​What a crazy summer. Eleven weeks ago I posted a first draft of #OnlyOneOfMe online, hoping - but not expecting - to find a way of getting Lisa's book published.

Getting published is never easy. Publishing a picture book (two, in fact!) in such a short period of time is pretty much miraculous, and it's been an absolute pleasure from start to finish, thanks to the team behind it.

​​Thank you a million times to our artists, Catalina Echeverri (who worked while juggling other deadlines and moving house) and Tim Budgen (who worked while juggling other deadlines and on holiday), Peter Gill and the team at Graffeg - Damon, Daniel, Hazel, Joana, Matthew, Megan - hope I got everyone! (Peter said YES at first sight and his team have gone above and beyond in delivering the books, a website and a whole lot more besides), James Catchpole (who pulled more strings than Mr Geppetto), 

Last but by no means least I want to thank Lisa Wells for being an absolute smasher. Through regular chemo, ongoing pain, feeling like crap and getting abuse from strangers (believe it or not), she's stuck to her guns to see this project through. She's an incredible person and a dream of a woman to have as the public face of #OnlyOneOfMe. The book would simply not exist without her drive to stick two fingers up to cancer. Eff you, cancer. LONG LIVE LISA!
[caption id="attachment_3785" align="alignright" width="225"] Beautiful flowers - thank you, Walker Books![/caption]

The #OnlyOneOfMe book trailer is here - huge thanks to Hazel Guppy at Graffeg for putting this together, along with the website - where you can pre-order as well as nominating a charity to receive one of 800 crowdfunded copies of the book. What are you waiting for? Visit onlyoneofme.co.uk and nominate as many charities as you like!

It's been non-stop behind the scenes at #OnlyOneOfMe - and non-stop limelight for Lisa. For those who missed it, Lisa was on Radio 4's Woman's Hour yesterday. The interview comes at about 20mins in, you can listen on iPlayer, at time of posting.

​Lisa really appreciated the opportunity. It was an excellent but tough interview for her to do. Not only was she mid-chemo but she was feeling floored by the death of kindred spirit, Rachael Bland. It's impossible to say anything adequate about Rachael here - or indeed about Lisa and others in their situation. People who generously and selflessly open up about their experiences are helping others in so many ways. The OOOM team sincerely hopes Rachael found a publisher for her memoir in time to know about it.

Catalina and Tim have delivered final art for#OnlyOneOfMe! Those two deserve a pat on the back, standing ovation, Mexican wave, medal and quite frankly a holiday. Now it's over to the brilliant team at Graffeg to design and artwork it ready for print.
I can't wait for you all to see it. It's such a top quality picture book you would honestly never believe it came together so quickly. Incredibly, you don't have long to wait.
Both the Mum and Dad versions of #OnlyOneOfMe will be widely available to buy from 12 October 2018. You'll be able to buy a copy in high street bookshops such as Waterstones and WH Smiths, online through Graffeg and Amazon and at independent bookshops throughout the UK. You'll also be able to borrow #OnlyOneOfMe from your local library.
The first print run is limited. We expect high demand and hope to be re-printing before too long. Don't miss out - pre-order a copy NOW!Preorder DAD VERSION from Graffeg
Preorder DAD VERSION from Waterstones
Preorder DAD VERSION from Amazon
Preorder MUM VERSION from Graffeg
Preorder MUM VERSION from Waterstones
Preorder MUM VERSION from Amazon
I recommend popping to your local indie book store and asking them to order you one in. Should you need them, here are the ISBN numbers:-

​This is definitely more of an uplift than an update. First, news from the team in brief...

• Funds continue to come in and I haven't even been rattling my bucket. Truly astonished and heartened by your generosity. Thank you all for your continued support and love.

