OK, I admit – it wasn’t MY launch party (the new book isn’t that far ahead just yet) but I went to the party for Tanya Byrne’s Heart Shaped Bruise on Thursday. I wasn’t actually invited as such, but lots of my Twitter friends and fellow authors were, and it was just around the corner from where I do my day job, so I though I’d gatecrash it. It was being held in Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street which was open anyway, so technically I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I confessed to Tanya when I met her, and she didn’t seem to mind, so all was OK.

I had a fabulous time talking to other authors and lots of the lovely book bloggers. Writing is rather solitary, so it’s really nice to get together with other people who do the same thing. People I met for the first time included Keris Stainton (Della Says OMG, Jessie Hearts NYC, new book out soon), Cat Clarke (Entangled, Torn), and my Queen of Teen rival, James Dawson (Hollow Pike). The picture above is of Cat and James. I also met the rather fabulous people behind the YA blogs BookBabblers, Serendipityreviews, Sisterspookybookfangirl, District_YA and loads more. I had to leave at a reasonable time, but I think the party went on quite late! Thanks for letting me join in Tanya, and good luck with Heart Shaped Bruise!

I have spent today dancing around hugging everyone I have seen. Why? Because you brilliant people have nominated me in huge numbers and I have made it to the shortlist of the UK’s Queen of Teen! I can’t quite believe that you have done it. I’m up against 9 fabulous authors – including this year the awards’ first man – and I’m sure I have no chance of winning, but just to be nominated is fantastic.

Three years ago I had only written the first few chapters of Small Blue Thing, the very first fiction I had produced since school, and now I’m shortlisted for a national award. I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful family, publishing team and (of course) readers to help me along.

So now the battle really begins: OK, I’m the under-dog, I’m really, really new at this and my publisher, Nosy Crow is only just over two years old. Even though I don’t think I can win, I’m going to give it my best shot for them, and for you all. And you can all help me – go now, to the voting
page (here), and vote for me, and then tell your friends, and tell them to tell their friends. Like it on the Facebook page (here), too. It’s another step in the long journey to getting the story made into a movie, and seeing Callum on screen. Go on, you know you want to!

Today is World Book Night, an event designed to encourage the reading of books. A million books are given away, for free, in the hope that it will turn more people into regular readers. There are 25 books on the list, and they cover a whole range of tastes and genres. On of my all-time favourites, Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, is on the list, as well as one of my most recent reads, Dodie Smith’s I capture the Castle (she also wrote 101 Dalmatians). I’m going to go to the event being held at the Waterstones shop in Staines this evening, so I might see you there.

Now, I’m guessing that, as you are reading this blog on my book page, you don’t come into the category of non-readers, but it would be great if your enthusiasm for reading could rub off on others. If there are no World Book Night events near you, you can still get involved, and involved in
perhaps an even better way. You know which of your friends rarely reads a book, and I bet you have plenty on your bookshelves which you think they would like.
Why not lend one to them? See if they like it? Or take them to the local (or school) library? If all of us got someone to read just one extra book, wouldn’t that be brilliant?

Let me know how you get on.

PS. The picture above shows my daughter Ellie with Natalie from Waterstones and the huge pile of books which we bought and were given.

I’ve had lots of questions about the beautiful bracelet on the cover of the books, and I thought I’d tell you a little bit about how it came to be made.

The bracelet is absolutely unique – there is no other like it, and we had it specially made to be photographed for the covers. I had the chance to brief the jewellery designer about what I wanted: I gave her the passage in the book which describes it (page 48 of Small Blue Thing), and also a couple of sketches with my ideas of what it should look like.

Unfortunately my imagined design was impossible to make, so the designer came up with some options which she could make and I got to choose
the final design. I then got to pick the stone which is set in the middle, and I think we got one with just the right amount of the various colours – blue and green, obviously, plus little flecks of gold which sometimes seem red. The whole thing had to be BIG – something that you would be really, really excited about finding in the mud, as well as being beautiful. The picture above shows my sketches, plus the finished bracelet. As you can see they are quite different.

Seeing it for the first time was unreal; it is such a fantastic piece of jewellery. And right now, I get to keep it for a while. I have it so that I can take it with me on my school visits, so if you want to see it, ask your school librarian to get in touch, and I’ll bring it to your school!

