'Being a Girl' in America

On the 25^th October, an American edition of BEING A GIRL will hit the shelves in bookstores in the USA.  It’s pretty much like the British edition except that:

·        - The spelling and vocab is like... totally American.

·        - It’s full of references to some awesome women I hadn’t actually heard of until I found myself writing about them - women like Mary Edwards Walker who was a surgeon in the American Civil War and then later got arrested for wearing men’s clothes!  And Carli Lloyd who is A-MAZING at playing football.  I mean soccer.

·         It’s got a seriously lovely rhubarb n’ custard cover.  Complete with Gemma Correll's distinctive doodlings.

In fact, Gemma’s lovely doodlings are in place throughout and there’s even a couple of new American ones to sit alongside my new American words.  This is not bad going for a couple of women from Ipswich, England, don’t you think?

Anyway, to celebrate this lovely American object, I’m going to give a couple of copies away.  I’ll send one copy to someone in America and one copy to someone in the UK who fancies learning a bit more about some American sheroes.  If you want the chance to win one, you just have to email hayleylong@hayleylong.org with the magic words:  Hey, H!  Your sneakers are looking fresh to def and I’m loving your shell-toes.*

And do it before midnight of October 14^th.  Sorted.

Anyway, because I’ve got/gotten so rotten at writing my blog, I thought I’d seize this opportunity to list 10 of my Favourite/Favorite American Things.  Here they are in reverse order:

10.  Nirvana.

       Oh Kurt Cobain.  I STILL LOVE YOU.  If only you’d married me and not Courtney Love EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN OK.  Maybe.  Ok, perhaps I’ve over-simplified a very difficult set of circumstances.  For anyone, who has three minutes to spare, here is sad, beautiful Kurt singing About a Girl.  The grimace at the end is particularly heart-breaking.  Sob.

9.   Thelma and Louise

       Oh how I LOVE this film/movie - even though the first time I ever watched it, it was on a VHS video that had been dubbed into French and I could only understand one word in sixty.  It was still clear to me that this was a highly entertaining film.  The beginning is harrowing and necessarily so because there has to be a believable reason why Thelma and Louise go so ape-sh*t.  But really... who doesn’t want to punch the air when they blow up that dodgy trucker’s juggernaut?

8.  Coney Island

      You’d think the seaside in New York City would be all gee-whizz and flashy, wouldn’t you?  But nope – it’s like a sandier and sunnier version of Felixstowe.  There are rickety rollercoasters, ancient Big Wheels, hot dogs and candy floss and endless kiosks of tat.  I felt right at home there.

7.  Simon Rich

      You may not know him but if you like reading stuff that makes you laugh, you SHOULD know him.  This man is PROPER FUNNY.  He also contributed to the film script for Inside Out which is the only cartoon film that has ever made me cry.  Recently, I wrote 20,000 words about Simon Rich for an MA in American Literature.  In spite of this, I still like him.  If you don’t know him, a good place to start is the novel, Elliot Allagash.

This man is funny.  Also, he looks like a child.

6.  The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

    Another film set in the American West.  I’m a little bit obsessed with the American West even though guns make me scream.  But this film!  It’s epic!  And the soundtrack is epic too.  In fact, these opening titles are probably the best opening titles in the history of film.

5.  Spoonbill and Sugartown Bookstore 

  This is a fantastic little bookshop/store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Now, everyone likes The Strand bookshop in Manhattan and they are right to do so because it is enormous and fabulous but Spoonbill and Sugartown is fabulous too!  I like it because it isn’t enormous.  It’s just a couple of rooms of very carefully chosen books.  It was in here that I first discovered Simon Rich and went on to read everything he has ever written.  I also like this shop/store because it has cats in it.  Sometimes they are sitting on the book that you want to look at and so are actually in the way.  Except that cats in bookstores are never in the way.

      This photo is by amieok.  I got took it from Spoonbill and Sugartown's tumblr thing.

4.  The Grand Canyon

     Did I mention that I have a thing about the American West?  Well, you can’t get more yee-hah than this place.  It’s nuts.  I was twenty when I visited the Grand Canyon and I’ll never forget the weird, discombobulating effect that it had on my head.  Basically, my brain couldn’t process what my eyes were seeing.  Red mountains.  In a big crack in the ground.  Weird.  Brilliant.

