When I Fall in Love - Episode 2 - seaside and cupcakes!

This year I'm taking you behind the scenes of writing, editing and publishing my fourth novel, When I Fall in Love. This week, I grab a much-needed weekend off and head to beautiful South Devon, before a dash across the country to take part in a literature festival...

One of the mistakes I made last year was not taking any real time off. With my crazy writing schedule and Bob's gardening business, it can be difficult to find time for a break, but we were very lucky to be invited down to beautiful South Devon with Bob's parents (aka Uncle Dudley and Auntie Mags!) to join them for the first few days of their holiday. And, of course, I took my video camera, so you can see just how fabulous the area is (and why it's a favourite place for Bob and me!)

My BIG news is that I'm currently working on something that I'll be able to tell you about fully really soon - the chance to read something new from me a few months before When I Fall in Love arrives in November...

Also in this week's decidedly holiday-ish vlog is the amazing cupcake café I discovered when I spoke there at an author event as part of Crawley WORDfest 2012. Not only was it a fab venue but Jo and her team are really friendly and made Bob and I feel right at home. And the cupcakes... just amazing! One of the things I love as an author is that inspiration can sneak up on you when you least expect it - and that's exactly what happened when I visited Cupcake Genie in Crawley. The place has a fantastic vibe and creativity and it was great to hear about how the business began and see the passion the team have for their café. So I've decided that Cupcake Genie is going to make a cameo appearance in When I Fall in Love: Elsie works at a retro-themed ice cream café in Brighton's North Lanes and I knew that they would make their own ice cream on site, but as it's a café they also need to sell lots of amazing baked goods, so I was trying to work out how they could outsource their baking (seeing as Auntie Mags' Tea and Sympathy café is a little too far away!) Bob and I had been discussing how I could do this on the journey down from Birmingham, and while we were at the cupcake café Bob suggested that we could include them in a cameo role seeing as they aren't too far away from Brighton. Problem solved! (Thanks, Bob!)

So, without further ado, grab your shades for my seaside-themed vlog - and as always please let me know what you think (and ask me a question for next time!) by leaving a comment below or emailing me at mirandawurdy@gmail.com. Enjoy! xx

p.s. This week's YouTube-nominated freeze-frame is entitled, 'Beautiful sea!' xx