I’m really pleased to have the lovely Christie Barlow as guest author on my blog today. Christie is the author of three novels, namely, A Year in the Life of a Playground Mother, The Misadventures of a Playground Mother and her current novel, Kitty’s Countryside Dream.

I had hoped that by the time this post went live I could proudly say I had actually met Christie in the flesh, so to speak, as I was due to meet her, along with many others, at a Blogger – Author meet up in London on Saturday. Sadly it wasn’t meant to be. With my train ticket booked I set off from home reasonably early with no reason to doubt I would reach my destination on time. How wrong was I! I won’t bore you all with the details as I know you are dying to read Christie’s post but needless to say, thanks to engineering works combined with football and rugby matches taking place in London on the said same day – my usual one hour trip to London actually took five hours and I missed the meet.

Oh well – I hope I get the opportunity to meet Christie at the next meet. In the meantime read how Christie, in a bid to prove to her children that you can achieve anything you set your mind to, became a successful published author.

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Sometimes I wake up in the morning, open my eyes and think, ‘Is this real?’ But then I hear one of the kids shout, ‘Where’s my uniform, mum? Mum, can you check my spellings? Has someone let the dog out?’

Okay, my four kids, my mad cocker-spaniel Woody, the chickens, the horses and even my husband can jolt me back to reality pretty quickly but at the end of the day, it’s these characters in my real-life that got me writing in the first place.

One day, after I’d turned 40, my children were asking me what did I want to do? I found myself answering, ‘I’ve always wanted to write a book.’ I had spent years dedicating my life to being a full-time mum, and piano teacher, but now the kids were getting older, there perhaps was something more I could do for me. After making this bold statement, I thought I better try and see it through – and show my kids that you CAN achieve anything you set your mind to.

What to write about came to me pretty easily, as I was always fascinated with the dynamics around the primary school gates with mothers and playground politics. Of course, all my writing was fiction with a huge heaping of one-liners. After self-publishing A Year in the Life of a Playground Mother, I was amazed to see it rocketing up the Amazon charts reaching no 1 in its category and no 11 for Kindle downloads. The reviews were amazing, calling it ‘witty’ and ‘laugh-out-loud funny’. Before I knew it, my wacky village characters were appearing on the page in a sequel, The Misadventures of a Playground Mother.

This is when my life really took a parallel course with reality. One morning after the school run, I came home to find an email from literary agent Madeleine Milburn – I had just finished writing Misadventures, intending to self-publish again, when Ping! I not only had an agent but within a few weeks, I had a publishing deal with the fabulous Bookouture.

My third novel, Kitty’s Countryside Dream has just been released. It introduces a new set of characters centred on love and genuine friendship, with a few chickens added into the mix. And, I’m working on a completely different novel that’s due to come out in September.

It’s been an amazing experience – especially since signing with my agent and Bookouture. I’m attending events and meeting many authors whom I’ve admired for years. Through my social media presence, I was approached by the Zuri Project, a charity that supports development and community well-being in Uganda, working with the team to make a difference.

But, I have to say, my kids keep me grounded! I had an opportunity to take my two youngest to meet David Walliams at a book signing in Birmingham recently. I joked to them that I might tell David I kept him off the top spot for a few days. Their reply, ‘Mum, you can’t steal his thunder, this is his day, let him enjoy it!’ Okay kids, you’re right – but I still took the opportunity to take a photo of my book next to his in a Waterstones’ bookshop!

Now I’m about to pop my head on the pillow after a crazy day of writing and responding to reviews on Kitty and I think to myself, ‘Is this real?’

Luckily for me, the answer is yes.

Warm wishes,

Christie xx

You can purchase Christie’s latest novel, Kitty’s Countryside Dream here.

Christie loves to hear from her readers and you can get in touch via social media:
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