I was on the RTE show, Elev8 today - talking about our upcoming Wildest Dreams book tour and dancing - yes, my son is mortified! He thinks his mum is so uncool. However the 4 year old kissed the telly screen when I was on apparently which is cute.
You can catch it here: http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1082132
And I'm 7 mins 50 seconds in - along with the lovely Judi Curtin of course.
Off on tour on Tuesday - so I'll keep you posted on how it's going:
And don't miss the public events on Friday 15th Oct in Eason, Dun Laoghaire at 4pm
and Saturday 16th in BT2, Grafton Street at 1 to 3
See you there!
Sarah XXX
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Your Wildest Dreams Tour - Check out the fab prize!
Your Wildest Dreams Writing Competition
Check out the fab prize
Books
Special Wildest Dream T-shirt and bag
Wildest Dreams notebook
Amy Green luggage tag
To enter see the Write-a-rama section of the Ask Amy Green website!
And get writing!
Closing date - end of Oct
Monday, October 4, 2010
Mercy Me! Sarah Meets the Mercy Heights Girls
On Wednesday 29th Sept I was waiting in Skibbereen Library, watching the library clock's hands creep past two. OK, Mercy Heights weren't going to make it. They obviously had really important stuff going down in the school, like double Irish or PE.
'They're on their way,' the lovely librarian, Ken assured me. I didn't really believe him. I sighed inwardly. If they didn't turn up I'd have to go back to work - yikes.
But they certaily did appear - and how. Minutes later the whole of 1st year trooped into the library and squeezed themselves into the children's space. From the start I knew these were great girls - funny, interesting, lively and witty, with lots to say.
I told them about growing up in Dublin - my mad mother, my bad ballet experiences, my slightly better Cinderella play experiences, and how I became a writer.
Then they asked some fab questions about writing/books/teen diaries/all kinds of things and we chatted for ages.
I think I even told them about my boy lists at the back of my teen diaries - oops!
Then they signed my special events book, and I signed their books, fanzines and bits of paper!
It was fun. So a big hi to all the fab girls at Mercy - with the fab names: Chloe, Grace, Helen, Aine, Lily, Aoife, Aisling, Niamh, Leah, Loraine, Sinead, Fiona, Maisey, Alanna, Karen, Sarah C, Orla . . . and all the rest of the gang - it was a pleasure to meet you all!
What I liked about Mercy Heights - they were bright and funny; they had some great questions; they laughed at all the right places (vital!) AND they liked my stickers and ink stamps. People who like stickers are good. Moi, obsessed? No! (But if you get a chance, check out the paper chase website - if you like stickers, it rocks!)
Sarah X
'They're on their way,' the lovely librarian, Ken assured me. I didn't really believe him. I sighed inwardly. If they didn't turn up I'd have to go back to work - yikes.
But they certaily did appear - and how. Minutes later the whole of 1st year trooped into the library and squeezed themselves into the children's space. From the start I knew these were great girls - funny, interesting, lively and witty, with lots to say.
I told them about growing up in Dublin - my mad mother, my bad ballet experiences, my slightly better Cinderella play experiences, and how I became a writer.
Then they asked some fab questions about writing/books/teen diaries/all kinds of things and we chatted for ages.
I think I even told them about my boy lists at the back of my teen diaries - oops!
Then they signed my special events book, and I signed their books, fanzines and bits of paper!
It was fun. So a big hi to all the fab girls at Mercy - with the fab names: Chloe, Grace, Helen, Aine, Lily, Aoife, Aisling, Niamh, Leah, Loraine, Sinead, Fiona, Maisey, Alanna, Karen, Sarah C, Orla . . . and all the rest of the gang - it was a pleasure to meet you all!
What I liked about Mercy Heights - they were bright and funny; they had some great questions; they laughed at all the right places (vital!) AND they liked my stickers and ink stamps. People who like stickers are good. Moi, obsessed? No! (But if you get a chance, check out the paper chase website - if you like stickers, it rocks!)
