An Evening with Sarah Pinborough and Louise Jensen

I've loved bookshops since forever. I was that 15-year-old who, when given the opportunity at school to go on work experience, chose Waterstones. I spent two weeks working in my favourite shop and I loved every moment. And anyone who knows me at all would tell you Sarah Pinborough is one of the authors I admire the most, so when I saw Waterstones advertising an evening with Sarah Pinborough and Louise Jensen (who I can just tell will be one of my new favourite authors), no one could have stopped me buying that ticket if they'd tried. No one.

Ask me if I want to spend a couple of hours in a bookshop with two best-selling thriller authors and a glass of wine, and take home a signed book. Go on, ask me. Um, YES. Naturally I was sat in the middle of the front row (how else do you soak up all that awesomeness?). And it. Was. So. Good. And I got another author selfie to add to my collection...

Sarah and Louise covered so much ground, including the difference between a plot twist and a great reveal, how they plan and draft their novels, their differing writing processes, trying not to get caught up in the daily word count battle and the joy of writing in PJs.

They also discussed their best author moments so far. Louise's best moment was when her son said he wanted to be an author just like her (cue us all getting emotional) and Sarah's was when Stephen King (yes, STEPHEN KING!) wrote a rave review of one of her books. I hope I'll get my moment one day when one of these wonderful authors tweets how much they love my book (the dream).

If you want to know a little more about these bloody brilliant authors, Louise has sold over a million books and her thrillers have been published in 25 languages. I've just bought a signed copy of The Family which has fast-tracked its way to the top of my TBR pile, and I will share my thoughts here on the blog soon. Sarah, with over 20 books published in 27 languages, is also a screenwriter with her previous novel Behind Her Eyes (one of my all-time favourite books) is coming out on Netflix next year and I am beyond excited. That's what you call author goals.

Thanks for the inspo, ladies!

I'll be heading over to Waterstones in Oxford to hear from the amazing C. L. Taylor in a couple of weeks. Watch this space!

Roxie Key

@RoxieAdelleKey