Saturday, July 11, 2009

Mistaken for a Celebrity



While pushing my shopping trolley around the supermarket where I do my weekly shop, I noticed one of the staff giving me strange looks.

I did what any sane person would do, I gave her a wide berth—she seemed a little odd to me.

Anyway, after about an hour, she tackled me at the spices. “I know you!” she said. “You’re that actress off Emmerdale, aren’t you?”

Since I’ve never watched the soap, I had no idea who she was referring to. “No,” I assured her.

She gave me a thorough up and down, the frown between her brows attesting to her disbelief. “Are you sure?”

I smiled and edged a little away. “I’m sure,” I told her. “I’m not an actress.”

She gave me a look that said she knew I really was, but was lying to her. “I was sure you were. You look just like her.”

She returned to her task of stacking shelves, and I hurried in the opposite direction.

The thing is, I kinda liked it. This wasn’t the first time something like this has happened to me, and I have to say, I’m looking forward to the day when strangers come up to me because they recognise me as an author, and love my books.

Have you ever had an incident when someone mistook you for a celebrity? Alternatively, if you are a fellow author, have you had fans come up to you because they recognised you? How did you react? Hopefully you didn’t run in the other direction.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Got My Release Date!


I got my release date for Divorce Etiquette today! Oh, how my heart pitter-pattered when I opened that email from my editor.

My release date, in case you missed it above...is November 18th 2009!

Now I’m in a bit of a panic. I’ve been approaching my marketing campaign with a sense of, “I’ve got ages”. Unfortunately, I only have four months to get my finger out. I’ve got a huge list of things to do, and seemingly not a whole lot of time left.

I know I’ll get it sorted, but the “oh, no,” where do I get started is causing a little nail biting.

If any of you have any great marketing strategies you wish to share, I’m all ears.

Until next time.