Oops.
Eight months is a mighty long time for you, lovely reader, to wait for an update…  I assure you I have spent the time very wisely – finishing my new novel RUMOURS which is going to print as we speak and will be on the shelves and available as a download on 21st JUNE 2012.  I have to say, as much as I really didn’t enjoy writing Chances, I had an absolute blast with Rumours – and I hope very very much that you’ll love the story and the characters.  I’m looking forward to hearing what you make of the lead characters Stella and Xander (he’s yummy) and Lady Lydia Fortescue – who, along with Django, is one of my faves.  You’ll also have the opportunity to hang out in Long Dansbury, the fictitious Hertfordshire village in which this novel is set.
Also in June, I’m so excited to tell you that we are reissuing my backlist – my first 6 books.  Sally, Chloe, Polly, Cat, Fen and Pip.  Each has a gorgeous new cover design AND a new ‘afterword’ by me full of anecdotes and my memories of writing those early books.  They’ll also be available for the very first time as downloads (still not entirely sure what one of those is… remember – I’d write my novels by quill on parchment if they’d let me!)

Elsewhere in my life, I have planted more trees, resuscitated an old natural pond, spread 5 tons of mulch hither and thither, made 6 kilos of jam and tried to be a good Ma to Felix, Georgia, Twig (woof) and Nathan (neigh).  In Feb, I treated myself to the trip of a lifetime to Orlando – and dragged the kids along too.  Here’s me, with one of my heroes.  Cowboys have always been my weakness…

I will shortly update the other areas of the website – in the meantime, do join in the fun on my facebook ‘page’ – I tend to post there most days.  For now, let me leave you with this funny aside: you know the shout lines on the front covers of my books?  Secrets - would you share yours?  Chances - would you take one?  Well, unfortunately my publishers vetoed my idea for Rumours.
I wanted to have Rumours - would you spread yours?
Geddit?!

Well!  Would you look at this:

It was a very great honour to be asked to open the fanatastic, revamped main library in York… but I had no idea there’d be a plaque to mark the occasion and must admit to shedding a tear or two!  Anyway, last week, I went to see the plaque in situ.

What a thrill!  Truly on a par with winning the RNA award for Pillow Talk in 2008 and being chosen as ‘Listed Londoner’ on the Robert Elms Show on BBC London…
How’s your summer been?  Mine has been active, to say the least… There’s been a certain amount of gadding about – from fab events in St Albans, Leeds, York and Saltburn, to holidays in Spain and Wiltshire.  And of course, beavering away on my new novel Rumours which will be finished by Christmas and with you next Spring.
I’ve held some fun competitions over on my facebook page - and shortly, I will post up here on the website the results of ‘Heroes and Actors’ and also ‘Heroines and Actresses’ – where my facebook fans suggested actors for my characters.  Some very inspired proposals!  Of all my characters – male and female – one stood out for having at least twice the number of entries than any of the others…  Good ol’ Django McCabe!  Two of the actors suggested were utterly brilliant…  David Essex ….and Bernard Cribbins!
I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but it’s been peee-ing it down, here in Hertfordshire, so I’m going to cheer myself up as I close now, by posting photos of my wildflowers, which were planted from seed at Easter.  Glorious, hey!  Enjoy a wonderful bank holiday weekend – and I’ll be back on here shortly.  Thanking all of you for keeping in touch and for being such a warm and supportive group of readers.  I really am soooo grateful.  Freya x

I love the period around publication – not merely the excitement of finally seeing my book out there, holding its own on the shelves in shops, supermarkets and on-line; at last a real item in readers’ hands, reviewed (favourably, for the most part) in the press, larger-than-life posters in rail stations….
For me, it’s also the time when I have the chance to gad about – and I really love doing that.  Remember, I spend most my working year in silence surrounded by people who don’t actually exist (it pains me to admit it, because my characters seem so real to me…) So it’s a real thrill to go out and about, meeting people and indulging the chatterbox side of my nature (as well as swiping all the fancy smellies from the lovely hotels I’m fortunate to stay in).  I love doing TV and radio and interviews/articles.  But best of all, perhaps, are the events I do where I meet my lovely readers.  This year, for Chances, it’s been quite a scaled down mini-tour (next time, for the new novel Rumours, I hope to criss-cross the UK…and beyond!)  On Tuesday 24th, I’ll be in York and on 17th August, back in my spiritual home of Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
Do pop over to my facebook page – I’m just about to announce the winners of the new competition.  I asked for ideas for which actor would best suit which character – and the suggestions have been inspired.  Interestingly, of all my male characters, it has been Django who’s had the greatest number of responses!  David Essex, anyone?  How about Bernard Cribbins?  Genius!  I’ll be posting a run-down of the results here on the website soon.  And a new competition for the website too – for those of you who find the social-networking thing a little onerous…  (I’m with you on that one… but needs must!)

I am deliriously excited to tell you that CHANCES is no.4 in the UK bestseller charts!
I really have little to add – apart from to thank all of you for going out there and supporting my work.
Right – I’m off to do a victory lap around my garden…
Thank you again, dearest readers, thank YOU.
Freya xx

Warmest congrats to IMOGEN BLYTH who has won the first Chances competition! I’ll post another one up very soon!
I’m having a wonderful – if exhausting – week.  Thanks to you, Chances sold 11,000 copies in just 3 days and rampaged into the charts at number 13. It’s utterly thrilling – and I’m extremely grateful to my lovely readers for supporting me because times are tough out there and your pennies are precious. Thank you.
I had great fun on Channel 5′s the The Wright Stuff yesterday – an hour and three quarters of live TV. I’ve done the show before – Matthew is a wonderful guy, always puts me at my ease and always brandishes a copy of my book for the cameras!  Thanks, mate!  If you missed it, you can watch it again on their website.  I’ve had many compliments about the little cardi I was wearing – it’s my fave and it’s by Nougat London.
Had a wonderful afternoon today – Georgia swam for the first time in our stream, discovering a pool that went up to her chin. On the bank, Felix and Twiggy made friends with…a snake. I hopped up and down shrieking from the other bank – but it turns out it was a grass snake, now a ‘pet’ called April Shy.