Sarah X
Nail biting time - book 3 is finally out
Today is official publication day for Amy book 3 - Bridesmaid Blitz. It's always a bit of a nerve wracking (and wrecking!) time. Will readers like it as much as the last books? Will it be lost in the sea of brilliant new books out? Oct is a busy, busy month for bookshops as all the big Christmas titles start coming in.
This month is packed with book related events - library events, bookshop signings, even an RTE appearance - Elev8 on Thurs 7th Oct (this week!) at 4.00/4.30.
Check out the events section of the website for details of where I'll be and when!
Sarah X
This month is packed with book related events - library events, bookshop signings, even an RTE appearance - Elev8 on Thurs 7th Oct (this week!) at 4.00/4.30.
Check out the events section of the website for details of where I'll be and when!
Sarah X
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Bridesmaid Blitz is out!
Bridesmaid Blitz is out! I've seen it in a few shops already. It's always really exciting seeing your books on the shelves - I never get tired of it. It makes me feel like a 'real' writer.
This month is packed with Amy Green events and signings - check out the events blog for details. I'll be visiting Cork, Limerick, Dundalk and loads of other places.
And I'm also going on tour with the fab authors Judi Curtin and Sophia Bennett.
Right now - I have to fix my hair for a photo shoot for the Irish Times. Look out for me in the paper next Saturday!
Happy October!
Sarah XXX
PS thanks for all the lovely emails and facebook messages!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Ask Amy Green: Bridesmaid Blitz Sneak Preview!
From Chapter 1
‘I’m soooo depressed,’ I moan. ‘I can’t believe we’re back at school tomorrow. Kill me now.’ I grab my best friend, Mills’s GHDs and pretend to stab myself in the heart.
‘Oh happy dagger. Let me die.’ Then I stagger backwards, fall onto her bed and squash her against the star-patterned duvet.
‘Ow, Amy. Get off me, you eejit,’ she squeals.
I laugh and roll sideways. We both lie on our backs, staring up at the ceiling.
There’s something stuck to it. A photo. I squint up my eyes, then grin. Ed Whooley’s tanned face is smiling down at us.
‘Nice pic,’ I say.
Ed is Mills’s cute as Christmas boyfriend. However there’s one rather gi-normous relationship glitch, he lives in America. They hooked up over the summer hols while Mills was working as an au pair in his home town, Miami, and they’ve been exchanging smoochy emails ever since.
Ed also happens to be Matt Munroe’s little bro – yep, that Matt Munroe, the actor who makes R-Patz look ugly. My crazy aunt, Clover had to interview Matt in Miami for the teen mag she works for – The Goss – and guess who got to travel to the US of Amazing with her. You got it, lil’ ole moi.
Turned out Matt Munroe was only pretending to be American and is actually 100% guaranteed Irish beef and Clover scooped the story for The Goss. It was quite the trip!
Mills goes pink at the mention of the photo. ‘You weren’t supposed to see that.’
I grin. ‘And how is Ed the Head?’
‘Fine.’ Long pause. ‘I think. I haven’t heard from him all week. I’ve sent eight emails now. I tried ringing his ‘cell’ but he didn’t answer and I rang his house twice but his Dad said he wasn’t there. He hasn’t rung back yet and Mum’s going to kill me when she sees the phone bill. Maybe he hasn’t been getting his messages and there’s something wrong with hotmail. Should I send another email?’
I wince. ‘Not unless you want him to think you’re a serious stalker. Sorry, Mills, it doesn’t sound good.’
‘Maybe he’s just really busy?’ she suggests hopefully.
Poor Mills, Ed is her first proper boyfriend. I have to tread softly. ‘Maybe. Methinks you should leave it a few days, see if he gets back to you.’
She sighs deeply. ‘Relationships are tough.’
‘I hear you, amigo. Seth’s been acting odd this week too.’
‘At least you both live in the same time zone. Plus you’ll get to see him in school tomorrow.’