A new blog has just been announced for UK Young Adult/Teen readers. All the books have a UK theme and the site is designed to be useful to readers everywhere. There’s even a section which translates some of those weird English expressions which make no sense to non-native speakers and Americans! It’s run buy some awesome authors who have written some fantastic books. If you have enjoyed my books, please do go on over and see what they recommend, and keep on reading while I write you something new! Find the blog HERE

Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@SCRansom) will know that I was at an awards ceremony last night. Small Blue Thing was one of five
books nominated in the teen category for this year’s West Kent Schools Themed Book Award. The overall theme this year was London, so all the shortlisted books were set in or around London. I was up against fierce competition:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle                 Sherlock Holmes short story

Charlie Fletcher                               Stoneheart

Benjamin Zephaniah                      Refugee Boy

Matt Whyman                                  Street Runners

I mean, with a short list like that, you can imagine I was sure that I had no chance! But the voting was done by the students at the West Kent Schools, hundreds and hundreds of them. The evening was brilliant, with some music, dancing and a fancy dress competition, which I was rather surprised to find that I was judging.  It was too hard to decide between the London literary characters, all of whom were done brilliantly, so I gave first prize to that ever-present Londoner, the pigeon.

Matt Whyman was also at the event, and he and Ben Aaronovich (Rivers of London, YA category) had a discussion on stage and answered
questions. As Matt and I were up against each other for the prize we each fixed on our smiles and waited while they tore open the envelope…  I was sure Matt was going to win – his book sounded brilliant, and was going to appeal to the boys and the girls in the audience – but they called out Small Blue Thing! I was so surprised that I forgot to say anything and sat right back down again after getting my certificate.

So thank you, all of you who voted for my book. It means the world to me that you enjoy it.

(The picture is of me with the girls from Maidstone Girls’ Grammar School, some of whom had dressed as characters from SBT, with home-made
amulets too!)

I’ve had a number of questions lately from people about the comments on this site, so I thought I’d better let you know how it works.

When you read one of the blog posts or pages and put a comment in box at the bottom of the page, I get sent an email telling me that I need to check the site. I read the comment, take out any spoilers, and approve them. They then get posted on the page where you first made them. So, if you were reading an older blog post and comment there, that’s where your comment will show up.  So this morning someome commented on the National Libraries Day post, and that’s where it can be seen.

I love getting comments and as far as I can remember I have posted them all – you just have to find them! Keep writing to me, and keep reading!

This week I got the most fantastic letter in the post – a handmade
card from Georgie, an enthusiastic fan of the series who lives in Ireland. She
had just finished reading Scattering Like Light and was keen to tell me what
she thought. The time and effort she had taken drawing the covers was
awe-inspiring. I hope that you can see some of the details in the photo above.

This is what I enjoy the most about being a writer – getting
the feedback from the readers. Some people don’t like the book, and that’s
fine, but some of you (lots of you, actually!) obviously really love it and
that’s wonderful to hear. It really inspires me to pick up my notebook and keep
writing.

So thank you, Georgie!

Hey, this is Ellie and S.C. Ransom is my mum. She wrote Small Blue Thing as a birthday present for me when I was twelve, and now, thanks to Nosy Crow, all of you have been able to read it as well, which is awesome. I’m going to nominate her for the 2012 Queen of Teen prize for authors
writing teen fiction because she is literally unbelievable. Not only does she manage to write amazing books, but she has a full time job, and, to top it off, is a full time mother. I am so proud of her and I think she deserves this prize more than anyone because she works so hard, and is really talented.

However, we need as many of you to nominate her as possible so she can get shortlisted for the prize. If she gets shortlisted then we can get everyone to vote for her. To nominate her too then fill out this form which is on the Queen of Teen website (here). Thanks! Ellie x

The question I get asked more than any other is ‘Please can you make Small Blue Thing into a movie?’ Well, no, I can’t. But you can.

I would LOVE for all the books to be made into films, absolutely love it, but it’s not down to me. The people who run the film studios decide which books they are going to adapt, and they have a lot of books to choose from. Because making films is really expensive they like to make ones which they know are going to appeal to a big audience, so books like Twilight or The Hunger Games, with a lot of fans, go to the top of the pile.

And that’s where you come in. The studios have told us that they like Small Blue Thing, that they think it is very filmable, they just need to be sure of the audience. So the more of you who watch the trailer on YouTube (here) or like the Facebook page (here) as well as borrow it from the library or get your own copy, the higher up the pile we go.

So over half term why don’t we see what we can do? Tell your friends on Facebook, get them to tell their friends, recommend the video and let’s see what happens. After all, if they make the film they are going to have to cast Alex and wouldn’t you like to be her?