Working with a baby isn’t that hard for anyone who has worked in advertising.

I mean, I spent years surrounded by screaming infants.

And a baby only ever wants to feed, burp or sleep. It’s not exactly hard to manage. It’s far easier to manage than the average creative in advertising, who wants to bitch about a client / play Rihanna on the pan flute they just bought on a trip to Romania / bitch about an account manager / throw a whiffle ball the entire length of the creative studio over and over again / bitch about a job they’ve been given 29 rounds of amends on / organize a cake and dance-off for someone’s birthday and crack open the beer and then gossip loudly about who picked up at the pub last night and then draw a penis and write the account director’s name on it and then put on John Denver’s Greatest Hits very, very loudly.

Advertising was damn fun, now that I think about it.

But in advertising, I never had a work break that looked like this.

Maybe I would have stayed a copywriter if I had.

I just read the most delicious book. SISTER MOTHER HUSBAND DOG (ETC) by Delia Ephron. She has a lovely chapter on – well, actually, they’re all lovely chapters.

Here’s one paragraph that I thought you guys might like:

“If New York is for you, nothing else will do. The beauty, the excitement, the friction. The thrill of mastery – not simply navigating the subway system, for instance, but knowing exactly where to get on a train so that, when you reach your destination and get off, you are exactly opposite the exit. I can’t tell you how good that makes me feel, that I know something that no one else knows except another New Yorker. Mostly, however, loving New York is personal: the validation of identity. New Yorkers are born all over the country and then they come to the city and it strikes them: “Oh, this is who I am.”

I can’t wait to see this movie.

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Wes Anderson movies are unique and hilarious and surprising and charming and oh, about fifteen other adjectives. They’re all brilliant, but you haven’t seen any of them, then find The Royal Tenenbaums right now and watch it. Seriously. Walk out of the office and watch it right now. Your boss will understand.

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In the US it’s called LOVE AND CHAOS. In the UK it’s called ANGIE. It’s the exact same book. I know, I know, crazy, but darling, the world is a crazy place. (Gazes into space, nods sagely.)

ANYWAY. It’s available from your favorite retailer right now! But why wait? Get it on Amazon.co.uk or get instant free worldwide delivery from The Book Depository. I mean, you know, if you want to, it’s totally up to you, my friend. The internet is full of great things to read, so frankly, I’m almost surprised anyone ever reads books anymore. I’m really enjoying the Hairpin right now and I always love CupOfJo. But when you’re in the mood to climb into bed with a herbal tea / box of Maltesers (depending on which side of Lent you roll), and nothing but a book will do, then my loves, try Angie.

So my latest book, LOVE AND CHAOS, came out this week.

LOVE AND CHAOS is a New Adult book about smart girls making bad decisions.

Here is where I should give you a big author sales pitch, but that’s just not my bag. Instead, to help you decide if my writing will frost your cupcake, I’ve collated a bunch of my best (uh, least mediocre) blog posts.

By the way, when I started this blog about four years ago, I was living in London with my boyfriend Fox and working as a freelance copywriter in advertising. Then I wrote THE DATING DETOX and A GIRL LIKE YOU and BROOKLYN GIRLS and a movie called LAST GIRL STANDING and a TV show called BABES and a bunch of other stuff that, um, didn’t get made. Today I live in New York City, with my husband Fox, am a full-time author and screenwriter, and have a two-year-old son named Errol and a brand new baby named Ned. Whoa, that’s surreal, isn’t it? LIFE. Oh how she changes.

So: some posts introducing me, again, about the BROOKLYN GIRLS book series, about editing, about writing, more about writing, and about what other writers say about writing and lastly, a survival guide for new authors.

Here are some posts I just thought would be fun subjects to write about: the rules of breaking up, comfort reads, romantic books, dirty books, angry dancing, the working writer’s wardrobe, and deciding what to be when you grow up.

Some posts about our wedding, and Errol, and Ned, and being pregnant, and pregnancy obsessions, and baby books.

Sometimes I post about make-up, and hair, and clothes, and perfumes, and lipstick. Sometimes I write about that stuff for magazines, just for fun.

I also post about awesome TV, and other awesome TV, and seriously awesome TV, and movies and more about movies.

If any of those links don’t work, email me and tell me I’m an idiot. I don’t mind. gemma@gemmaburgess.com – or find me on Twitter (@gkateb), Instagram (gemmakburgess) or Pinterest (gemmakburgess).

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