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Hello you, my lovely, lovely : )

I am so sorry for the radio silence but I’ve not been sat in a lilo floating in the ocean with a glass of sangria. I wish!

No, I’ve been an insanely busy one, firstly with NaNoWriMo (58,000 words = one month, go me) and then with the paper proof of Gunshot Glitter. After much effort and the kind help of my friends Lydia Nicolaides and Tina Gatt, I have a gorgeous print cover completed. And I’m working with Intype Libra on the print as we speak.

Over December and Christmas, to a soundtrack comprised 60% Snow Patrol/Tired Pony, 10% Katy Perry 10% Interpol and about 20% Cat Power,  I proofed the 420 odd printed pages of Gunshot Glitter, found myself in tears thrice just re-experiencing the emotions of the narrative.  They were welcome tears. I really engaged with my characters writing that novel and to be honest have missed them.

But come January, it WILL be printed. Finally! Thank you for your patience. It was important to me to do it properly and to do it well. I hope I’ve achieved that. It was a pleasure to re-read the book. Regardless of what’s happened this year, publishing it and having so much positive feedback has been . . . . to be honest, there aren’t words. Just THANK YOU if you’ve been on the ride with me.

Arya6AqCAAAVthaGary Lightbody: How can anyone not love this man? Just look at him!

Did you know by the way that the CD sleeve of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream is candy scented? It’s a great record for a whole new reason now. Firework is my favourite track on it.

Right, stop looking at that amazing photo of Gary Lightbody ( I spotted that on his Twitter, whoever took it, you are a geeenius! Come here and let me credit you) In between Gunshot Glitter and life, I’ve really enjoyed reading his old Tumblr blog and just being knocked for six by his lyrics. I’ve literally sat and read the CD sleevenotes and just been reduced to silence by the images and scenes conjured up. It’s been a while since anything’s done that to me. I’m going to be enjoy being fuelled thus.

And he doesn’t actually seem to stop working, ever. The man is a great, big, 6ft 4″ poet of wondrous Irishness, emotion and humour and it would appear, Curly Wurlys. From one chocolate-adoring music-lover to another, God Bless You Mr Lightbody and your heart-breaking paens to romantic woe, especially ‘New York’. I don’t know how you do it. That song is devastating.  And thank you for this brilliant, brilliant video which cheered me up a treat in the small hours of a late November night.  For your viewing pleasure and a belated Xmas present, watch it with me:

 

Did you enjoy that?

Back to me!

I wanted to draw your attention to a great blog by Linda Parkinson-Hardman. She kindly featured me on it over Christmas and I’ve just had a lot of fun re-reading the interview. I loved it!

I thought you might too, check her out, she’s aces. Here’s the LINK. One of the questions was how would you dispose of a corpse. I love questions like that. So dear reader, how would you? And what’s your favourite TV moment? Check mine out, it’s class.

And my favourite writer, Lisa Jewell made my Christmas by featuring Gunshot Glitter on her books of the year review on her personal blog. Swear I felt all fuzzy inside. If you are anything like me, you’ll love book recommendations, especially from fellow passionate readers. So check it out. You might find your new favourite book among her selection here

Lisa published ‘Before I Met You‘ over the summer and it was a privilege to interview her on Hello You. Since then she’s actually had a hand in designing the cover of the forthcoming paperback edition. It’s a beauty. Give it a mooch, now.

I hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas. I did allow myself a day off on the day itself. MeBeforeYOUI re-read Jojo Moyes ‘ Me Before You’ all over again, curled up on the sofa. It’s a stunning book, an unconventional romance where actions speak louder than words and two mismatched people change each other’s lives in completely unexpected ways.  I found there were pages I re-read twice over before I could continue because I wanted to revel in the feeling engendered. I loved it. LOVED IT. Moyes deserves all the accolades this book has received and I thank her for dreaming it up. I felt the ending was pretty brave.

It was my favourite read of 2012. What was yours?

Promise to be more prolific come 2013. Make some good wishes when the bongs chime okay? See you next year and take care. Thanks for reading.

Yasmin Selena Butt xx

p.s Please email print requests for the novel to GunshotGlitter2012@yahoo.co.uk and remember the eBook is out on Amazon. In 2013 it will also be available on a wider network of eBook vendors.