So, on Saturday I met my book!

Like many moments on my journey to publication it wasn’t quite how I had imagined it. I thought it would be a private moment at home, when a parcel arrived from my publisher. But on Saturday morning I left the house before the postman, and the parcel arrived.

The early start was because I was appearing at Bradford Literature Festival as part of a panel discussing ‘Gothic Yorkshire’. The event went really well. Lots of people turned up to listen to us and everyone seemed very interested in the subject.

Afterwards I headed off to the pop up Waterstones tent in Centenary Square with my fellow panellists Benjamin Myers , Sophia Tobin and Michael Stewart for a book signing event. I didn’t expect my book to be there as it’s not officially published til 27th July, but I tagged along anyway.

And there it was. Twenty times there it was. My lovely book, looking absolutely luscious. I held a copy in my hands and wanted to run off with it. But behind me were five people, also holding a copy of The Companion and asking me to sign it.

I had to borrow a pen from the lovely Waterstones manager – I was that unprepared. My short messages in those first copies might not be the most witty and my signature not the most legible but they were the first people to ever buy a copy of my novel so I hope they felt the love.