Looking back to last Friday, I wonder that I was so nervous about my two radio interviews. But I was. No, I wasn’t – I was SCARED STIFF. My first Publication Day was also going to be my first time on the radio. And not once that day, but twice.

To wind the clock back to Friday morning.

Publication Day arrived, and so did a lovely white-flowered plant, box of chocolates and bottle of champagne, sent by my publisher, Choc Lit. I took a photograph – naturally – but sadly it didn’t come out. Alas, by the time that I’d realised that, it was too late to photograph the champagne and chocolate – I’ll leave you to work out why.

My first port of call, if one may refer to a radio station thus, was Radio Marlow. I was to be interviewed for The Book Club. Needless to say, the book I was going to be talking about was The Road Back, but I was also hoping to mention my next novel, A Bargain Struck, which is set in Wyoming 1887.

It was thanks to the amazing, very friendly, very interested interviewers that I instantly felt at ease, and I thoroughly enjoyed my talk with them. It was like chatting to them over a cup of coffee, and I was really sorry when my time was up.

With Chrissy Hayes at Radio Marlow

With Chrissy Hayes, Clare Bones, Vanessa Woolley and a lot of microphones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop, Jo Thoenes at BBC Radio Oxford. I was to be interviewed by Jo at 2pm, and was asked to arrive a little earlier than that to be shown around. One hour early proved somewhat over enthusiastic, and I killed time with a coffee in Summertown, which was buzzing beneath a sun that was surprisingly hot for September.

Again, both of my novels were the focus of the interview, but this time, in addition to my novels, I answered questions about some of the things that I’d done in life prior to being published. Back to Californian days, I went, and to my role as a ‘resident starlet’ at MGM. It was great fun talking with Jo about living in the US. She had lived in Arizona, and she, too, had travelled around, and she was able to tell me some facts about Las Vegas that I hadn’t known.

With Jo Thoenes, BBC Radio Oxford

A day I’d been nervous about turned out to be an absolutely super day. Thank you, Chrissy, Clare and Vanessa in Radio Marlow, and thank you, Jo and producer Marcos Young, in BBC Radio Oxford – all of you helped to make my first Publication Day into a day that I’ll never forget.