Life Updates
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! I am so excited for 2026, I can’t even tell you. I feel like there has been this weird, witchy energy shift around me and I’m entering “Season 38” of the sitcom of my life with a brand new title sequence.
Change is in the air. It’s crackling all around me. And I’m not someone who normally likes change very much, but this year? Bring it on baby!
Maybe I’m just in a good mood, because I started out this year in NYC with Matty for a 10-day trip of absolute dreams!! I am SO glad we decided to kick off 2026 this way - we flew out New Year’s Day and spent the next week and half surrounded by all my favourite things: music, books, art, people, food, drink, life.
There were so many fun moments to talk about, but here are some of the highlights:
Meeting my author/podcaster hero Christine Riccio at her Brooklyn book event, and getting to chat - SHE WAS SO LOVELY!! (And she was looking out for us especially too!)
Happiest moment of my life lol Drinking cocktails at the piano bar Don’t Tell Mama and hearing all the amazing musicians/wait staff performing.
Eating the most enormous salami sandwich of my life at Katz’s Deli.
Truly obscene. There are about 12 pigs in here. Watching some amazing drag queens perform at the Lips NYC Bitchy Bingo event.
She knocked out half of the audience with those giant wings and we all loved it Going to the Whitney Museum of American Art and seeing all sorts of weird, cool shit. (And a few real life Warhols!)
Seeing Chess and Death Becomes Her on Broadway.
Recording vocals for an original song at the New York Public Library with my friend Shanti!
Great food followed by a great karaoke session in Korea Town.
SO MANY SHOPS - including The Strand book shop (my spiritual home) and The Drama Bookshop where I bought many plays/screenplays!
In my spiritual happy place…
I truly topped up the inspiration tank while I was away and reconnected with myself - it was exactly what I needed! The only downside was that we spent A MILLION BILLION QUID and I now can’t do anything else fun or that costs money for at least the next 5 years of my life, but it was sooo worth it! (Lols).
Unfortunately, no sooner had we landed back home then I got really sick (I swear I’d been fighting it off all Winter and then my body finally collapsed) - followed by a 4-day bout of horrific insomnia, the likes of which I have never experienced in my life. THAT WAS FUN. But soon I got over it and luckily going back to work wasn’t as hellish as I anticipated… I’ve basically just been chatting loads, putting up posters and singing in Band Practice. My New Year’s Resolution is not to stress the day job so much and just have fun connecting with my colleagues and customers!
Ooh, we also went to see the Steps Musical Here & Now in Southampton at the end of the month - it was SO GOOD. Camp, joyful and totally bonkers but with some really deep messages hidden beneath the shiny exterior. Do you know how difficult it is to write something that appears so effortlessly easy? Sometimes the most simple and universal pieces of art are the ones that take the most time to craft. I was so impressed and in awe of this show, plus of course every Steps song is an absolute banger! 10/10 - would see again.
Despite being away, January has still felt 23678 days long, and as much as I have enjoyed it, I am very happy to now be getting the hell out of it and into February… and hopefully into a few brand new adventures!
Creative Updates
Agent News
My final book edits (for my brand new adult rom com) are pretty much finished, and now my agent Daisy is preparing to go out on submission, which is VERY exciting, but also VERY terrifying.
For those not in the book world, going on submission is the process where your agent sends out your book to multiple editors at publishing houses who hopefully want to work with you. It’s a very competitive process, and finding a home depends on so many factors (one of them being pure luck)… I’ve been on submission multiple times before, and had many books that didn’t land... But I’m remaining cautiously optimistic that this time around, with a brand new genre and a brand new agent, I’ll find the right publisher for this project (and maybe even for my whole author career?!)
It’s very hard to have hope sometimes when you’ve been crushed so many times in the past. Hope feels a little scary. A little naïve, even. Like, for all I know, this could be another book that just misses the target and I’m back to square one again. But at the same time, I’ve learned so much since those past near-misses. I’m a different writer. A different human. And I’m now working in a genre and age-group that feels like such a natural fit, I wonder why it took me so long to find it in the first place…
Anyway. I’ll keep you posted. WISH ME LUCK.
Other Stuff!
While I’ve been waiting, I’ve been tinkering with the outline for the next book… It’s zingy and sexy and cheeky, and I’m really excited to dive into it soon. This is probably the longest I’ve gone in recent years without working on a new story - not because I’ve run out of ideas, but because I’m not sure what the right idea is! I don’t want to fall head-first into a brand new world, only for (FINGERS CROSSED) the brand new team I’m (TOUCH WOOD ETC.) working with to want a completely different direction.
I know I’m probably running ten steps ahead in my own mind, but it’s been seriously blocking me from taking any steps forward. I feel like I’m playing that old PC minesweeper game… Pick the wrong square to jump to and kaboom. Game over. That’s very dramatic. Let me be clear, I would not actually die in this scenario, I just might have a wasted Word Document. But you know, that’s still quite serious, especially for a sensitive writer such as myself.
