First, The Book of Summers was blessed with a truly lovely first review. Great thanks to book blogger Charlotte Chase for reading it so kindly and describing it as 'a captivating first novel' and 'a delicate treat'... Wow. As a newbie author whose edges are yet to be roughened and toughened, these are words to be cupped and cherished. You can read it here.
Then... the Red Pages published their Hot 100 list for 2012 this morning. Tis the season for lists aplenty, but this one caught my eye more than most. Last year the only novelist to be included was Téa Obreht and she went on to do okay, didn't she? In previous years Poppy Adams and Adam Foulds have appeared alongside actors, singers, models, child-stars, chihuahas and the like. Therefore it's sort of crazy to see that for 2012 I'm listed, along with fellow Headline writer Eowyn Ivey, author of the wonderful The Snow Child. Oh, and Lana Del Ray's on there too. Just saying.
I know, I know, this is the golden time. When the dream and the reality are twining in crazy fashion, and with a magnanimity that even a relentless optimist such as me knows cannot last forever. And so I tell myself this; there won't always be glowing reviews and hot lists but there will be other things. Like peanut butter. A second pot of coffee. A novel to read. And new words to be written. And that's enough to make me glad on just about any day - especially a Monday.