This weekend, I’m off to the Parelli Celebration of Natural Horsemanship in Birmingham – a real highlight of my year. Next week, busy busy with radio, a talk in St Albans and more TV – the Vanessa Show, on Channel 5 next Friday 15th. Which just so happens to be my darling Felix’s 10th birthday…

What a weekend!  I’ve been darting from retailer to retailer, mostly incognito, checking on stock and gamely rearranging copies of Chances into dazzling displays.  Then texting all my friends and family, requesting they do the same.  All authors do this…  This covert marketing activity had to fit in and around our school’s Mother’s Day Concert, my son’s kayaking birthday party, to friends on Saturday pm, a day behind the scenes at Brands Hatch on Sunday and then friends to stay Sunday pm…  Somehow we managed to make sure Twig the dog had lovely long walks (we found a muntjac skull – and also the first bluebells of the year down in our woods) but Nathan the horse had sunny days off, mooching around in the paddock.  I think he was delighted.

Today, I went into London to do radio interviews – I love doing these, just me and a mic in a soundproof room, chatting to radio stations up and down the country!  Hullo Gloucester!  Hullo Nottingham!  Hullo Solent!  Remember, I spend most my working life with people who don’t actually exist (however much I love to feel my characters are real…) so around publication time, I love chatting and gadding about.
I’m thrilled to have been invited back by Matthew Wright to his wonderful Channel Five show, The Wright Stuff - and I’ll be appearing as a guest this Wednesday morning.  On my way home, via Kings Cross station, I caught sight of one of our lovely promotional posters for Chances.  So I took a picture.  I think the passers-by assumed I was a tourist thrilled by the sight of Upper Crust…
“Would you like a fab new paperback novel with your egg mayo baguette, madam?”

Tomorrow the whirlwind continues.  For me, though this is my 11th novel, I’m as excited as I was when my first novel, Sally, was published in 1996.  I love my downtime too – and there’s nothing more leveling than sitting at the kitchen table alongside Felix, trying to pretend I know what his maths homework is all about.  Or racing Georgia down to our woods to find that first, beautiful bluebell of the season.

Thanks to all of you for alerting me to the spacing problem on the Kindle edition of CHANCES.  Amazon is now aware of the problem and is working to fix it urgently within the next few days.  In the meantime, the Kindle edition will be temporarily taken off-sale.  For those of you have already bought a Kindle version, Amazon will supply you with a corrected version once it’s available—I’m getting the details of how that will be done and will post them here once I have them.   If you can’t wait and you have an iPad or iPhone, the Apple version of CHANCES via the iBookstore doesn’t have these problems and will remain on sale.
And of course, the good ol’ fashioned paperback is widely available at bargain-tastic prices at all supermarkets and high street retailers (don’t forget your local independent bookshops!)
thanks for your patience – and support.

I believe there is a problem with some of your Kindle versions of CHANCES. I’m gutted. HarperCollins are on the case and I will have news for you anon.  In the meantime, please do email me and let me know if your version is playing up.
In my opinion, nothing beats a paperback… in, er, paperback!!
When I was a struggling, unpublished author, I worked freelance as a picture-researcher for many years and really studied how people react to books – when they buy them, as well as during and after reading.  Think about it – when you finish a book (a ‘real’ book), you tend to close it, you then re-read the blurb on the back and then you turn it over and study the jacket design.  The physical book itself quickly becomes a treasured possession, its pages filled with personal memories as much as the story itself.  That’s why we love to keep our favourite books – we are loathed to loan them out even to trusted friends!
I’d write with quill on parchment if I could. Freya x

Well, today Chances was officially published. I have spent the day darting from retailer to retailer. This morning was soul-destroying with no copies at my local Tesco or Asda (Hatfield branches, tut tut!) but it was a case of the stock being there, but not unpacked. By the afternoon, their shelves were groaning and I was happy! I also went to Watford and saw marvelous displays at WHSmiths, Sainsbury’s, Waterstone’s, Asda and Tesco.
Publishers give authors only a limited number of complimentary copies… so as of today, I BOUGHT myself a further 15!! My strategy is to buy, say, 2 or 3 from each store… then I gush to the sales assistant “This book is GREAT – I’m buying it for all my pals”. My friends and family go into their local stores and rearrange my books… so – terribly sorry, John Grisham, but Chances was placed on top of you in WHSmith Brighton (thanks to my chum, fellow writer Jessica Adams)
I want to extend my warmest and most heartfelt thanks to all of you – your continued support, both buying my books and letting me know how much you enjoy them – means more to me than a month in the bestsellers. It’s a truly precious seal-of-approval and I thank you.

Apparently, copies of CHANCES have been seen today at some branches of WHSmiths and Waterstone’s! Official launch day is tomorrow – so most the retailers will have their copies on their shelves then.
There’s a fun competition over on my facebook page – where you can post photos of you and your copy! A prize for the first photo. And a prize for the daftest photo/ most exotic location of you and your copy…!
Get gurning! Go enter! Thank YOU!