[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-blubbering-in-an-oxford-coffee-shop":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Saturday night was great fun, seeing Sally Nicholls launch her first novel, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.waystoliveforever.co.uk\">Ways to Live Forever\u003C/a>. I read it on the train up to Oxford today, and I was a little early for my meeting and managed for finish it in a coffee shop. \u003Cb>Fabulous book\u003C/b>... VERY bad idea, reading it right before a meeting! I got all caught up in the story, weeping copiously, and since I'd already got soaked in the rain walking from the train station, I cut a very sorry figure when I hauled myself into the publisher's office. I met up with the publisher, my editor, and a designer who'd come all the way from Brighton for the meeting! I think we covered a lot of ground and it was all very exciting. Here are a couple pics from the launch, of Sally and her mum.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sally2-cdb3128ab1.jpg\" height=\"300\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sally1-6ca41988fd.jpg\" height=\"300\">\\r\n\\r\nMaybe you remember that \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/58745.html\">little story I wrote\u003C/a> for a writing competition. I just got sent this badge thing to tell me I won third place. Hooray! \\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.answers.com/main/writing_challenge.jsp\">\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http://site.answers.com/main/images/writing_challenge/third-badge.gif\" alt=\"I Won 3rd place in the Answers.com writing challenge\" target=\"_blank\" />\u003C/a> \\r\n\\r\nMy friend Dan's been helping me update my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk\">website\u003C/a> recently, with some new pictures in the gallery. People might recognise a lot of them as pieces that started out as experimental pieces for my blog and ended up as proper portfolio pieces. \\r\n\\r\nAnd I was going through my Christmas cards the other day, and Japan won hands down for the best stamps. Here's my most favourite: \\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/japanstamps3b-bad527068d.jpg\">\\r\n\u003C!--more and a few more cool stamps here-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/japanstamps5b-d1ab36ca68.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/japanstamps2b-6a5783b1e1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/japanstamps1b-066b127922.jpg\">","2008-01-07T22:09:00.000Z","blubbering-in-an-oxford-coffee-shop",[],"blubbering in an oxford coffee shop",1776628722163]