A NOTE TO PUBLISHERS (and everyone else!)
I wanted to tell you all how incredible everyone working on this project has been.
Lisa has been creative, energetic, influential, honest, inspirational, funny, generous, warm hearted - all while learning skills in a whole new industry AND dealing with chemo and stage four cancer. Oh, and did I mention raising two young kids? Hats off to a wonderful woman. I really hope she manages to get another book in the offing while she's with us. There's always room on the shelves for writers with heart.
Catalina Echverri and Tim Budgen have been the most incredible illustrators. They've worked like troopers to meet an insane deadline, and are set to finish early in huge style. Their work speaks for itself, but what we never see in a finished book is what went on behind the scenes. Cata and Tim have been receptive to direction, changes and evolving ideas - all the while finding the spirit and energy to bring their own wonderful ideas to their work. #OnlyOneOfMe has been a challenging project emotionally and physically. This pair have risked exposing any (perceived!) weaknesses in a very public way. I hope they both feel strengthened by the incredible things they now know they're capable of. They're the nicest human beings. I will be forever grateful to them and I can't wait to work with them again in the future - hopefully at a more relaxed pace!
James Catchpole is a legend. But I suspect most of you already knew that. If you're a talented new author, please don't submit your work to him? I really do want him all to myself.
Peter Gill an Graffeg: Your support has been incredible from the off. Thank you for seeing the potential in Lisa's book and for making it become a reality. You and your team are doing an incredible job and making the most beautiful book.
Thanks to Emily Lamm at Orchard Books for her editorial guidance on the logic and flow of the text. Thanks also to Dee, Maria and Tanya at Walker for additional support, meeting space and crisps! We love you.
Thanks to the team at WHY We Hear You for advising and guiding us along the way.
And finally, thanks to every one of you who has shared, donated, auctioned art and cheered us all along. We're almost there! News on how, when and where you can buy the book will follow soon.
Michelle x

Happy Monday, all! Thanks so much for your continued support, it means so much. Here's what's in store for - and from - the #OnlyOneOfMe team this week...

• Lisa is busy drumming up support from all corners of the globe. She's a wonder! She has another chemo session tomorrow, do send her your love.
• We picked our illustrators well. Catalina and Tim have been hard at work over the weekend. There's so little time for trial and error - it's a good job they're both so good at what they do! Here's a sneak peek at some of the art in development...

 

Hi folks - here's a brief(ish!) rundown on what's been happening over the past few days with the #OnlyOneOfMe team...

• We've hit our SECOND fundraising target! Thanks again for your continued generosity and support. We no longer need to use the funds to pay illustration fees - Catalina and Tim have both refused to take one. This means the funds can cover the costs of a fundraising event to launch the book, with any remaining funds buying copies of the book to donate to charities, or going directly to Lisa's preferred charities.
• Lisa has met with Gemma Wilkes - WHY We Hear You's Fundraising and Communications Manager - to get planning the book's launch party. It's looking like being early October for publishing - and partying!
• Lisa spoke beautifully about her situation and why she wanted to make the book on BBC Radio Somerset yesterday morning. You can listen online for the next month or so on the BBC iPlayer.

• Our fabulous illustrators Catalina Echeverri and Tim Budgen have met in person! They needed a meeting space in London and our friends at Walker Books came good with space, lunch and even a helpful once-over with the picture book editorial team. Huge thanks to Dee, Maria and Tanya for making this possible. Cata and Tim now have a crystal clear vision for each and every page. Now all they have to do is draw them all by August 30th...! They will absolutely SMASH IT.
• Meanwhile, Peter Gill at our amazing publisher, Graffeg has been working tirelessly to get contracts finalised - Lisa, Catalina, Tim and me are all donating all royalties to charity.
• Peter has been a very busy man, actually - he's also been booking printing time in... Remember our friends at CPI Antony Rowe? They'll be printing a very special limited edition of #OnlyOneOfMe for Lisa to gift to her family and close friends. Meanwhile, Graffeg will be publishing a beautiful hardback picture book for YOU to buy or donate to a charity of your choice. Two, actually - Cata's Mum version and Tim's Dad version.
• ...and all the while, James Catchpole, gentleman and wonder agent, has been bearing the brunt of coordinating all of this while I bugger off on a family holiday planned longed before all of this came into being. THANK YOU, JAMES!

Thank you for your ongoing love and support. We've had messages and donations from all over the world, and it really helps keep our own energy levels up. This is quite a marathon, and for everyone involved it's an honour to be running it.
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR DETAILS OF WHEN, HOW AND WHERE YOU CAN BUY A COPY OF #OnlyOneOfMe!

Thanks to Tracy Hager for suggesting making pre-orders a possibility - we'll look into it. The entire project is being run by a very small team of volunteers, all with full time jobs, clients and deadlines to satisfy on top of making this book - which is a full time job in itself!
Fear not! It's all running smoothly and on time. Now we've hit our fundraising target we're focussed fully on creating the very best book in Lisa's name.
I'll be sharing insights and the occasional sneaky peek of art from Catalina Echeverri and Tim Budgen as we go along. Please carry on cheering our fantastic artists along on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. It's a mammoth task but they're more than equal to it.