I groan. ‘Don’t remind me.’
Mills eyes open wide. ‘I thought it was true lurrvve. Have you gone off him?’
‘Course not, Seth and I are grand,’ I say, then add in a stage Irish accent ‘Sure he’s the joy of me heart, me acushla.’ I conjure up an image of my boyfriend’s face in my head - warm smile, messy blond surfer hair, new sun freckles sprinkled over the bridge of his nose, and his startling sky blue eyes.
‘I was groaning about school, Mills. Speaking of which, when’s your trip to Paris?’
‘In two weeks. I can’t wait,’ she squeals, then hugs herself with excitement. As soon as she sees my fed-up face she stops.
‘Sorry, Ames. I wish you could come too. It won’t be the same without you. And Seth’s not the only one who’ll miss you like crazy.’ She rubs her head on my shoulder and makes sad puppy noises.
I sigh. ‘If I’d known there was a trip involved I would have chosen ze froggy language with Loopy, instead of Spanish. Plus her classes sound way more fun.’
Mills laughs. ‘Miss Lupin does try to keep us awake all right. The best was the Paris Fashion Week role playing. We all had to pretend to be models, or designers, or fashion journalists and act in character. I was Anna Wintour from Vogue. It was hilarious.’
She pauses and her expression shifts. ‘Until Annabelle and Sophie had a cat fight over who was going to be Kate Moss, and Sophie swung her bag and nearly took one of Annabelle’s front teeth out.’
I chuckle. ‘I remember that. Mrs Hamilton threatened to sue Loopy for endangering her daughter’s perfect smile.’
Annabelle Hamilton is Queen Bee of the D4s, the school’s resident mean girls, named after the postcode of one of the poshest areas in Dublin, Dublin 4. None them actually live there, except for Annabelle herself - her girls-in-waiting, Sophie Piggott and Nina Pickering live in Foxrock and Cabinteely - but that doesn’t stop them acting like they’re better than everyone else, and way cooler.
Mills pulls a face. ‘I’m not looking forward to seeing Annabelle and her cronies again. I bet the D4s all have sparkling new start-of-term gear. And I’ll be stuck in the same scuffed ballet pumps I’ve been wearing all summer. I’m in for a right D4 slag-a-rama in last year’s uniform and sad old shoes.’
‘There’s always sabotage,’ I suggest. ‘I’ll help you pull the sole off or something. Then you’ll have to get a new pair.’
Mills sighs. ‘Wouldn’t work. Mum would just get them fixed. You know what she’s like – Miss Eco Friendly. The only person on the universe who still darns socks. No, I’ll just have to put up with it.’
‘If it’s any consolation, I’ll be in my old Dubes. We can be the sorry shoe twins.’
‘Annabelle’s bound to have new designer shoes,’ Mills says glumly.
‘Bound to. Très depressing.’
We both sigh and stare up at Ed again.
‘Ames, what am I going to do?’ Mills says softly. ‘About Ed I mean.’
‘I’ll ask Clover.’ Clover’s seventeen and uber worldly. I figure the bad news is better coming from Clover than from me. Clover’s great at solving problems. As agony aunt for The Goss teen mag she’s had buckets of practice. She loves answering all the readers’ problem letters. And I get to help her. Lately they’ve started printing my name on the page and everything. How cool is that?
Yep, if anyone can help, Clover can.
‘Thanks, Ames. But don’t tell her it’s me, OK? It’s so embarrassing.’
‘Promise.’ Unfortunately Clover’s so smart she’ll probably figure it out in a nano second.
I check out my watch. ‘Oops, better motor. Mum threatened me with year long grounding if I wasn’t back by eight.’
Mills clutches her neck and pretends to choke herself. ‘Last night of freedom before we meet our dooooom. See you at the post box. Usual time.’
I wink. ‘It’s a date, honey bun.’
To find out what happens next, you'll have to read the book - out on 1st Oct!
