Blogiversary Giveaway: Win a signed copy of Killing It by Asia Mackay

I recently did a Q&A with Asia Mackay as part of the Salisbury Literary Festival promo, which you can read here, and on Saturday I headed off to the Salisbury Playhouse for a day of events including Asia and Gill Sims in conversation with Christina Bunce, director of the Professional Writing Academy.

Despite the event being the first one of the day, it was well attended and was one of the most entertaining sessions I went to all weekend.  I still can't believe that Asia is the mother of 4 young kids and still manages to find the time to write, she's currently working on a sequel to her debut novel Killing It yet I still haven't managed to find the time to read her book!

When I knew I was going to be seeing Asia at the festival, I bought a copy of Killing It which she kindly signed for me on Saturday for a lucky follower to win as part of these blogiversary celebrations.

Every working mum has had to face it.

The guilt-fuelled, anxiety-filled first day back in the office after maternity leave.

But this working mum is one of a kind.

Meet Alexis Tyler.

An elite covert agent within Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Blogiversary Giveaway: Win a signed copy of Why Mummy Drinks by Gill Sims

On Saturday I went to a few events as part of Salisbury Literary Festival and the first event of the day was Gill Sims & Asia Mackay in conversation with Christina Bunce.  Both authors books couldn't be more different, I recently did a Q&A with Asia which you can read here, and yet the combination worked really well.

Although I had seen Gill's books talked about on social media I've not read either Why Mummy Drinks or her latest book Why Mummy Swears as I didn't think they would appeal to me as I'm not a mother myself but yet I could totally relate to some of the topics that were discussed on the day.

So today's giveaway is for this signed copy of Why Mummy Drinks (there might be a giveaway later in the week for a signed copy of Asia's book Killing It 😉).

It is Mummy’s 39th birthday. She is staring down the barrel of a future of people asking if she wants to come to their advanced yoga classes, and polite book clubs where everyone claims to be tiddly after a glass of Pinot Grigio and says things like ‘Oooh gosh, are you having another glass?’

Salisbury Literary Festival: Q&A with Asia Mackay

It's the start of a new week so it must be time for the next Salisbury Literary Festival post.  Today I'm delighted to welcome Asia Mackay to the blog to talk about her debut novel Killing It and her appearance at the festival next month.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing journey?
I’m a mum of four and Killing It is my first book. As much as I loved writing at school I’d never really pursued it. Then one night I was crawling across my kids’ bedroom floor trying not to wake the baby and I thought if only I had some kind of special ops training, maybe I’d manage to get out of here without him waking. It sparked the idea of a hard-core secret agent busy on important missions for the good of the country, but still having to rush home in time for bath time. 

I found myself jotting down notes on my phone when feeding - ‘Gun in nappy bag, pretend formula is cocaine, does breast milk have DNA in?’ – the mad ramblings of a sleep-deprived mother. After a few months of this I realised I needed to either make a go of it or just forget about it. I sat down one evening and started writing and the very first paragraph I ever wrote is still the opening to Killing It. I took the little I had written and a rough plot outline to a seven-month online Writing a Novel course at the amazing Faber Academy - and by the end of it I had a very rough first draft.

How did it feel to be shortlisted and eventual runner up in the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition?
When you’re spending evenings alone typing away into your laptop it’s very easy to be swallowed up by self-doubt and fear you’re spending time on something that no one will ever read let alone enjoy. Therefore being shortlisted meant everything to me – it was much-needed validation that my writing might actually have some potential. Becoming the eventual runner-up and being offered a two-book deal was more than I ever could’ve hoped for when I first thought of my gun-toting lactating heroine, so I feel very very lucky.

If you had to give an elevator pitch for Killing It, what would it be?
When an assassin returns to work after maternity leave, she must juggle her latest high-stakes mission with rushing home for bath-time.