Anyway, these characters are currently hammering on the door of my brain, demanding I put them onto the page, whether they’re wanted or not. So I might have to just get on with it very soon. Orrrr… start the spin-off sequel for Romanticising Robert. (Yep, there’s a spin-off brewing!)
I dunno. I’m gonna just keep going tinker, tinker, tinker…
This month I also received my Public Lending Rights statement - you might not know (because I sure didn’t), but every time someone borrows an author’s book from the library, they receive a small amount of royalty money (around 12p a copy!) which is paid out annually.
I was absolutely chuffed to discover that The Songs You’ve Never Heard has had 747 borrows from the library over the space of the past year. Seriously, that’s a LOT of people! Especially for a slightly older title, like ours. I know a few school librarians have been really supportive of the book and I am sending a huge thank you to anyone who has championed mine and Ellie’s booksical over the past few years.
It’s only a small amount of money, but I can see how royalties could add up with a bigger backlist - and along with a few reading spikes for Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me appearing out of the blue, I have had many reminders lately that yes, people do want to engage with my work! People I’ve never even met who aren’t actually related to me! A nice thought to have when sending brand new work out into the world…!
My author career has been moving frustratingly slowly since the release of Songs, due to many factors outside of my control, but the train is finally back on the tracks, and I’m ready to go hurtling off into the night baby, choo chooooo!!!!
In other news - I’ve started submitting my co-written short film Link My Heart to film festivals! This project has been simmering away behind the scenes for the last handful of years and I can’t believe we can finally send it out into the world. I’m not sure what our chances are for being accepted, but I’ve tried to shortlist festivals that would be receptive to our quirky, low-budget style. It was pretty fun picking a few screenshots to showcase the movie - here is a sneak peek 👀:
Ahhhh I’m so excited for people to finally watch it! More updates very soon…
Movie Recs
I saw SO MANY good movies this month, it was ridiculous, so I cannot and will not limit myself to 3 picks, you’re getting them all:
The Naked Gun - Watched this reboot on the plane with Matty and we COULDN’T STOP LAUGHING. So silly and hilarious, it brought me all the joy on my flight.
The Holdovers - Such a beautiful, tender, and quietly stoic movie about found family, set at an all boys boarding school in the 1970s. This one really touched my heart.
Oh, Hi! - A quirky rom-com that kind of turns into a quirky thriller, this was a wild ride and an underrated gem!
Song Sung Blue - A biopic about an older couple who start a Neil Diamond tribute bad. It was just brilliant - joyful, tragic, and full of beautiful live music sequences.
Dangerous Animals - A thriller about a badass surfer girl who is kidnapped and trapped on a boat by a scary man who wants to feed her to sharks. This one just did everything I wanted a creepy thriller to do.
People We Meet On Vacation - Cute, vibrant adaptation of a beloved novel -rom-coms are back baby!
TV Recs
The Traitors UK - The season I applied for and one of the best of all time! So sad we missed all the buzz while we were away, but loved binging all the episodes when we got back. So many twists and turns, and the finale was VERY satisfying!!
The Masked Singer - Yeah it’s BACK BABY, and it’s just as stupid and random as ever. I guessed Anne-Marie as the special guest Goldfish in about 3 seconds and I was VERY PROUD OF MYSELF.
Heated Rivalry - It’s taken the world by storm and for good reason! Such an amazing gay romance filled with hotness and yearning (the best combination).
Book Recs
The Housemaid’s Secret by Frieda McFadden - Not quite as good as the original Housemaid novel… But still a bloody good time and full of wickedly satisfying twists and turns.
COCK by Mike Bartlett - I bought this play at The Drama Book Shop in NYC and I found reading such an innovative, dialogue-heavy show really fascinating. All the characters are horrible which is what makes it so juicy. Truly entering my play era now - I need more!!
Daisy Haites by Jessa Hastings - The second book in the addictive, gossipy Magnolia Parks series. This one featured gang lords, art heists, lots of guns, sexy laundromat dates and DRAMA GALORE. It was very long, but I had fun haha.
Music Recs
Who’s The Clown by Audrey Hobert - Not a new album, but I’ve been really loving listening to Audrey’s music this month, her style of songwriting is so unusual and mixes oddly catchy melodies with heartfelt, diary-style lyrics. Obsessed.
Shhugar by Baby Nova - A new singer/songwriter I discovered through the Spotify algorithm - she’s like a more mainstream version of Lana Del Rey and all her songs are so catchy and dreamy. One to watch.
Roommates by Hilary Duff - Queen Hilary has finally dropped the second single of her new era of music and it’s another BANGER. I love that her lyrics are so mature now, and yet still feel so classically her. Super excited for the full album.
ALSO - Harry Styles and Holly Humberstone have both released BANGERS this month. Sooo much good music out right now!
OK that’s enough yabbering from me - see you again soon!
Becky xx