Great news on the Dandelions and Bad Hair Days front. After many months the publisher has now handed me a manuscript formatted for Kindle and just before the weekend I uploaded it - the first time I have done such a thing. Exciting!

For the bargain price of £3.08 (a very odd price set by Amazon when I put in £2.99...) you can have instant delivery to your Kindle, or to Kindle for Android or PC - making it available to anyone. Even those of you with an iPad!

As an eBook the margins are very good and as with the paperback about £2 from each copy sold will go to the mental health charities - all the profits made. So if you can, do download it. It has all 5* reviews and lots of great quotes such as  'inspiring' and 'heartfelt and personal'. 

I have also set up my own small press to publish and promote ebooks. Further news about Mickleden Press soon!

On 29th March 2013 I will be hosting the first edition of my new radio show on 10Radio, a Community Radio station based in Wiveliscombe, Somerset. 

I find myself in the hotseat almost by chance, having been on the show as an interviewee and merely chancing to ask if they had a book programme in the schedule. 'No! Would you like to host one?'. So 'Talking Books' is born.

I am very nervous as the first show approaches, but excited of course. The basic format will be fortnightly half hour long programmes that will focus on a different genre each time and including an interview with a local author, poetry requests and reviews and news on what is just reaching bookshops and what is (and should be!) topping the charts. I do hope you will listen in, if not within signal range, then online from anywhere in the world via the 10Radio website at www.10Radio.org. Remember - 11am fortnightly from the 29th March 2013 and then via my blog. If you have any ideas about topics to cover or books you might like reviewed or discussed then just let me know via suzie@suziegrogan.co.uk.

I haven't been updating this site with news about Dandelions and Bad Hair Days: Untangling lives affected by depression and anxiety too much because the book has it's own website at www.dandelionsandbadhairdays.wordpress.com. 

However I just wanted to share how brilliantly it is going. The photograph to the left shows the book on the table at the front of the wonderful Brendon Books in Taunton. We sold the first print run within two weeks and are now well through the second so thank you to everyone who has bought it. It is available online from Amazon, from the Dotterel Press website and direct via the Dandelions website. All profits go to SANE and  nominated mental health charities nominated by the contributors, including OCD Action.

I'm pleased to say that the wonderful Taunton bookshop, Brendon Books, has agreed to support Dandelions and Bad Hair Days by hosting the launch party. 

Brendon Books is a Somerset treasure, being one of the few truly independent bookshops left and responsible for the organisation of the Taunton Literary Festival, which takes place from the 22nd to the 30th of September 2012.

Invitations will be going out shortly and I do hope there will be a good audience, although it must be said I am now more than a little nervous about standing there in front of everyone - even though I know the writing from all the contributors to the book is wonderful and that all the profits go to charity. 

If you would like to sponsor the even with a bottle of wine or some refreshments I would be really glad to hear from you.

I am pleased to announce that Dandelions and Bad Hair Days now has it's own website. On it you can find excerpts from some of the pieces in the book and learn more about the contributors as we head towards publication in the autumn.

It is another step on the way to making every effort to ensure the book is successful and thus raises awareness of mental health issues and as much money as possible for nominated charities. 

Sarah Cruickshank of Sarah Cruickshank Admin Solutions has kindly volunteered her professional expertise in marketing and communications to support the Dandelions and Bad Hair Days project. 

Sarah has already helped me organise a MailChimp account to offer a secure way to enter your email address and receive all the latest news on the publciation and promotion of the
book.

I have also had some invaluable advice from Sarah on the best ways to market the book via a dedicated Facebook page and
website and although the web page will take a little while to develop, the Facebook page is already up and running. So please pay a visit and 'like' it to make sure we can raise as much awareness of Dandelions and the message that mental illness can affect any one of us.  

Dandelions and Bad Hair Days has some illustrations to grace the inside pages courtesy of wonderful artist and designer Nettie Edwards.

Nettie has adapted some of her most stunning images to look great in black and white. I won't reveal them all now because I want people to have as many reasons as possible to buy the book (and with luck we will include more than 10 of her photos) but as a taster I attach one to this  post.  Nettie has a great website at  Lumilyon whereyou can see more of her work. 

Ingrid Eva Creative (who put together to cover artwork) will also be designing the back cover - not as simple as it sounds! The dandelion theme is to be continued to an area that will include a description of what the book is all about and hopefully some eye-catching quotes from people happy to endorse the whole project. As always I have to express my gratitude to all those people who are giving so freely of their time to help with it. 

Great excitement yesterday as I took delivery of the final artwork for the cover of Dandelions and Bad Hair Days.

Wonderful artist Ingrid Smejkal has designed this original work especially for Dandelions and Bad Hair Days and I simply can't thank her enough for donating it to the project.

Taking the working title as her inspiration, the 'hair' of the dandelion clock takes flight as the androgynous figure takes a first hopeful look between the fingers of strong hands. The colours are bold - an uplifting sky blue and the green figure to reflect the stalk of the plant. 

The text has yet to be added to the cover but already I am sure the book will stand out on the book shelves..

At present I am having a tough time thinking of a sub-title to the book - one that I am happy with. 'Experiences of living with depression' is just not punchy enough when the title is so creative! Any ideas gratefully received.