It’s a cliche, but it really has been a roller coaster of a journey, with some unexpected consequences of signing that deal…

It’s hard, hard, hard work... My initial reaction to getting that first deal, once I’d calmed down and stopped my happy author dance? That nothing much would change. I’d just carrying on “doing my thang”, that is writing stories and chatting to writerly peeps on Facebook. Right? Er – nope. I soon realised that things were going to be very different. I now had editor’s revisions and deadlines. I had to set up a blog, join GoodReads and Instagram, plus expand my platforms on Facebook and Twitter. These days, at least half of my work time is spent on social media, networking with other authors, bloggers and readers and, of course, promoting my novels. It’s a full-time job which I am now having to squeeze into part-time hours due to other priorities. I love it but during the first six months of being a published author, I put on one and a half stone in weight, which brings me to my second point…

Fitness – or rather, the lack of it… With all the extra social media work, it is very easy as an author to stay chained to your desk for hours at a time. We’re talking writers’s bottom, writer’s stomach and writer’s bingo wings – not a pretty picture, is it?! But, vanity aside, we’re talking real health issues as well. I have a family history of high cholesterol plus a back problem, and after that weight gain in 2013/2014 all the chocolate bars and packets of crisps caught up with me. And I know I’m not alone with this. I only have to read my fellow writers’ social media statuses to know that, like me, they use a tasty snack or drink to either celebrate (a high rank or good review) or commiserate (tough editor’s revisions or a novel rejection). So, last year, I took myself in hand. I cycle every day now, before the rush hour. And I get out for a walk at least once a day. It’s a discipline but on the plus side, I wake fresher and happier and am far more productive.

Money. This was a surprise. Anyone and everyone feel they have a right to ask you how much you earn, because you’re an author. Usually with raised eyebrows and winks and the mention of J K Rowling. NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO ASK THIS – lovely JK  is the exception, not the rule Just like everyone else, I worry about the mortgage and bills. For the majority of writers, getting published is no financial golden ticket. I’ve no complaints, but won’t be buying the Porsche any time soon

Sex…and thanks to EL James, author of Fifty Shades, for this! Like money, within minutes of finding out that I am a romance author, people want to ask if I write “that”. Again, usually this is followed by winks. And from the opposite sex, comments that my husband is a very lucky man. NOTE TO THESE PEOPLE – husband is not continually called upon to help me “research” every single hot scene! And nor is anyone else! I’m a writer. I use my life experience and imagination. And romance is, primarily, about the feelings and emotions of love.

You’re only as good as your last book. This is so true and not something I’d really thought about before getting published. Past successes will not prop up current work. In 2015 I was lucky enough to have a bestseller, Game of Scones, that reached #5 in the UK Kindle chart and stayed in the top ten for weeks. It also won an award. Exciting times, in my little world. Yet, two years on, that is but a memory and I’m still striving to produce my best ever work and challenge myself. The biggest danger to a writer is becoming complacent – readers notice. However, I believe this one is a great consequence of getting published. Life is about learning and this applies to our art. Struggling to continually improve is what fires me up and gets my writer’s bottom on the chair every morning. I feel passionately about my latest release, The New Beginnings Coffee Club. It was challenging and a little scary to write but if our books aren’t, then what is the point?

However it is not without some trepidation – excitement aside – that I board my train. Will I recognise everyone from their profile picture? Will their personality be as I expect, from the tweets and Facebook exchanges we have enjoyed? At its basest – will we get on? It is just like a blind date without the romance!

Here I am with lovely Phillipa Ashley on the left, author of Christmas at the Cornish Cafe. We had known each other for years, but never met. I am glad to say she was just as friendly, sincere and funny as I expected and a walking oracle when it comes to Poldark. On the right is Tishylou, a fabulous book blogger. I had met her before and – again – her true, bubbly personality shone through in person, just like it does on the screen.

This, however, is not always the case. I have met writers I considered lighthearted, who turned out to be quite serious. And vice versa. No bad thing, it just comes as a surprise. Whilst you may feel you ‘know’ someone well online, it takes a face-to-face encounter to seal the deal. And it makes me wonder what other writerly folks think of me. Hmm. Perhaps I shouldn’t mull that over too closely…!

There have been humorous moments – humorous in retrospect that is. Some profile thumbnails, particularly on Facebook, are not very clear and I am ashamed to say that more than once I have spent a while talking to one author and eventually realised I have confused them with someone else. Try backing out of that one. And it’s an instant guilt-trip when someone greets me as an old friend and it takes me a few moments – panicking! – to fathom out their face. Perhaps it’s just as well that most of the parties provide nametags. That would have prevented me from muddling up an agent and editor like I did last year at an awards event. In my defence they were both young and blonde and… Okay. No excuses really. Especially as one was heavily pregnant. However the editor was lovely when I realised my mistake, and said I could call her anything I wanted

So yes. Blind dates with writerly mates. No romance but plenty of laughs and discussion. And it is interesting to talk about more than our love of books. As a full-time novelist, I forget sometimes that other writerly peeps also hold-down jobs unrelated directly to the profession. I met one author who is an accountant and a blogger who works in a library and as a teaching assistant.

Plus the networking is great. Members of the writing community are very generous and I feel, after real-life meets, are even more likely to retweet and support each other. Also I’ve yet to meet up with someone who has appeared nothing at all like I expected and after a meeting I’d say the online relationship does take on a different  – a deeper – dimension. Nothing beats giving someone a real-life hug instead of relying on typing emoticons.