‘I’m soooo depressed,’ I moan. ‘I can’t believe we’re back at school tomorrow. Kill me now.’ I grab my best friend, Mills’s GHDs and pretend to stab myself in the heart.
‘Oh happy dagger. Let me die.’ Then I stagger backwards, fall onto her bed and squash her against the star-patterned duvet.
‘Ow, Amy. Get off me, you eejit,’ she squeals.
I laugh and roll sideways. We both lie on our backs, staring up at the ceiling.
There’s something stuck to it. A photo. I squint up my eyes, then grin. Ed Whooley’s tanned face is smiling down at us.
‘Nice pic,’ I say.
Ed is Mills’s cute as Christmas boyfriend. However there’s one rather gi-normous relationship glitch, he lives in America. They hooked up over the summer hols while Mills was working as an au pair in his home town, Miami, and they’ve been exchanging smoochy emails ever since.
Ed also happens to be Matt Munroe’s little bro – yep, that Matt Munroe, the actor who makes R-Patz look ugly. My crazy aunt, Clover had to interview Matt in Miami for the teen mag she works for – The Goss – and guess who got to travel to the US of Amazing with her. You got it, lil’ ole moi.
Turned out Matt Munroe was only pretending to be American and is actually 100% guaranteed Irish beef and Clover scooped the story for The Goss. It was quite the trip!
Mills goes pink at the mention of the photo. ‘You weren’t supposed to see that.’
I grin. ‘And how is Ed the Head?’
‘Fine.’ Long pause. ‘I think. I haven’t heard from him all week. I’ve sent eight emails now. I tried ringing his ‘cell’ but he didn’t answer and I rang his house twice but his Dad said he wasn’t there. He hasn’t rung back yet and Mum’s going to kill me when she sees the phone bill. Maybe he hasn’t been getting his messages and there’s something wrong with hotmail. Should I send another email?’
I wince. ‘Not unless you want him to think you’re a serious stalker. Sorry, Mills, it doesn’t sound good.’
‘Maybe he’s just really busy?’ she suggests hopefully.
Poor Mills, Ed is her first proper boyfriend. I have to tread softly. ‘Maybe. Methinks you should leave it a few days, see if he gets back to you.’
She sighs deeply. ‘Relationships are tough.’
‘I hear you, amigo. Seth’s been acting odd this week too.’
‘At least you both live in the same time zone. Plus you’ll get to see him in school tomorrow.’
I groan. ‘Don’t remind me.’
Mills eyes open wide. ‘I thought it was true lurrvve. Have you gone off him?’
‘Course not, Seth and I are grand,’ I say, then add in a stage Irish accent ‘Sure he’s the joy of me heart, me acushla.’ I conjure up an image of my boyfriend’s face in my head - warm smile, messy blond surfer hair, new sun freckles sprinkled over the bridge of his nose, and his startling sky blue eyes.
‘I was groaning about school, Mills. Speaking of which, when’s your trip to Paris?’
‘In two weeks. I can’t wait,’ she squeals, then hugs herself with excitement. As soon as she sees my fed-up face she stops.
‘Sorry, Ames. I wish you could come too. It won’t be the same without you. And Seth’s not the only one who’ll miss you like crazy.’ She rubs her head on my shoulder and makes sad puppy noises.
I sigh. ‘If I’d known there was a trip involved I would have chosen ze froggy language with Loopy, instead of Spanish. Plus her classes sound way more fun.’
Mills laughs. ‘Miss Lupin does try to keep us awake all right. The best was the Paris Fashion Week role playing. We all had to pretend to be models, or designers, or fashion journalists and act in character. I was Anna Wintour from Vogue. It was hilarious.’
She pauses and her expression shifts. ‘Until Annabelle and Sophie had a cat fight over who was going to be Kate Moss, and Sophie swung her bag and nearly took one of Annabelle’s front teeth out.’
I chuckle. ‘I remember that. Mrs Hamilton threatened to sue Loopy for endangering her daughter’s perfect smile.’