20-year-old me pondering the enormity of The Grand Canyon.  This photo is so old it's fading away.

3.  Red Velvet Cake

      Seriously though – do I need to explain myself?

2.  Louis Sachar

     He’s the bloke that wrote Holes.  If you know me at all, you’ll know I love this book.  It’s a work of actual genius.  There is not a single unnecessary sentence in the whole book.  And it’s set in the American West.  I really like Louis’ book The Cardturner as well.

 1.    Girls with Guitars

Ohhhhh.  For me, nothing will ever beat the American Indie bands of the 80s and 90s and the feisty girls who played in them.  I’m talking about bands like Belly and The Breeders and The Throwing Muses and Mazzy Star.  This stuff all sounds as great to me today as it did when I was nineteen.  I’ll sign off with indie pop music’s greatest ever twins.  Kim and Kelley Deal, I salute you.

*I may have stolen these words from Estelle.

The 'Being a Girl' Book Launch

Well, Being a Girl is now out in bookshops and on the loose.  And what a hoot we had at the launch in Norwich Waterstones.  Firstly, there was badges and then there was wine and, after that, there were words too awkward to comfortably say out loud.

And then there was LIVE drawing by the marvelously talented Gemma Correll...

And there was rather a lot of book signing too.

And to top it all, there was even fabulous live music (except I must admit a total stupid fail because I haven't got any pictures of the ridiculously talented Woodland Creatures (lionesses if ever there were any) - so here they are in all their proper splendidness on the Youtubes.

And that's all there is to say other than this:  If you haven't read Being a Girl yet, I'd be very pleased if you would :)

More events are coming up this summer.  Keep an eye on my website www.hayleylong.org for more details when I can tell 'em.

Ten People Who Are Excellent at Being a Girl ....or Definitely Were Excellent Once Upon a Time.

So Thursday June 4^th is the day that ‘Being a Girl’ officially hits the bookshops!  To mark this occasion I thought I’d write a quick blog post listing a few of the noteworthy women I hugely admire.  Some of these women have done (or did) extraordinary and brave things and others are on this list simply because they have the attitude of a winner and do creative things which brighten my world. 

I managed to sneak quite a few of these names into the book - I’m not going to tell you which ones though.  You’ll have to read the book or try and second-guess my mind...

So – in no particular order.

            Malala Yousafzai

If ANYONE on this planet is excellent at being a girl, it’s Malala.  Some big tough men with guns were so scared of this teenage schoolgirl that they shot her in the head to stop her going to school.  Did that work? 

NO.

And why not?

Because Malala is the bravest person in the world, that’s why. 

2            Edith Cavell

A Norwich girl – like me and Gemma Correll*.  Except that Edith Cavell has her own monument outside Norwich cathedral and she also has a very nice and swanky bar/restaurant named after her in Norwich too.

Why?

Because Edith was a true heroine.  Or hero if you prefer.  Or even a shero for that matter.

Why?

Because, while working as a nurse in Brussels during WW1, she was accused of helping allied soldiers escape from Nazi-occupied Belgium.  Poor Edith was shot by firing squad.  They never taught me about that in my history lessons.       

By the way, the French legendary singer, Edith Piaf, is named after our Edith!  AND HOW COOL IS THAT?

Very.

3            Harriet Tubman

I first came across the name of Harriet Tubman when I was working at a school in North London yonks ago.  In the English Department of that school, we taught a whole unit based on Harriet and about how she was a runaway slave in the southern states of America and about how she helped hundreds of other slaves escape to the slave-free states in the north.  We made newspaper articles and Wanted posters and wrote poems about her and everything.  Everyone should know the name of Harriet Tubman.  Just think though – if I hadn’t ever set foot in that school I may never have heard of her!  This is why going to school is good.

4.            J.K Rowling

I’m going to come totally clean with you here.  I’m not a massive Harry Potter fan.  I mean, I’m not an anti-fan or anything!  I don’t dislike those books.  I just – y’know – wouldn’t have them as my chosen specialist subject on Mastermind or anything.  BUT I am a massive fan of JK Rowling. 

