PINTEREST
BLOGLOVIN
GOODREADS
Published by Orion
Available in ebook and hardback (23 August 2018) | paperback (29 November 2018)
416 pages
| About the Book |
MEET THE ADULTS.
Claire and Matt are divorced but decide what’s best for their daughter Scarlett is to have a ‘normal’ family Christmas. They can’t agree on whose idea it was, or who said they should bring their new partners. But someone did – and it’s too late to pull the plug.
Claire brings her new boyfriend Patrick, a seemingly eligible Iron-Man-in-Waiting. Matt brings the new love of his life Alex, funny, smart, and extremely patient. Scarlett, their daughter, brings her imaginary friend Posey. He’s a rabbit.
Together the five (or six?) of them grit their teeth over Organized Fun activities, drinking a little too much after bed-time, oversharing classified secrets about their pasts and, before you know it, their holiday is a powder keg that ends – where this story starts – with a tearful, frightened, call to the police…
But what happened? They said they’d all be adults about this…
Thanks to Lauren at Orion for the invitation to take part in the tour for The Adults. I have been sent a copy of the book but sadly was unable to read it in time but its definitely one I’m looking forward to reading. In the meantime I have a fabulous guest post from Caroline. I hope some of the references below trigger some memories for you – they certainly did for me! Happy Days!!
TEN IRREVERENT THINGS I’VE LEARNT SINCE BECOMING A PUBLISHING NEWBIE
by Caroline Hulse
Thanks for having me on the blog, Karen! I’ve written books all my life, but am new to the publishing world with The Adults and it’s a different planet out there.
Here are some random, unexpected things I’ve learned about writing and publishing in my first year as a professional, in case it’s of interest to your readership.
1) If your agent has a similar name to you, some people will think you’re her pseudonym.
Worse, if your agent has the same first name as you, your mates may think that since you’ve got this publishing deal, you’ve gone all la-di-da. Because it appears you’ve started talking about yourself in the third person. ‘Caroline thinks we should wait until…’
Hopefully, one of your friends will tell you this quickly, before they cut you out of their lives forever for being a pretentious uppity author-type now.
2) We all have verbal tics and go-to reference points. Somehow, every book I write contains a reference to the leather-jacketed Happy Days smoothie The Fonz.
3) …and a reference to the truck-pulling Eighties World’s Strongest Man legend, Geoff Capes.
4) …and a reference to Wotsits or Quavers or Monster Munch. Basically, a reference to any kind of maize-based snack. The subconscious is a weird and surprisingly consistent (and snack-loving) place.
5) There will be some words you’ve never been able to spell, that you never knew you couldn’t spell, and no one’s ever told you. Like no-one itself. No one doesn’t have a hyphen. Who knew?
6) You will have conversations out loud about writing for the first time, about topics you’ve only ever read about before. And you’ll realise midway through a sentence that you don’t know how to say the word pathos. (Paythoss? Pah-thoss?) You’ll make a mental note to look up more about pronunciation before you’re ever required to say hyperbole.
7) People will tell you that, now, being on social media counts as work. Yay! And you can do with this information what you will. But if you follow this guidance too far, you’ll never actually finish that next book. So use this gift wisely.
8) Yes, you can work in bed and that’s a wonderful thing, but in the interest of society and general normality, it’s best to get out of your PJs occasionally. Or, at least, to have a different ‘daywear’ and ‘nightwear’ pair. Keep it classy.
9) It is not a good idea to listen to the (great) podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno now you know you’re actually going to have work published. It’s great to laugh, and hear others laughing, at someone’s distinctive writing technique. But you don’t need to hear it right now.
10) When you get a book published, people will want to know about you, as well as the book. Which is pretty weird. You will not always know what to write about, so you will end up writing irreverent posts in list form, and revealing way too much about your lifestyle and literary limitations. But you know what? It’s all good. So thanks for having me, Karen!
| Author Bio |
Caroline Hulse spends most of her days writing, having fulfilled her dream of having a job she could do in pyjamas. She also works in Human Resources sometimes.
She is openly competitive and loves playing board and card games. She can often be found in casino poker rooms, and wishes other people would want to play Cluedo for money.
She lives with her husband in Manchester, where the two are captive to the whims of a small, controlling dog.
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