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2015 - Double the blessings!

I can honestly say, hand on heart, that this year has been flipping awesome! I was writing down all of the cool things that have happened and I was so surprised that it was literally double the blessings from last year. 2015, I went into it with big dreams and less fear and it worked. God has been amazing and I have had so many fun and new opportunities. I feel that I have grown a lot and I feel more zen, which is a great feeling. I cannot wait for 2016! I'll be releasing my second book! Can you believe it?? And my aim is to have at least three books out by the time I am thirty. Here are my highlights for the year  - Launching The Author School with Helen, the launch party at Beaufort House, the first session with the amazing speakers  - Launching The Lil' Author Skool  - Finishing my dance story, hopefully to be released by 2017  - Finishing the second book in the Emily Knight series  - Funding from Virgin StartUp and going to Virgin HQ  - The London Book Fair 2015 and

I will hit the quan down the red carpet

I can't believe it's Christmas Eve. This year has zoomed past like crazy and now this is my second to last blog of 2015. Sad face. I am proud to say that I have the full cover art for Emily Knight 2 and a book title! I am so excited to see it all come to life.The cover art is stunning. I get really anxious when it's time for change and everyone knows how much I love Giles Greenfield's work so not using him for my second book was a bummer. Especially because Emily Knight is a series and so it needs to be consistent in the branding. I used Alexandra Artigas and she is a boss. She slam dunked the cover art. I've been going through the revision notes from my editor - not my fav part of writing a book - but I know that it will only make the story stronger and clearer. Octopus Publishing contacted me because they found this awesome blog and wanted to send me a new dance book that's come out. I was like cool and then they said, we'll just send you others  - al

I can't even remember how I got home.

Emily Knight 2 has officially been sent off to the editors. The ball is rolling people! I feel excited but nervous. There is something about putting a book out there that is so daunting. I think the story is good and hopefully the editor doesn't come back with 'this is crap' kind of notes. I am defo going to re-publish Emily Knight I AM and I am now in talks with a cover designer to re-brand the books. I am still always amazed that I actually released a book at 23. Talk about some balls. I am still in two minds about who I will publish the books with. I have a company in mind but let's just say that it will be an investment. A pretty big one, that could work out to be life changing but I'm still debating. My other issue was the title. Initially I wanted to stick with the I AM theme but I didn't like any of the other I AM titles so that went out of the window. I have got a name that I think is cool and makes sense to the book but all will be revealed very soon

He flipped a prawn into his hat! I mean, come on!

Ok so I have decided that I need to blog at least twice a week. So much happens and when I read past blogs, I'm like  -wait, I didn't mention x, y, z yet? So let's take it back. Belgium was my holiday this summer, with none other then my sister. Now, Lola and I haven't been on holiday together since New York and I think that was when I was about 13 or 14. Lola and I are complete opposites in every single way so I was a bit concerned how this would work out but it was fun! We did get really lost finding the hotel because it took us ages to get out of the shopping centre (the eurostar is at the bottom of the shopping centre), I really needed to pee and I was hungry. On top of that, not one person spoke English! Turns out our hotel was literally opposite this massive shopping centre and it is one of the nicest and coolest hotels I have stayed in. We got there about mid afternoon so we walked to the botanical gardens, which were beautiful. If I decide to get married, I wo

All the kids hated me he he

I am 27 years old! I actually can't believe it. It feels so weird for some reason like I actually feel like I'm an adult now. I kind of feel like I need to have a baby and get married! That's how old I feel now lool. I think I want to spend this year just really working on me and my career. The way I see it is, I'll be thirty in a few years (oh Lord help me) and who knows how long I have to focus on me and really go for it? Everything is really falling into place now and I just want to keep pushing. For my birthday I went in! I really didn't know what to do and then I ended up doing everything. I went to Jimmy's World Kitchen, which is a buffet with food from around the world. Zarah and I ate so much food that by the time we got to our third plate, even looking at the food was making me sick. Then we went to the Harry Potter Studios, which was amazing!! I got to push the door that leads to the Great Hall. All the kids hated me hehe and try Butterbeer which tas

"Well you start with I'm Abiola and I'm amazing."

So I have been teasing you all about my news that I want to share...... I got funding from Virgin StartUP!!!!!!! This is Sir Richard Branson's scheme for young entrepreneurs to start up a business and I got the funding! I couldn't believe it. I was feeling so low when I applied for it and I didn't even think that I would be considered to be honest, so when I kept getting through the rounds, I thought 'oh ok I can get this.' It was a very long process and at times I thought, is this really going to happen but it did and The Author School is officially funded! The Author School is definitely getting out there. The Bookseller seems to like us and they can be hard to please! We are doing our launch party on July 14th in Chelsea, so if you want to RSVP go to www.theauthorschool.com   there aren't many tickets left but it will be a great chance to talk to myself and Helen directly. Helen went to The Book Expo in New York last week and she represented Emily ove

...yet the Kylie Jenner lip challenge is trending!!

This is my 50th blog!! Who would have guessed I would have so much to say? I went to The London Book Fair 2015. Now, I haven't been to LBF for I think 2 years so I wasn't really looking forward to it because the last time I went I just found everyone so rude but this year was amazing!! I had the best time.The first thing I saw was Harper Collins taking over half the fair. I had such a strong desire to go over there and ask them why no-one has said yes or no to my book, but somehow I was able to control myself. Next, I saw The Mad Hatters Tea Party. Who could not be happy after seeing all this cake? I was trying to give out flyers about The Author School on the sly but I kept getting caught. There was this area called Author HQ where all the speakers were but when they started to speak about PR it was packed out. Which is frustrating because The Author School can help them with that and I couldn't give them a bloody flyer! The great news is when I did speak to p

...at the same time I'm wondering, why can't she see that I'm blatantly reading something?

Do you remember that idea I said in my last blog about launching a business for writers? Well Helen and I are officially launching The Author School at this years London Book Fair! How cool is that? And we have our first session booked for Saturday June 6th, time to be confirmed but will be in the afternoon so if you need help with getting your book or book idea to the next level then send me an email at abiolabello@theauthorschool.com and I will get more info to you. Literally, a few weeks ago Helen and I met up at Southbank at 2.30pm and we stayed till about 8pm (no joke) just to plan and work on my funding, so I'm praying that it's approved cause that was practically a whole day of my life gone. Speaking of LBF, I am back there this year. The last time I went was I think in 2012 and I was still waiting to hear back if I had definitely got an agent. Look how much has happened since then. I just remember finding the whole experience at LBF daunting cause there was so much go

I think Kanye West has a crush on Beyonce

First blog of 2015!! Hope everyone has had a great start to the year and over the January blues. The weather was so awful so glad it's warming up a bit. Got lots to tell you lot! One of my new years resolutions was to do less dance and more writing. I really want to get to a point where the publishing community see my name so much they are sick of it! So I have two brand new ideas that's all to help YOU amazing story tellers The first one is called The Author School, which is for three different types of people. 1 - dream of writing a book but  have no idea how to even start their story. 2 - people who have written their book and now their thinking should I self publish? Get an agent? How do I do either of those? 3 - the published authors but what to do once the book is out? There's still so much to do once you're published That's why me and my PR Helen Lewis, want to educate everyone. I'm soooo excited!!! And the best thing is you're getting a truck