“Bow Wow!” In the words of Uggie, the adorable Jack Russell from The Artist - the hit movie of the
decade–what a year it has been! My paws have hardly touched the ground as I
have been racing back and forth across the Atlantic
and elsewhere, chasing my own tail.
The biggest treat of all has been
to write Uggie’s celebrity memoir; an idea I came up with halfway through
watching the film many months ago. I sniffed out his owner on Facebook, pursued
him doggedly, and finally won the deal of the year – beating off stiff
competition from writers, agents, and publishers around the world. I can
honestly say that penning his biography – charting from his days as a
pound-bound hound to his time on the Oscars red carpet along with the best of
them - has been one of the highlights of my career. Just don’t tell my jealous spaniel,
Digby!
Uggie:
The Artist, My Story will be published in the USA, UK, and France in
October (available for pre-order now from Amazon and all good book stores),
when I will have the privilege of spending even more time with this remarkably
talented canine thespian and his charming acting coach/owner Omar Von Muller.
Between us we will be appearing on TV and in person at events in New York , Chicago , Los Angeles , Paris , and London and on the sofa of
every major chat show.
On September 10, we also launched
Uggie The Artist app at the App Store - http://itunes.apple.com/app/uggie-the-artist/id546993400?ls=1&mt=8
You can see the article about how that extraordinary event came about on the
Book Brunch website at http://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/pid/article_free/a_wild_ride.
It really has been a wild ride, too, and we have a few more surprises in
our box of tricks, so watch this space. For those who may have missed his
links, you can follow Uggie on Twitter (Uggie_TheArtist), and on Facebook at Uggie
The-Artist to catch up with his antics.
In the middle of all of the Uggie
excitement, my latest book with Goldie Hawn was released internationally and
stormed up the bestsellers lists, reaching number 3 in the New York Times chart.
10 Mindful Minutes: Giving our
Children - and Ourselves - the Social and Emotional Skills to Reduce Stress and
Anxiety For Healthier, Happier Lives clearly struck a chord with
people of all ages around the world.
The pioneering work of her charitable foundation MindUP has
had such amazing results in schools around the world that the parents of those benefitting
from the programme begged her to write this book. Goldie and I drew on the
expertise of some of the greatest minds in the field of neuroscience and
emotional psychology to devise ways of helping children and parents deal with
everyday stresses. By taking time to appreciate all that life has to offer we
put the reader back in the driving seat and led them through what could
otherwise be a minefield of confusing information.
Goldie flew into London to help promote the book and we had a
blast from the day she landed until the day she left. Hundreds of fans queued
in the rain outside Waterstone’s in Piccadilly to see her; she was a star on Desert
Island Discs and during a live webchat on Mumsnet. She was a riot on The
Graham Norton Show, and at an all-night fundraising event for MindUP at
Annabel’s nightclub she proved that she can outshine us all! I just spent some
time with her in New York
to discuss our next project together – a book about Joy - and I can hardly wait.
Confidentiality agreements preclude
me from revealing who I shall be working with next but I can promise to take
you into the worlds of two remarkable people who will be known and loved by most.
Suffice to say, I shall be dividing my time as usual between the UK and the US , which leaves little time to
enjoy the glorious British weather, the Olympics, and – most importantly of all
my husband and dogs. But as, I always assure them, Mummy needs to go away just
to keep them in dog biscuits. I hope they understand! Woof! Woof! xx
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