The One With the Message for Sara Cox

I emailed this to Sara Cox today. Wonder if I'll get a reply? - #excited

Hi Sara,

I hope this email finds you fine and dandy. My name is Abi and of course you don't know me from Adam and all his brood, but I just wanted to share a little something with you about how you motivated me to do something very important a couple of years ago.

On 1st September 2016 you were covering for Chris on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show and you did a little feature based on 'New Month's Resolutions'. I've never been overly keen on pouring all of my hopes and expectations over New Year's Eve like a sadly splurged cheap champagne, so my ears perked up as you said this. Why shouldn't we set ourselves some energy-charged intentions on an entirely different day of the year? (I thought, as I undoubtedly smudged the application of my mascara in excitement)

You invited us all to text in with what we wanted to achieve during September and I knew instantly what that was for me. You see, I'd spent ten years writing a three-part novel called 'Life Is Yours' - based on a year of my life where everything changed for me. Through the shock and utter pain of heartbreak, I found a way to open myself up to the magic of the world and wholeheartedly woke up to what life really had to offer. So that's what I spent a decade trying to capture - distracted by having babies, losing loved ones, moving to three different countries, struggling financially and battling post-natal depression (twice) - I STILL hadn't finished writing this bloody story.

My scribbled cover design for my book, done about 8 years ago

So I abandoned my messy mascara, grabbed my phone and texted the glorious BBC (I liked to imagine I was texting you, of course, as if my intention would ping in your pocket and you'd smile at the thought of your old friend Abs and her crappy eye make-up). I texted that this was it. I was going to finish Life Is Yours by the end of September 2016 and somehow, by zapping those words off to the Beeb, I felt like it could actually happen.

And just to seal the deal, you read out my text that morning. Not only that, but it was just in time for my then five and eight year old lads to hear you say the words . . . "Do it Abi!" and that excited them more than being given open access to a jar of Nutella and a couple of spoons.

And we all know that one cannot escape the tenacity of a pair of suitably motivated kiddies so I was metaphorically thrashed every day that month until - do you know what? - I only went and bloody did it.

It was a moment I had - many times - thought I'd never get to see but on 30th September 2016, in the wake of a custard cream and coffee carnage, I sat back, dusted the crumbs off my belly and gazed at the words on the screen: 'The End'.

The moment I'd dreamed of for a decade . . .

Fast forward two years of emailing and tweeting and rejection after rejection in the formidable literary world, I am happy / ecstatic / doing a mental air punch to report that I also now have a publishing deal! Life Is Yours will be out later this year (with BNBS Books) as a short novella, the other two parts hot on its heels. Thank you, thank you, thank you for choosing my text and reading it out on that day - I may well still be out buying more custard creams if it wasn't for you (and the relentless nature of my two lads).

What would really be the cherry on the cake now, would be if you had the time to read a few pages of my book. I'd be delighted to send you the first forty pages or so (or the whole novella if you like) and uber-delighted if you could let me know what you think. If you do like what you read, a few words from you adorning the front cover is now the end image I have in mind, having finally moved past my obsession with getting to 'The End'.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email and I hope you are having a lovely day whatever you are doing. Love and light to you Sara!

Abi

P.S. My lads made you a video . . . here you go!

#loveblogging #muminthemomentblog #saracox #bbcradio2 #breakfastshow #lifeisyours #lifeisyoursthenovel #bnbsbooks

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