[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-our-sea-adventure-begins-in-oxford":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Thursday was a super-exciting day! I met up with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> and our agents at the Paddington Bear statue in Paddington station and we took the train to Oxford to celebrate the signing of our four-book contract with \u003Cb>Oxford University Press\u003C/b>! Here's my agent, \u003Ca href=\"http://unitedagents.co.uk/jodie-marsh\">Jodie Marsh\u003C/a>, and me. I was so chuffed she could come along, I know she's SOOO busy, but she said she'd been looking forward to the day out of the office. Yay!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_sarahjodie-feb2e725bd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's Philip with his agent, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lawagency.co.uk\">Philippa Milnes-Smith\u003C/a>, who just negotiated his \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/laika-to-film-goblins.html\">\u003Ci>Goblins\u003C/i> contract with Laika animation studio\u003C/a>. I'd never met Philippa before, and she turned out to be great fun, and the four of us had such a good natter about publishing and life in general.\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_philphilippa-0241c8ad39.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI've been to Oxford University Press several times for meetings about \u003Ci>When Titus Took the Train\u003C/i>, but I'd never noticed this old clocking-in device in the corner of the lobby. So here's Philip clocking in for us, it was all very symbolic. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_clockingin-31d6bc56b0.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's the first of the four books we'll be working on! You can \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/468954.html\">read a bit more about \u003Ci>Seawigs\u003C/i> on my blog here\u003C/a> or over on \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/four-new-books-by-mcintyre-reeve.html\">Philip's blog here\u003C/a>. (I think we may have renamed it \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/seawigs_promo_pic1b_lores-be4a233a09.gif\" width=\"300\"> \\r\n\\r\nAnd look! Here's our editor \u003Cb>Liz Cross\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/LizJCross\">@LizJCross\u003C/a> on Twitter), wearing... an actual SEAWIG! SO AWESOME. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_philiplizwig-7fe7f47588.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThere's a bit in our story where two characters are trapped inside glass fishing baubles, and, well, whaddya know... there's a little Philip and a little me in those baubles! I think head of design \u003Cb>Jo Cameron\u003C/b> made mine and Liz made Philip's. Or maybe it's the other way around.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_baubles-d3cf946fa6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's the official contract signing! We had a meeting before lunch and our agents made some tiny changes in the contract, so these copies were still hot off the press. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_contract2-294985886c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI've never been to a contract signing party before! I think we were all a bit giddy.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_contract1-a6e0e47e0f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's head of publicity \u003Cb>Elaine McQuade\u003C/b>, who used to work with me at Scholastic. Our writer friend \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/474967.html\">Kjartan Poskitt\u003C/a> worked out her initials - EMQ - meant he could call her 'Er Maj the Queen. (Which we did.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_ErMaj2-efb52c9e14.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nYummy lunch! My rule of thumb for restaurants is always to order something I wouldn't cook myself. And a soufflé is one of those things. In the background you can see some postcards from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidrobertsillustration.com/\">David Roberts\u003C/a>' upcoming illustrated \u003Ca href=\"http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780192732347.do#.T7qijr_zj9I\">\u003Ci>Wind in the Willows\u003C/i> book\u003C/a>. Very exciting, I totally love David's work. (I put the cards there so they wouldn't get spattered.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_souffle-371ce4ad31.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMy huge serving of mussels arrived in a bowl that looked just like \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Benn\">Mr Benn\u003C/a>'s hat!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_mussels-f59a9f7b8a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut the most exciting course was the FLAMING BAKED ALASKA. A huge spoonful of flaming brandy over ice cream, coated in cake, coated in meringue. Bliss. Here's Philip dissecting it.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_flamingalaska-4060fe7a42.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks so much to Liz, Jo, \u003Cb>Clare Whitston\u003C/b> and the rest of our team at OUP for such a fabulous day! We're really excited about these books. Click over to read \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/lunch-with-all-agents-and-oups.html\">Philip's blog post\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\nWe caught the train back to London, and since we were all dressed up, we stopped by The Reform Club on Pall Mall for a reception by my university, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.brynmawr.edu/\">Bryn Mawr College\u003C/a>, for visiting President \u003Cb>Jane McAuliffe\u003C/b>. It was great to hear her talk and see other Mawrtyrs (yes, that's what they're called, ha ha). But it was also just a great excuse to run around a posh club looking into all the corners and up at fancy ceilings.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/brynmawrreformclub_1-76c7ad33e8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBryn Mawr's recruiting British students, and for this, they even have SPECIAL MINTS. Yes. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/brynmawrreformclub_2-14be9b7dbe.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Philip and me, listening very intently to the speech. Actually, I adored Bryn Mawr. It took me five years to graduate because I ran off to Russia for a second year when I was only supposed to stay there one year, but I could go on and on about how amazing my time there was. It's really nerdy, everyone loves studying, and since it's all women, you don't go there to get a boyfriend, so I was surrounded by lots of happy fellow nerds. Best thing ever.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/brynmawrreformclub_3-8a86118a97.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe were pushing our luck, trying to fit in one more party, but we really wanted to see the show by \u003Cb>Louise Evans\u003C/b> (aka \u003Ca href=\"http://www.feltmistress.com/\">Feltmistress\u003C/a>) and \u003Cb>Jonathan Edwards\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jonathan-e.com/\">Jontofski\u003C/a>) at Nobrow press on Great Eastern Street. They're two of my favourite working artists right now, they turn out vast quantities of amazing stuff every single day. But... boo! I had my times wrong. I thought it started at 8:30 and it was really 6:30, so when we got there at 10, the whole thing was over. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_nobrow-53b80b7453.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut that was okay! I rang \u003Ca href=\"http://darryl-cunningham.blogspot.co.uk/\">Darryl Cunningham\u003C/a>, and he said everyone was just around the corner having pizza, so we still managed to catch up. But I'm going to go back to Nobrow next week to see the exhibition of their felt creatures, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nobrow.net/8386\">Hey! Who's This Guy?\u003C/a>, which runs until \u003Cb>23 June\u003C/b>. That's Louise on the left and Jonathan on the right, basking in the glow of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.woodrowphoenix.co.uk/\">Woodrow Phoenix\u003C/a>'s head. And a brochure with a lovely sample of some of the felt creations on exhibition. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_feltmistjontofski-e7015267c5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Darryl (have you seen his new book, \u003Ca href=\"http://darryl-cunningham.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/four-reviews-of-science-tales.html\">\u003Ci>Science Tales\u003C/i>\u003C/a>?) and photographer \u003Ca href=\"http://mondoagogo.com/\">Anna Mondo\u003C/a>. Then we were very tired, and it was time to go home.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_lunch_darrylannaphil-b39bc4d4ce.jpg\">","2012-05-21T16:45:00.000Z","our-sea-adventure-begins-in-oxford",[],"our sea adventure begins... in oxford!",1776628721820]