Skip to main content

Real-life Meet Cutes - my story!

To celebrate the release later this week of The Boy in the Bookshop, the first story in the Meet Cute series, I'm sharing the moment I met my husband...

Way back in October 1997 (which I've just realised is literally half my life ago -gulp) I was at college studying for my A levels.  The college was around twenty miles from my home, so I'd leave early in the morning and not go back until teatime. I had a good group of friends but their free periods didn't match up with mine and as a result I spent a lot of time in the library, both studying and 'surfing the net'. 

The internet was still a real novelty back then and I'd go online to find out football news, particularly about Sheffield United.  It was on a now defunct forum on the official club site that I started talking to 'Deadbat' - the username for the man who is now my husband, David.  We started off talking in the open threads then progressed to sending emails and snail mail post to each other, although at this point we were nothing more than friends.

It was a mild day in February 1998 when we first met in person.  He showed me around Leicester, where he was at university, when I had an interview at De Montfort and was so thoughtful - paying for taxis and buying me a pint of cider in the student union. 

The first picture of us together!

By September of that year I'd started a BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Studies at Sheffield Hallam University (De Montfort hadn't wanted me) and as Sheffield was David's hometown we met before he went back to Leicester and on the weekends when he came back to watch the football and see his family.

We officially became a couple in November 1998, getting engaged on New Years Day 1999, married just before Christmas 2005 and welcoming our gorgeous son Zachary into the world two years later.

Summer 2015

Our Meet Cute is my favourite!

'Real- life Meet Cutes' will continue over the coming weeks with guest posts from authors and book bloggers!

Comments

  1. Such a wonderful story, very romantic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I find it hard to believe we've been together so long. It makes me feel old!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm going back to the start...

It's been a weird time. Dreams have been vivid, ideas have been brewing, but actually having the time and inclination to write... Well, let's just say that hasn't happened much during lockdown.  Me and my agent recently parted ways, all very amicably, but it has given me cause to reassess. It reminds me of being a newbie author subbing directly to publishers and pitching to agents (and having the absolute soul-crushing misery of opening a rejection email without a side-helping of an ego-massaging comment from her).  I'm not going to lie, it's a bit scary putting myself out there again, especially as someone with anxiety. It's a competitive industry; the chances of getting a 'no' are far higher than that elusive 'yes'.  My book being on a supermarket shelf didn't mean I'd made it as an author, it meant I had one book that was bought by a supermarket. Ditto having books picked for promotions. Four novels in, I still have work to do.  So I...

I Won't Act My Age - Should Age Influence Hobbies?

Following on from a fabulous weekend watching Take That in Hyde Park with my best friend (you can read a bit about that here) , I spent my Tuesday morning waiting outside a local radio station to meet Olly Murs on his 'You Don't Know Love' radio tour.  I had fun talking to others in the queue (there were maybe 60-80 of us there in all) and the time passed pretty quickly.  Luckily the rain held off and it was neither too hot or too cold - pretty much perfect weather for waiting outside.  Olly arrived just before midday and the staff at the station invited fans in to watch his live stream being filmed, so we all crammed into the foyer to hear him share how proud he is of his forthcoming album and that there will be a tour next year.  Meeting Olly, 12.07.2016 When the interview was over we were all ushered outside and politely reformed the queue to each have our moment with Olly.  It really was nothing more than a moment - his schedule ...

My big news!

2021 is shaping up to be a busy year! I've just signed a contract with Bloodhound Books and although I can't share details just yet rest assured the books coming your way will have all the romance, friendship and community spirit that my previous novels are known for.  Bloodhound are making waves in the industry and have sold over 6 million books worldwide since 2014 - it's exciting to be a part of it. I can't wait to tell you more!