I'm so delighted to share with you the gorgeous cover of my seventh thriller CLOSE YOUR EYES. This one is extra special to me... So what's it about? - 'It's PI Matthew Hill's job to find missing children...but this time it's his OWN daughter gone'. As many of you will know, all my books are standalone stories....( you really don't have to have read any one to enjoy another). But regular readers will understand why I found this one tough to write! I first introduced Matthew Hill in I AM WATCHING YOU. And now in CLOSE YOUR EYES, we come full circle as Matthew and his lovely wife Sally face their worst nightmare.....their beloved daughter Amelie - suddenly gone. As I say, it was a rollercoaster emotionally writing this book as I feel so close to and fond of the characters involved but I'm incredibly proud of how it's turned out and do hope you all enjoy it. Just click on the cover for more information. And as always, I send you my best wishes and my heartfelt thanks too for supporting my writing. I would be nowhere without you. Teresa x
One very happy author here!
I must thank my superstar agent Madeleine Milburn for negotiating my new deal. And as ever, I must also thank YOU - my wonderful readers - for making all of this possible. I would be nowhere without your support and pinch myself every day that you made my childhood dream come true.
Ever wondered how I write my books? What I've learned over the years I've been published?
I've just had a lovely chat with author Will Shindler for his fab The Writer's Workshop podcast, discussing the ups and downs of the writer's life and sharing lots of tips. Hope it will be helpful (- and the podcast has lots of other author interviews so you may want to check those out too). Happy listening! Teresa x
I know, I know. It's an off-the-scale 'pinch me' moment. I vividly recall posting when I hit a million sales and being humbled and overwhelmed because I couldn't even picture a million people. I never in my wildest dreams imagined I'd double that achievement!
This new figure is for sales of all my books to date - my four thrillers with Thomas & Mercer (an imprint of Amazon Publishing), my first two book-club reads with Bookouture and my foreign editions across more than 20 territories. It's been a real roller coaster ride, that's for sure, since my first book Recipes for Melissa was published in 2015. Along the way, I've changed genre to psychological thrillers and had the wild experience of a 'breakout' book in I Am Watching You. I wrote that first thriller out of contract, pretty much as a last throw of the dice (when the sales of my first two books were initially a little quiet). I genuinely had no idea how well the book would do, not just in English but across the world in translation. It taught me that the author's life is never about one book or one edit; it's very much a long game. And I hope it will be reassuring to other writers to never give up believing, wherever you are on your writing journey. For me today is mostly about counting my blessings. And saying thank you. First - a massive thank you to all my publishers across the globe, especially Thomas & Mercer/ Amazon Publishing who've helped me sell a million copies of I Am Watching You in English alone! I want to thank all the patient editors who've believed in me and helped me through inevitable 'hiccups' along the way - you know who you are - and an extra big thank you to my wonderful agent Madeleine Milburn and her superb and very dynamic team. And of course, most important of all, hero-grams go to you - my lovely readers. Word of mouth played a big part in the success of I Am Watching You and so many of you have kindly continued to recommend my writing to others. I would be nowhere without you and am grateful for every single message and every single review. You really are the best! I sign off with something cold in the fridge, ready for a celebration this evening. I'm going to be doing a Facebook Live at 8pm UK time (this evening Tuesday May 18th) to say thank you and to give away some prizes so do pop by on my Facebook Author page for that HERE. Anyone who asks a question (in advance or live) or comments during the live will be in with a chance! Meantime, it's back to work. I've started writing a brand new thriller while also making plans to launch Her Perfect Family this Autumn. Turns out my author life has evolved from that long and tricky winding road to one very delicious rolling road ...
Not long now until I join this fabulous line up for the Capital Crime festival. Very exciting!
