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Let The Good Times Roll
Turning 35, celebrating 15 years together + delivering Book 3 & the Best Scottish Crime Writing party
Kim Sherwood
Oct 16
Dear Reader,
Welcome to all new subscribers! It’s great to have you here. It’s been a bumper month so far and I have so much to share with you – from a 35th birthday/15 year anniversary extravaganza to delivering Double O Book 3 and attending the Scottish Crime Book of the Year prize-giving!
girl with the golden pen is a reader-supported publication that gives a window into my writing life. Each newsletter is free, but there is additional bonus content for paying subscribers – in today’s issue, paying subscribers can find out what happened when I met Richard Armitage and watch an exclusive early release of a video where I talk about how to continue another writer’s legacy. The newsletter is made possible by the support and encouragement of free and paying subscribers alike, but if you enjoy what you read here, want access to exclusive content and to help ensure I can keep it up, please consider upgrading today to £7 a month or £70 a year. For £150 a year, founding members receive signed first editions and proofs of my latest novels!
girl with the golden pen is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Bon Anniversaire
On the 4th of October, I turned 35. On the 5th of October, Nick and I celebrated 15 years of being a couple and 5 years since our wedding day. Yes, we got married on our 10 year anniversary/Global James Bond Day, a pure coincidence – if you believe in coincidences…
So we gathered together friends and family and forayed into the Highlands for a weekend of good food (cooked by the greatest chef there is, my mum), good music and good people.
It was a taste of what it’s like to have a front and back staircase, so many living rooms you keep losing them and four fridges that I knew of – and reader, let me tell you, it’s not terrible. It was also a chance to catch up with friends from house-shares in student days and folks who now live overseas and over dale who have become family over the past 15 years. Together, our chosen family and our closest kin – those who could make it and those far away – have been central to our relationship since day one and it felt fitting to pop champagne together, listen to Nick & Mike get the old band back together (long live Late Arrivals Club) and introduce people to our latest family member, Pat.
Not only Pat, we also had Gem, my mum’s sheepdog who kept Rosie company on the drive up from Cornwall to Scotland in Rosie’s converted van! To read all about Rosie’s adventures, check out her substack A Nomadic Rose.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice Pat and I wore matching black velvet, naturally. Pat sported a collar gifted from the Fleming Estate, with a gold tag reading OOK9. While I wore my wedding dress – because if you get married in black velvet, it will never go out of style.
Speaking of Fleming-related gifts, this year I was as excited as a school kid to receive a Dr. No lunchbox from Nick – I always wanted one of these! And Nick gave me his special edition Live and Let Die Swatch from his school days. There’s a reason we’ve been together for 15 years.
Draft 2, Book 3
I was determined to submit the latest draft of Book 3 in the Double O trilogy before the celebrations commenced, and I managed it in a long dark teatime of the soul – otherwise known as pulling an all nighter for about two weeks to the repeated soundtrack of ‘Non-Stop’ from Hamilton. With Draft 1, I felt like I was inviting my editors to eat a meal I was halfway through preparing. With Draft 2, the meal is ready but the menu could still be refined before the big banquet. Let’s see what our visiting judges think. (If you watch The Great British Menu, this metaphor will make a lot more sense to you.)
Criminally Good
A Spy Like Me was a finalist for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2024, the first Bond novel to be nominated for a literary prize. The gong ultimately went to Chris Brookmyre for The Cracked Mirror but it remained a sterling night in Stirling as I had the chance to meet my fellow finalists, the grandees of Scottish crime writing, including Queen of Crime herself Val McDermid.
After the prize giving, there was a bagpipe procession through the city, because, Scotland. These events can be a little awkward: you clutch your wine too long and end up holding a warm glass as you wall-flower in a crowded room of strangers. But the best bits are the serendipitous moments. I was reunited with Stig Abel over dinner, who was the first person to ever interview me on radio – for Front Row in 2018 with my first novel Testament – and it was lovely to thank him for a special moment and catch up on everything that’s happened since. And, best of all, I met Richard Armitage. To find out if I managed to get out a coherent sentence, become a paying subscriber now and read on!
From Kim, With Love x...
https://kimsherwood.substack.com/archive
https://x.com/kimtsherwood
https://www.instagram.com/kimtsherwood/
How did people here find A Spy Like Me in comparison to Double or Nothing?
I prefer Double or Nothing, it being partly set in Baikonur and having a set piece in the abandoned Buran shuttle, as a space nerd makes me very happy. I like where Spy Like Me takes Harwood and Dryden’s characters though, but plot wise if you don’t like DoN, this is more of the same and I’d say it’s even more convoluted. Having said that I’ve only read it once when it came out so I’m due for a reread.
I'll get the third when it appears, and give the trilogy another go over the summer when I've got more time.
Literature is a funny thing. I'll read the Horrowitz books in a few sittings, but this 00 series isn't grabbing me yet.
https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/double-o-book-3-kim-sherwood
Thank you for the information. It's unique that we'll get two IFP books within two months of each other! I'll still keep this thread updated on her newsletters (if they happen again)!
A little note
You haven't heard from me in a while
Kim Sherwood
Dear Reader,
Firstly, welcome to all you new subscribers! It’s great to have you here. And secondly, thanks so much to all long-time readers who have reached out recently. I was really touched to hear from you. I know you haven’t heard from me in a while so I just wanted to send you a little note. At the end of last year, we suffered a family bereavement. I ended up taking an unplanned break from social media and girl with the golden pen. I also took a break from writing, which means there will be a delay in the publication of the third novel in the Double O series.
The fact that there are readers excited to get the next instalment has been a massive boost and you can rest assured the car is now back on the track – though when the book will cross the finish line and into bookshops (to mix a metaphor) I don’t yet know. But as soon as I know, you will too.
As I get into gear, the newsletter will remain on hold for a while, though I will pop back into your inboxes here and there with any exciting news. (I have a few projects I can’t yet share, but I’m excited to fill you in the day I can!) Founding members will continue to receive proofs, merch and exclusive goodies as they come.
I’ll let you know when the newsletter will resume regularly scheduled programming, and if you’d like to unsubscribe in the meantime I totally understand. If you do want to continue your support of girl with the golden pen, and receive updates as and when they come, let me say a huge thank you for your encouragement.
Whether you’re a long-term subscriber or new, free or paid, founding member or recent reader, it means the world to have you all on the journey with me, especially in hard times. Thank you.
From Kim, With Love x
You're welcome, @Dragonpol sorry for the late reply. Things truly come in threes in Literary Bond. Just this week, we had one of the IFP directors step down after 30+ years there. Then we find out about Kim Sherwood's unfortunate situation, delaying Double 00 book three. Lastly, Vaseem Khan has sent out another riddle for the Q Mysteries. It seems that Literary Bond has more of an interesting year ahead than what they announced recently.