#TKBMovie - The Beginning of Everything Else and What Comes After The Kissing Booth

A couple of weeks ago, The Kissing Booth 3 came out on Netflix and in bookstores. It’s the final chapter in a story I’ve been working on in some capacity for just over ten years, now, and it’s safe to say it’s meant a whole lot to me and I’m incredibly grateful for all the love and support this series has had.

It’s allowed me to do a whole host of incredible things - like seeing my characters come to life on set in Cape Town, doing panels in New York, being hollered at like I’m some actual celebrity in Brazil… It’s even helped me to buy a home of my own, with a big ol’ office room I’ve lined with bookshelves and promptly filled with all the published copies of my own books.

It’s been a massive part of my life, and completely life-changing in a hundred different ways.

Part of me can’t believe it’s over, but I truly believe that Elle, Lee and Noah’s story had the ending it deserved - and the ending I always envisioned - something which I really hope you all agree with. 

It’s tough to say goodbye, but it also feels like it’s time.

But, this isn’t a post looking back on the last ten years. (Although if you are interested in that, here it is.) This isn’t about the end of an era.

This is about the beginning of everything else.

This is about what’s next.

And, hey, there are plenty of answers to that question!

Starting with new books!

In 2019 I published my first New Adult book, a novella called It Won’t Be Christmas Without You which follows twenty-something twins Cara and Eloise trying to have the perfect Christmas. I’ve been working on more New Adult books since (with New Adult being the genre of characters in that sort of 18-25 ish range).

In April 2020 I began posting a new Wattpad story called Lockdown on London Lane, and I’m thrilled that it’s going to be published in paperback, ebook and audiobook in February 2022! This one follows five different apartments in the same building on lockdown for a week - from Imogen who’s stuck with her one-night stand, to Serena and Zach, whose relationship is suddenly on the rocks after he orders pineapple on his pizza, and a whole host of brilliant characters.

Think Love Actually, but for twenty-somethings stuck indoors for a week. It’s funny and lighthearted, and packed full of romance and friendships and as much adventure as you can have when trapped in a building.

The UK title is Love, Locked Down, and that’ll also be out in February 2022. Alternatively, you can grab the US edition here. This, in very exciting news, is my tenth published book, which is really just phenomenal to think about. 

I’m also working on other books in the same genre - a Christmas book I sent my agent earlier this year, a summer holiday story I wrote around 2019, and I’m currently working on another new one, too. My UK publishing deal for Love, Locked Down is a two-book deal, so hopefully I’ll have an announcement to share on my next official book before long!

(Side note — make sure you’re following me on Instagram for cover reveals and new book announcements!)

And… maybe some new movies?

So, I’m not allowed to say a whole bunch about this yet, buuuut… maybe there might potentially be some adaptations of my other book(s)? And maybe I will be allowed to say a little more about that in September?

MAYBE. 

Which, is maybe very exciting and very cool, and if it is happening, maybe, I’m looking forward to being more involved this time around. 

With The Kissing Booth series, my involvement was mainly limited to a couple of preliminary calls about the storyline and giving feedback on the script - and that's a level of involvement that was right for me at the time. When it all kicked off, I was finishing my degree and starting my first job, wanting focus on building a career outside of writing as well. But this next time (if there is a next time… or two… or three? A girl can hope!) I’d like to get stuck in more, now I know a lot more about how the whole process works.

And speaking of my career… I kind of packed in my job to become a full-time author!

Yep, you read that right! As of October, I will officially be a full-time author. 

When I got the book deal initially, I was seventeen years old and it was a week after I sent off my university applications to go study Physics. I was still set on doing that regardless of the book deal, and wanted to get a job outside of writing. I knew the writing career might fizzle out but I also really wanted to have that day job. I always saw myself working in IT. And after a brief foray into a financial graduate scheme, that’s what I did. 

But I’ve been balancing my writing career with either studying or work for almost ten years, now, and that’s a lot. It’s something I thrive on, but at times it’s also exhausting - like when I have some bookish thing late at night, but have to still be in the office like normal the next morning, or when I have a deadline and most of my evenings and weekend are spent focusing on that, with no downtime in between because I have to go to work. 

With new books (and maybe more adaptations?!) on the horizon, it felt like time to take a step back from the day job part of my life and pursue the writing full-time.

There are plenty of things I haven’t done, or hold myself back from, because I haven’t had the time to commit to them. Like, I’d like to vlog more regularly, but this is always something that gets bumped off my list when I don’t have the time or energy. I’d like to look at starting a podcast. I’d like to try scriptwriting. I'd like to take a day off work to... you know, take a day off, not work on my other career.

These are all things I plan to do in earnest from October.

Something else that fed into this decision was that I’ve really enjoyed my job, but currently, I don’t feel like I’m getting out of it what I used to. It doesn’t challenge me as much as it did, which for me, takes some of the enjoyment out of it. And I’ve learnt over the last few years that if I’m not enjoying things, I don’t engage with them so well, and it generally makes them more draining than being super busy but with things I do enjoy.

Another big factor in the decision was finances.

I’ve always been upfront when talking about income as an author, that it isn’t very reliable or predictable. I often don’t know how much I’ll get paid or when, which, when contrasted with a nice, steady, monthly salary, feels risky and uncertain.

One thing I was saving most of my book earnings for was a house... which I bought in April, allowing me to see where I was with the rest of my finances. It's helped me to have a bit more stability and certainty, and made it a risk I felt comfortable taking.

I don’t know how long I’ll do the author gig full time. I might still be doing it in ten years. I might get bored and demotivated in six months and be looking for a new day job. I might not be able to keep it up from a purely financial point of view in a few short years.

But I do know I’d regret it if I didn’t try.

Oh, and one more new project I’m trying…

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that in lockdown last year I began doing movie reviews. I love fandom. I love getting into a series or a show or a movie. I love soundtracks and find set design or costuming really interesting. Hell, I haven’t written over 30 different Game of Thrones fanfics because I’m a casual viewer who couldn’t explain to you the history of the Targaryen conquest of Westeros.

So, something I’ve really wanted to do is start a YouTube channel talking more about this kind of stuff.

Maybe not the Targaryen conquest, but maybe what makes How to Train Your Dragon such a good movie, or why Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie, or why Harry Potter is a Hufflepuff, or why the Dark Knight trilogy would suck if not for Harvey Dent and yeah, I SAID IT.

I want a space to geek out on this kind of stuff that I really love - movie reviews and theories and fandom culture.

So, I’m going to do that.

Later this year, I’ll be launching my new channel: The Galdalorian. 

You can subscribe now to make sure you don’t miss any videos (which I plan to be weekly), the first ones will be up in a couple of weeks. 

So, what’s next? What comes after The Kissing Booth?

Oh, so much. It’s the beginning of everything else!

The series marks the end of an era for me. But it also marks a new phase in my life: one where I’m a full-time author, pursuing new passion projects and leaning into new opportunities, one where there might be even more adaptations of my books and where there will most definitely be brand new books.

And I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t be more excited for that.