Featurette: Happy Birthday To Me!

Celebrating TGWATCB’s first year – with so many thank-yous…

I talked for years about starting a book blog, to the point I’m sure people didn’t believe I ever would. Well, eventually, I did. And now that blog is a whole year old! Blimey, how time flies…

Over the past year despite <gestures at all this madness> I’ve been around the world – Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Spain, Iceland, Germany – and all over the UK including Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hull and London. I’ve stepped into history, and been to a few fictional places too, but much of my time has been spent in Scotland, from Edinburgh to Glasgow to Stirling to the Highlands. I’ve said a hundred times that Tartan Noir is the broadest of broad churches, and with so many great crime writers setting work here it’s sometimes hard to leave and go elsewhere. It’s definitely always a pleasure to come home to it after being away, so to speak.

Starting a blog also led me to join blog tours and thus read books I would not otherwise have come across, which has been great fun and fascinating too – thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours, Meggy Roussel at Red Dog Press and Ewa Sherman at Corylus Books for the invites, I hope I’ve done your books justice. And I’m grateful to the teams at Orenda Books, Polygon Books, No Exit Press and Muswell Press for sending me #BookPost that makes me feel like a kid in a sweet shop when looking at my TBR stack (and also makes me guilty because I can’t keep up – I’m really sorry, everyone, but I do get there in the end!). 

I’ve had a couple of guest posters (thanks Derek Farrell and Neil Broadfoot), and hope to have more, and do some author interviews in the future. Several people generously took the time to chat with me for my features about Noir at the Bar and online book festivals (thanks Vic Watson, Jacky Collins and Paddy Megrane). I’ve been invited to chair events at the Locked Up Festival2 and Aye Write, to be a Bloody Scotland book club panellist, and even to be a judge for New Zealand’s prestigious Ngaio Marsh Awards, all of which are huge privileges. But the best thing is still talking to fellow book fans (online, but hopefully IRL again soon) and generally sharing the #BookLove with everyone.

So many people have shared my reviews, and I really appreciate it – I won’t start naming names as I know I will forget someone! However, a few people have gone above and beyond to support my first steps in blogging, so a special thanks to Mary (Live & Deadly, @bethsy), Gordon (Grab This Book, @grabthisbook), Mairead (Swirl & Thread, @swirlandthread), Sharon (Chapter In My Life, @sbairden), Suze (Suze Reviews, @SuzeCM), Noelle (Crime Book Junkie, @nholten40) and Joanne (Portobello Book Blog, @portybelle) for encouragement, tips and more.

Now, I must sign off and get back to that TBR mountain – those books won’t read themselves, y’know…