I can hardly believe it but four years ago TODAY I became a published author at last...after more than ten years of rejection. My first book - sold in six languages - was the contemporary domestic drama RECIPES FOR MELISSA which tells the story of a mother's belated goodbye to her daughter via a special book of recipes and letters. It was a book written from the heart - for I lost my own mother to cancer as a teenager. The picture here is very, very special to me; it's of a school reunion with boarding school friends who baked some of the biscuit recipes from the book to help me celebrate. I was so touched, I almost cried! My dear friends knew all about my long and difficult struggle to get published and their support meant so much to me. Of course a great deal has happened since. I've changed genres - now writing psychological thrillers. And incredibly, I've now sold more than a million books! But I feel very humble today, thinking back to that incredible sense of joy and disbelief when my very first paperback arrived in the post and I realised that I had finally done it. I had become A PROPER AUTHOR. So today for me is not just about celebration. It is about remembering that long struggle to find a book deal. And it is most of all about my lovely family and friends who never stopped believing in me....despite all those rejections! I am very proud of all that I have achieved as a writer. Success is wonderful and I am grateful to each and every reader. But I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the family and friends I have been lucky to share this roller-coaster journey with. So a big THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to all those who were my early cheerleaders and who never stopped believing. Those biscuits - and the love and friendship that baked them - gave me a memory I will always treasure. This is such a big moment for me, I feel more than a little tearful as I write. My publisher Thomas & Mercer has just confirmed that in less than two years, I’ve sold A MILLION copies of my thrillers I Am Watching You, The Friend and The Promise. To say I’m stunned is an understatement. I can’t even picture a million people. A million moments in which someone was reading (or listening to?) my work? Seriously – I used to read the tagline ‘million copy bestselling author’ and felt utterly in awe; it seemed such an impossible achievement. And now – pinch me - that’s me! It took me a long time to get published so this feels like a good time to look back, to reflect and to count my blessings. There are many people I need to thank here – my publisher Thomas & Mercer, my fabulous agent Madeleine Milburn and her team for starters – but especially I want to thank my family for seeing me through the ten years when I was struggling to get that first book deal. Rejection was so very hard back in those early days. There were long hours late in the evening at my computer; and, oh my word, there were definitely tears over the 'near misses' and disappointments. Also there were moments when I felt ridiculous, having to admit to people that I had written unpublished book after unpublished book… But strangely it never seriously occurred to me to give up. How could I? It was my dream from childhood to be a published author. It was so much tougher than I ever imagined but I was getting better and learning important lessons with every passing year and every manuscript.
Then there were major changes at my first literary agency so I left. I wrote a new book in 2014 and queried from scratch. It was all a bit scary but I had several new offers of representation (phew!). I signed with the wonderful agent Madeleine Milburn and my world changed; my two contemporary dramas Recipes for Melissa and Last Kiss Goodnight were published in six languages and beautifully reviewed. The dream had come true! But guess what? I learned that getting published is a beginning and not an end. The rollercoaster was still in motion; there was more hard work ahead, more difficult decisions and more excitement too. For it was only when I switched to psychological thrillers that everything truly took off in a way I could never have foreseen.
The publication of I Am Watching You, my first thriller, was the turning point. It somehow struck a chord with readers around the world and now has over 30,000 5-star reviews on GoodReads. Extraordinary!! Hence my final, special thanks here goes to all you fabulous and generous readers who have championed my books – recommending me to your family and friends. I owe you so much. As I mentioned earlier, I have wanted to write fiction since I was a bookworm in primary school. I still sit alone in the silence of my office every day, astonished that my childhood dream has come true. So thank you, readers, from the bottom of this very grateful author’s heart for helping me to live the life I love. An update here on the blog is long overdue and I have so much news. Such a lovely, busy and buzzy time lately! First I am not long back from an exciting trip to Barcelona to launch I Am Watching You in translation there. My lovely Spanish publisher Principal de los Libros arranged a whistle-stop visit to meet lots of journalists. There were fascinating questions about the book and we were thrilled to land a feature in the national newspaper La Vangardia as well as a slot on national radio. Very exciting... (even if my rather ghostly photograph scared even me!) And then, pretty much as soon as I had unpacked, I was packing all over again for the London Book Fair. I used to see this event as industry-only – for agents and publishers. I would say it’s still primarily for business to business meetings. But in recent years, an author HQ has been set up so it’s now good to pop by to listen to some of the panel sessions and also to meet author friends. Plus my publisher Thomas & Mercer holds a wonderful author party during the fair – and that’s definitely not to be missed! Highlights for me this year included coffee (and an especially delicious chocolate brownie) with my editor – plus seeing a video of myself on my publisher’s stand. All the more hilarious as I was wearing the same (favourite!) red jacket for my LBF visit 😉. I also caught up with my lovely agent Madeleine Milburn and her fab team at my publisher party so that was a special bonus. And now it’s back to work. Very soon I’ll be doing the copy edit on my fourth psychological thriller which is out early in October. Which reminds me to say a big thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to review my third thriller The Promise. I’m so very pleased readers are enjoying it. And it was such a thrill to see it featured on the LBF stand - and also on the carousel at the publisher party. I’ll be sharing more news on the fourth thriller soon. My editor tells me the cover is being designed so I’m itching to see the ideas they come up with! Warmest wishes to you all…and happy reading. Just when I think things cannot possibly get more exciting.....they DO! As I write, my second psychological thriller THE FRIEND is number one in the whole Kindle chart in the UK. This is simply incredible - my second UK number one. I can share now that this is particularly special to me as I was very nervous when I published this book. I Am Watching You - my first psychological thriller - did so well that I felt a lot of pressure over The Friend. I want each of my books to be different in terms of structure and surprise...but I also want my readers to feel the familiarity of my 'voice' as a writer. It's a tricky balance to get right - delivering a very different book in the same genre. So I am just thrilled with the hundreds of five-star reviews for The Friend and this new high as it hits the top of the charts. Thank you, readers. I am so grateful for all your lovely messages. I would be nowhere without you! This is a very special day. |
AuthorTeresa Driscoll - journalist, author, mother of two and lover of great coffee. CATEGORIEsArchives
February 2024
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