Annabelle Hamilton is Queen Bee of the D4s, the school’s resident mean girls, named after the postcode of one of the poshest areas in Dublin, Dublin 4. None them actually live there, except for Annabelle herself - her girls-in-waiting, Sophie Piggott and Nina Pickering live in Foxrock and Cabinteely - but that doesn’t stop them acting like they’re better than everyone else, and way cooler.
Mills pulls a face. ‘I’m not looking forward to seeing Annabelle and her cronies again. I bet the D4s all have sparkling new start-of-term gear. And I’ll be stuck in the same scuffed ballet pumps I’ve been wearing all summer. I’m in for a right D4 slag-a-rama in last year’s uniform and sad old shoes.’
‘There’s always sabotage,’ I suggest. ‘I’ll help you pull the sole off or something. Then you’ll have to get a new pair.’
Mills sighs. ‘Wouldn’t work. Mum would just get them fixed. You know what she’s like – Miss Eco Friendly. The only person on the universe who still darns socks. No, I’ll just have to put up with it.’
‘If it’s any consolation, I’ll be in my old Dubes. We can be the sorry shoe twins.’
‘Annabelle’s bound to have new designer shoes,’ Mills says glumly.
‘Bound to. Très depressing.’
We both sigh and stare up at Ed again.
‘Ames, what am I going to do?’ Mills says softly. ‘About Ed I mean.’
‘I’ll ask Clover.’ Clover’s seventeen and uber worldly. I figure the bad news is better coming from Clover than from me. Clover’s great at solving problems. As agony aunt for The Goss teen mag she’s had buckets of practice. She loves answering all the readers’ problem letters. And I get to help her. Lately they’ve started printing my name on the page and everything. How cool is that?
Yep, if anyone can help, Clover can.
‘Thanks, Ames. But don’t tell her it’s me, OK? It’s so embarrassing.’
‘Promise.’ Unfortunately Clover’s so smart she’ll probably figure it out in a nano second.
I check out my watch. ‘Oops, better motor. Mum threatened me with year long grounding if I wasn’t back by eight.’
Mills clutches her neck and pretends to choke herself. ‘Last night of freedom before we meet our dooooom. See you at the post box. Usual time.’
I wink. ‘It’s a date, honey bun.’
To find out what happens next, you'll have to read the book - out on 1st Oct!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Ballerinas
Hi Amy Greensters,
I managed to sneak into town to see the wonderful Ballet Ruse today - 2 fantastic ballerinas in their own special show about the hardships of ballet. It was funny, touching and brilliantly danced - I only wish it had gone on longer.
I studied ballet for years - and I've always been a huge, huge fan. I still have the tutu and blocks to prove it! I love watching ballet, and I'm so in awe of the dancers - it's such a tough job.
In the Amy Green books Mills's sister, Claire is studying ballet in Russia and in book 5 she makes a special appearance. I just can't wait to write it. But I have to polish up book 4 first - that's very important.
Until then, I'll just dream about ballet I think.
What do you dream about?
Talk to you soon,
Sarah XXX
PS Bridesmaid Blitz is out in 2 weeks - 2 WEEKS - how exciting is that!
I managed to sneak into town to see the wonderful Ballet Ruse today - 2 fantastic ballerinas in their own special show about the hardships of ballet. It was funny, touching and brilliantly danced - I only wish it had gone on longer.
I studied ballet for years - and I've always been a huge, huge fan. I still have the tutu and blocks to prove it! I love watching ballet, and I'm so in awe of the dancers - it's such a tough job.
In the Amy Green books Mills's sister, Claire is studying ballet in Russia and in book 5 she makes a special appearance. I just can't wait to write it. But I have to polish up book 4 first - that's very important.
Until then, I'll just dream about ballet I think.
What do you dream about?
Talk to you soon,
Sarah XXX
PS Bridesmaid Blitz is out in 2 weeks - 2 WEEKS - how exciting is that!
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