Lost and Found

It was the start of an ordinary day in the life of Great Big Jar. Copious Weetabix were consumed in the normal mad rush at that time of the morning with the infuriating pebble-dash splatter of the cement-like goo right down the front of my freshly donned t-shirt. Tea that was poured hours ago, now sits in the mug forming a perfect oil spill, its pale demeanour knows all too well I’m going to empty it down the sink and create a clone that will do the exact same thing.

(The literary legend that is) Sue Wallman, on the other hand, was cooking up a conniving way to entice me out of my melodrama and through to the West side of my fair country. It was all under the pretence of bringing through SCBWI South East Scotland members on a road trip to the event itself. And ‘seeing as you’ll be there anyway kind of chat’ began to happen.

And she succeeded. The short and very neat conversation went something like this…

Sue: Help! We need a chair for the event in Glasgow and wondered if you knew anyone who is familiar with the children’s literary scene and is going to the same event you’re going to…

Me: Erm, I can do it, if you like?

Sue: Yay!

Yes, the rat was very smelly but I am so glad she asked.

From that moment on, I became the chair for the last stop on the epic Lost and Found Young Adult tour.

Channelling my inner Rapunzel my emotions went into overdrive – you know that scene, when she finally touches grass for the first time and then freaks out in-case her mother found out she had left the tower. That.

The great thing about doing an event like this in a different part of the country from where the authors involved live, is that I knew that we probably wouldn’t get the chance to meet up before the event itself. What do you mean, you shout, of course you want to meet them in person?

To explain, this gave me the chance to curb my huge fangirl cheesy grin and appetite for shenanigans when I meet amazing authors (almost reminds me of the excitement I felt when I met the band ‘Bros’ when I was 13, almost) and just get on with the task in hand in a professional and efficient manner. Obviously.

It’s not as if they could hear me shriek at my kids as I told them about it ‘Oh, wow! Patrice Lawrence is going to be there boys, she’s amazing. Remember that book about the boy who’s girlfriend died at the very beginning and I was engrossed in it so much I was late for work four times because I kept missing my bus stop’…Orangeboy! Or, ‘Do you remember pink-haired Kathy Evans, she’s coming up to Scotland guys! I love her and More of me! Remember the Facebook photo shop thing we did for the launch?’ And ‘Olivia Levez‘s amazing novel The Island, remember we chatted about plane crashes just before I booked our Summer holiday?’ Oh, ‘and Sue Wallman‘s scene from Lying About Last Summer with the swimming pool, that you didn’t get the chance to re-enact at swimming club after all’ and then ‘Eugene Lambert‘s amazing novel The Sign of One when we coloured our pinkies red to match the twins and talked about what’s it like to have a family member the same age as you and how they can finish each others sentences and speak their own language as pre-schoolers’…that bit might just be me though.

And breathe. Yes, it’s fair to say I was very excited.

The art of conversation was not dead, it was merely having a nap while I e-mailed thoughts and suggestions to them all about what kind of event they would like to have to end their literary tour. They were very gracious with me, some people may have called it tolerant. Did I mention I was very excited at the time?

In true girly guide fashion, I gave them all a little momento of the journey they had made. They would never get lost ever again. Much better than a Blue Peter badge. Maybe.

Anyway, here I am, re-living it all. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of that world, even just for an hour. It confirmed that writing is the right thing for me to do after all. The intrepid explorers North also gave me a gift… there may have been something in my eye.

If you ever get the chance to chair an event, go for it.