Every author has their own methods of working.

Every author has their own methods of working. And I think every author also has the little milestones that they set for themselves. The most common being? To see their first book published!

For me, another was to find one of my books in a charity shop. I didn't even know that it was a milestone until it happened to me. I was visiting Icklingham Hall in Suffolk, and they had a secondhand book section. I was delighted when I found Cambridge Blue on the shelf. As I considered who might have read it and passed it on, I realised that it had become a memorable moment…

Incidentally, I have read that the average hardback passes through 22 pairs of hands in its lifetime. I'm not sure how accurate this is because I cannot imagine how that could have been measured and who would have done so.

All that aside, there is a milestone that I have yet to tick off. Many authors, and I’m one, envisage the magic moment when they're out and about and look up to see somebody reading one of their books. An author I know has sold nearly half a million copies, but that moment still eludes him.

I've had pictures sent to me of my books being in farflung bookshops in Australia, Canada and America, but I have never had the ‘stranger reading my book in public’ experience!

NATASHA READING CAMBRIDGE BLACK

I was absolutely delighted the other day when my friend Jenna sent me this photograph. She had walked into a café in March to see one of the customers reading Cambridge Black. She stopped to have a chat with her and learned that the lady is called Natasha. She's a real book lover. She often passes on books that she has read or hangs on to the ones that she thinks she might read again.

So thank you, Natasha and thank you, Jenna. I really appreciate the photograph to go with the blog post and I hope you enjoy Cambridge Black.