♡THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR SUPPORT! ♡

Good morning, friends of #OnlyOneOfMe - or should I say...

...while Catalina is making a dummy book and planning very rough thumbnails before creating a finished, beautiful sample. Panic not! The final book will not contain a single blob person!

What a wonderful whirlwind #OnlyOneOfMe is turning out to be! Yesterday (Tuesday 7 August) was a day for starting balls rolling. A lot of balls. BIG balls. All rolling at the same time.
Thank heaven for Jane and Roger, my mum and dad, who spent the last two days at my house looking after my kids while I’ve been practically chained to my laptop and mobile co-ordinating the project. It’s been intense but it’s all coming together – hooray!


First thing on Tuesday we had a three-way Skype call to introduce our illustrators to one another and to Lisa.
Lisa and her gorgeous girls, Ava-Lily and Saffia came round to my house (she lives a couple of streets away from me in Frome, Somerset). Meanwhile, Tim joined us from his holiday in Italy (sorry, Tim!) and Catalina managed to find someone to look after her own eighteen month old daughter so she could squeeze in our chat before attacking two looming deadlines.
Before Lisa joined us we discussed a lot of the technicalities: the pros and cons of human over animal characters, layout considerations (when and if to use double page spreads or whether single pages and vignettes would be better suited), use of white space, typefaces or hand lettering – the list goes on.
Each and every pen stroke in a picture book represents a thousand decisions, deliberations and choices. For #OnlyOneOfMe, we have to make as many of those choices up front in very little time with the confidence to commit to them.
Catalina and Tim need to have all their work finished and delivered by August 30th. Artwork will be delivered to our printing partner, CPI Antony Rowe of Melksham on September 7th. #OnlyOneOfMe will be published by Graffeg on September 21st. Yes, I do mean 2018.

​I hear a collective *clunk* as the jaws of publishing folk everywhere hit desks. We can do this! Thankfully we are able to call on the expertise of our charity partners WHY We Hear You to ensure our decisions tie in with best practise in cancer counselling. (More on that anon!)
When Lisa and Saffia joined us (Ava Lily went to play with my kids, supervised by legends Jane and Roger), we talked about Lisa’s wishes and dreams for her book. How does she see the books looking? What little quirks of her family life can Catalina and Tim draw upon to bring the reality of family life to the scenes? All the while, baby Saff demolished a choc chip brioche and a croissant. Would you look at the adorable curl on top of her head?!


Once our call was over I inhaled a cup of tea and made contact with the small but perfectly formed team at WHY We Hear You. I needed to update them on our progress and get another big ball rolling – the #OnlyOneOfMe Launch Party needs planning! Again, Lisa’s wishes for this are key and we’re lucky to have WHY’s resident fundraising and event planner on board to pull together a blinder of a bash. We’re going to have copies of the book at the party so guests can buy and donate them directly to charity.
We still need all the help we can get to make all of this happen! How can you help? So many ways!


– Donate! Funding currently stands at 75%. Every donation basically gives us some float and budget to pull all of this together. Thank you for your donations! Every single penny will go directly to making this happen and if we end up with any spare, they’ll go to printing and distributing additional copies.
– Spread the word! Share links to the fundraiser (cut and paste this text: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/onlyoneofme) and to this blog, talk about the project – and talk about what is underlying it. We need to be open and brave about death; it’s part of life. It’s not easy, it’s not fun – but if Lisa can do it, so can we.
– Hold an auction! Perhaps you can raise funds to donate by selling or offering something special? Many thanks to Steven Lenton, Paula Bowles, David Roberts, Sophy Henn, James Brown and Anne Booth who are already on this or planning it! Apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone – BUSY BRAIN.
– Send encouragement! Please cheer Catalina and Tim along as they head into what is sure to be a very intense few weeks. They deserve all the love and applause they can get.
I also want to thank my agent, the wonderful James Catchpole who has not only been pulling strings behind the scenes to get this project running but has also been shadowing everything I’m doing so that I can hand over some of this next week while I’m in Canada. (Timing! I’ve had a holiday planned for a year, and it has to coincide with the BIGGEST ROLLING BALLS OF MY LIFE).
Loads more happened yesterday too, but this post is already long enough and you’re now on top of the main things.