Why?

Because she’s cool and dignified and pays her proper share of taxes and cares about social issues and writes whatever she wants to write and quietly does her thing and hasn’t gone berserk with all that money she has and turned her back garden into a go-kart track or anything (OK, I’m just assuming now).  Oh, and when she goes on Twitter she TOTALLY OWNS IT.  Well done Missus :)

5                    Neneh Cherry

You are probably saying who?

This is who:

Let me tell you something about Neneh Cherry:

She is sooooooo cool.  Still.

6            Donna Tartt

She writes a novel every ten years.  And every twenty years, it’ll be a novel I love so much that I am left SPEECHLESS by how much of a GENIUS this woman is.

7                    Kim and Kelley Deal

You are probably saying who?

This is who:

Are they good at being girls?

Well they’re certainly very good at being baaaaad girls.  They are pop twins with badattitude and, together, they are responsible for one of my all-time favourite pop tunes, Cannonball.  Kim also played guitar in The Pixies for years.  I can’t IMAGINE how much fun it might (sometimes) be to be a Deal twin.  Thanks to these two, I’ve had hours of air guitar bliss over the years.

Harriet Thompson

I saw Harriet on the news just the other day.  She ran the San Diego marathon and she’s 92!!!!

I couldn’t even be bothered to do a fun-run and I’m only 24!!!

PJ Harvey

I love PJ Harvey.  She isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and I’m glad about that because then she wouldn’t be an acquired taste, would she?  Here she is singing with a dead crow on her head:

Being a Girl is being launched at Norwich Waterstones Friday 5 June 7pm.

*Me and Gemma are both originally from Ipswich though - which can get awkward in Norwich.

Being a Girl Launch

Being a Girl

'Being a Girl' arrives in UK bookshops on June the 4th.

HOOORAH!

But ahead of publication day, I've been sent a few copies.  And better than that...

 I HAVE ONE WHICH HAS BEEN SIGNED BY THE WONDERFULLY TALENTED AND ARTISTIC PUG-SCRIBBLER OTHERWISE KNOWN AS GEMMA CORRELL.  

In one of those rather lovely twists of fate, it turns out that Gemma, lives in the fine city of Norwich - just as I do.  And this is marvelously handy for eating cake together and asking her to sign some books.

SOOOO... if you'd like a chance to win this ahead-of-publication signed copy, all you have to do is RETWEET or SHARE my Twitter or Facebook post which linked to this blog post.  But you must also be following or liking me on either Twitter or Facebook too.  Otherwise how will you know who's won?

My twitter account is @hayleywrites
My facebook page is
https://www.facebook.com/HayleyLongAuthor

Oh - and I'll sign it too of course!  And if you like I'll dedicate it to you or to
whoever else you want.

You have until midday of Tuesday April 7th - and then I'll randomly chose a winner

This giveaway is only open to people with a UK address - BUT there are French, Dutch and other versions in the pipeline.  So if you are reading this in Lyon or Utrecht or... somewhere else... keep watching this space.

Meanwhile, here's a sneaky look inside:  Remember how catty high school was?  Gemma and I decided we were Wandering Strays.  Which one are/were you?

There is another type of cat, of course - the one we all would love to be - but she's over the page.

Oh - and Gemma and I aren't the only Norwich women associated with this book.  There's a nod of respect to Edith Cavell too:

Anyway, Happy Easter!  For all the latest event information, please keep an eye on my website:
www.hayleylong.org

Bye bye x

Hello 2015...

...And you’re already a cracker!

2015 began with Mister and I watching fireworks in the skies above Palma de Majorca.  It was a pretty spectacular way to see out the old year and see in a new one.  And it felt right to mark that dividing line properly.  2014 was a fair old shake-up for me.  It was the year I packed in my English teaching job and began an MA course in American fiction; the year I said hello to a fab new literary agent [same agency] and a fab new publisher [still Coolio Iglesias with the old one] and also the first year in quite a few that I haven’t had a new book out – not counting four very lovely new editions.  So at times it felt a bit...um...  discombobulating. 

But really it was just the year that I quietly got on with things and did what felt right.  

