This week’s Campus Celebrity of Her Campus Exeter is our very own member, Beth Reeks!
1. You’ve had such amazing success with your books, ‘The Kissing Booth’ and ‘Rolling Dice’ at such a young age! And now we hear your book is nominated for an award too. Could you tell us a little about the award and how you came to be nominated?
‘The Kissing Booth’ has been nominated along with three or four other books for the Young Adult Romance Novel of the Year Award for 2014; the awards are run by the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and there are a few categories (Young Adult, Historical, Contemporary, etc.) so it’s extremely exciting to be up for such a prestigious award!
2. When is the award ceremony taking place?
It’s on March 17th, in London, so it’s very soon and I can’t wait – fingers crossed for me!
3. What’s been the most exciting experience of being a published author so far?
That’s quite tough, because I’ve had so many exciting opportunities – I got to film for TV news spots with NBC and Channel 4; I’ve done all manner of radio, TV and newspaper interviews, and the photoshoots are fun too! I think my favourite experience so far is when I went to the Random House Christmas party last December for their children’s authors – I got to meet Jacqueline Wilson, one of my favourite authors from my childhood. I thought I was going to faint!
4. How do you manage your growing success as an author with all of your Uni work?
I’ve always balanced writing alongside schoolwork and studying: the difference since becoming a published author is that I really have to think about time management more: I have to keep up to date responding to Tweets, and messages on my blog and Facebook; answer emails about my books, or interviews, and find time to write alongside that! It can get pretty challenging at times but it’s all worthwhile.
5. What’s next for your books? Will there be a third book?
Yes, I’ve actually sent my third book off to my editor and it’s due out this July! It’s more teen fiction romance, and I’m really excited about it coming out because this will be the first published book I haven’t posted online first.
6. What are your plans for the future?
I’d love to be able to get a Physics-related job after I finish my degree, but possibly something part-time so I can keep up writing alongside it – I enjoy both so much, and I’d hate to have to give one up!