discussion panel this month.  Is The Love Story Dead? Discuss. It was a really interesting and enjoyable evening. Great to meet writers Ewan Morrison and Sharon Blackie as well as the incredibly well-read Dorothy Macmillan, Stuart Kelly and Ajay Close. Just as soon as I’d sipped down my second Buck’s Fizz to quell those public speaking nerves, I had a great time!

I’m going on a library tour in September… more details to follow next month. Hope I can catch up with lots of readers.

The rest of June has been all about two of the Very Important Males in my life: my son and my Dad.

On the same day that my son went off on his first week-long school trip to an outward bound adventure centre thingy, my Dad went into hospital to have his hip replaced.

Oh what a lovely amount of fretting and stressing I did! Will Sam have enough socks? Eat enough fibre? Survive the abseiling lesson? Will Dad have enough books to read? Eat any hospital food? Survive the operation?!!

Good grief it was stressful. My Mum and I got through much more wine and cake than usual, I can tell you.

However, the week ended. Sam came off the bus looking tall, brown, grubby and ridiculously chirpy. He was absolutely fine – apart from a neck rash brought on by a combination of ‘slurping on midge repellent like gravy’ (his words) and not washing properly (well, he is newly 11!) And apparently abseiling – which he’d been slightly worried about – was the best fun ever.

Dad came out of hospital the following day and went home to the farm along with crutches, a raised loo-seat and various other gadgets.

He has always been the fittest, healthiest person I know. Up until two years ago he was still running (he doesn’t jog, he RUNS!) and he looks after a herd of 80 cattle, so the ever-increasing hip problem has taken some time for him to adjust to.

I have no idea how Mum is going to keep him resting for six weeks. There is already talk of how soon can he get back on his bike (his new hobby now that he can’t run!) and my Dad’s usual competitive streak  means he will want to make the fastest recovery from the operation ever!

More news next month when I get back from New York! Yes, I’ll just say that once again… when I get back from New York!!