In 2014 I may not have had new books to promote but I was busy.  Very busy.  I wrote my first non-fiction book and also the crucial 49^th and 50^th drafts – or thereabouts - of my next novel.  

And I’m so massively excited about both books.  ‘Being a Girl’ is out in June.  It’s the sister volume to James Dawson’s stupendous ‘Being a Boy’ and has fantastic little drawings throughout by that brilliant pug-loving doodler Gemma Correll.  I’ve recently been working on the final drafts/proofs/page-layouts [I’m not very good with technical jargon – but I’m talking about last orders stuff] and I’m so chuffed with how it’s all looking.  IMHO, the words aren’t bad at all but Gemma’s gorgeous drawings turn the book into something else.  I think she’s given it a degree of added Specialocity.      

And then in September, ‘Sophie Someone’ my next novel comes out.  It may seem like a slightly different direction from my other novels but it’s not such a drastic departure that it won’t seem like me.  I mean, it’s not ’Fifty Shades of Sex’ or 'American Psycho' or anything like that.  It’s still my sort of teen fiction.  There’s a first person narrator.  She’s a girl.  Um... a lot of pigeons are involved.  There are a few maniacs.... one or two bozos... an old wombat who lives in Norfolk.... I can’t say too much more than that at the moment.  But I promise you that I put my heater and soul into the writing of it and I’m massively chuffed that it’s arriving in bookshops this year.

And my immediate priority is to bash some new words out.  I made a (very) small start on a new novel just before Christmas.  Now I need to barge onwards.  I’m not someone who enjoys the muse and lets the words just flow from me in a state of creative ecstasy.  I find first drafts really hard.  But I’ve got an idea.  And that’s the start.  The next step is to writewritewritewriteandfillupthepagesandIGNOREANYDOUBTS.

Follow your heart.  Ignore your head. 

This is the way I write anyway. 

:)

Hope you’re all having a good new year.

PS  That box of books went to Gateshead Library. 

PPS The picture is of me at the Majorcan home of the writer and war poet, Robert Graves.  It was taken on the second day of this year and I’ve chosen it as my blog picture because that man’s home was BEAUTIFICAL AND UTTERLY UTTERLY LUSH.  His domestic arrangements were something else though.  Graves lived there with his wife, their children and whatever girlfriend was inspiring him to write.  [INSERT RAISED EYEBROWS.]  

Bless my Cotton Socks, I’ve Got Some NEWWWWWS!

Loads of news in fact - about my next books.  And there’ll be two of them – both out next year and both with the very marvellous HOT KEY BOOKS.

First up, in June, there’ll be this.

It’s the companion book to James Dawson’s very very funny but also very wise, helpful and informative Being a Boy.  Now, I’m not about to tell you that I’ve also been funny, wise, helpful and informative because that would be HIDEOUSLY IMMODEST.  So I promise you nothing other than my assurance that I’ve worked very hard on it, done shedloads of research and now know loads of things I wish I’d known when I was thirteen.  Oh, and I can also promise you that it most definitely will have VERY FUNNY ILLUSTRATIONS in it - by none other than my fellow Ipswich-born Norwichian, the brilliant Gemma Correll.  She’s the one who loves pugs but not drugs.*

Then...

[BIG DRUM ROLL]

... next September, I will have a

BRAND NEW NOVEL. 

And it’s called....

[ANOTHER BIG DRUM ROLL]

Sophie Someone.

I’ve been quietly writing this for a fair while because... well... that’s how long it’s taken me.  Sometimes, the slowly-slowly-catchy-monkey approach is needed.  Trust me, words can be slippery little devils if you allow them to be....

I can’t show you a cover for this book yet because it’s too early for that bit.  But if you want to read more about what Sophie Someone is about and what I said about it and what Emma Matthewson, my Hot Key editor, said about it, than please click here to read the press release.

So, yes, I’m ever so slightly, massively excited.

In fact, I look pretty much like this at the moment.

And despite this month's Troubling Haircut, that’s really not a bad look to be rocking.  

Before I go, please can I ask again that you click on my new website www.hayleylong.org 

I'm currently on page 4 of Google, see, and ideally I need to be right there, slap bang, number one hit. Thank you, you are kind.  By the way, I MADE THAT WEBSITE MYSELF.

*Wise Woman