How I Scored My Very Own Book Deal

So this week has been pretty mental. I've been like a 6-year-old with a secret, desperate to tell my pals for weeks and alas today the secret is released -- literally!
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So this week has been pretty mental. I've been like a 6-year-old with a secret, desperate to tell my pals for weeks and alas today the secret is released -- literally! I've bagged a two-book deal with Scholastic UK. Okay allow me a moment's pause whilst I pinch myself (I've been doing a lot lately). Can you seriously believe that? Mental, right?

So here's how it happened and where my questioning began about all this positive energy that surrounds me -- or does it?

I was invited by thee one and only Nile Rodgers to present their TEDxTeen London event at the O2 in October. It was a huge honor and real opportunity for me to show my presenting skills --something that I've been visualizing for some time now.

They day was magical and full of incredible energy with teens from around the globe sharing their amazing stories. At the end of the event, the dream like state continued as I joined Nile on stage in an impromptu jam session... I know another "pinch me moment." (You can imagine me trying to look cool, taking it all in my stride when I'm actually wanting to scream to world, "Woo-hoo! Check me out on stage with Mr. Chic himself.") But I carried on as if this was an every day occurrence -- not!

I was there with my folks and family (my bongo playing brother Zac who is 7 years old, got to meet and take a selfie with Nile -- yip -- I thought he might internally combust. And no I'm not lying when I tell you he plays bongos to Chic on a regular basis so this was a big deal.

I was pretty nervous throughout but as the day progressed, I became a little more confident and at 4 p.m., I thought, "Oh yeah, this stage belongs to me!"

We met some pretty cool people too, exchanging emails and cards as one does at these things, with no expectations.

Jump forward a few days and my #Glamager (we don't use momager) Big T a.k.a. my mum and manager, gets an email from a chap called David Maybury from Scholastic UK. Jump forward another day and we are now sitting in his office with his publisher and he's discussing a book deal. Now picture the scene; my dad (music producer, with one of those European can't quite place accents of his) is exhibiting his cheeky and whimsical sense of humor and asks if there will be chapter about "the dad: in the book. Laughter erupts and mammoth reliefs ensue -- phew -- they get his sense of humor. In fact, I discover that Irishman David Maybury and indeed the commissioning editor has an even more mischievous sense of humor -- we all hit it off!

We finish the meeting, shake hands and leave. As we are standing on the street waiting for a taxi, we ponder what just happened. My dad and I are laughing and the Glamager is already visualizing the second book, TV series the works.

The following week the contracts came in and boom -- it was in black and white -- I would be in print. My little brothers were trying to come to terms with what this meant?

"Can you put me in playing the bongos, Tallia?" asked Zac.

Johnnie, my 10 year-old bro, then piped up. "Tallia I can be your security when you're really big? Can you put that in the book?"

That night the boys had parents evening at school and then everything took a new direction. The boys were looking at the Scholastic Book Fair in their school gym hall and suddenly clicked that their sister might one day be on that shelf. Yasss! Now they get it!

Each night as we sit down to dinner (or "tea," as we call it in Scotland -- I know highly confusing as we don't mean a cup of tea, we do mean dinner), we talk about our day. This is usually followed by Glamager's take on what we should be grateful for and what we envisage to achieve the next day.

I have grown up with a mother who is so full or positive energy it's frightening. No matter how devastating a piece of news, or circumstance, Glamager always seems to find a positive take on it -- I promise you. So to her, hard work, graft, self-belief, positive energy and God play a major part in our world.

So I asked myself, with all these wonderful things happening to me, is this a result of positive visualization, or my hours of work, rehearsing and ambition or is it God? Don't get me wrong. We've had our fair share of heartache these past few years. My grandmother passed and my grandfather, whom we live with now, got diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, but there is Glamager, always being positive, praying and working like a crazy lady.

Does it matter who can take full responsibility for these incredible things? I think it just matters that we pause for thought and be grateful. Be grateful to TEDxTeen, without whom I may not have had these breaks, be grateful to my colorful family for always keeping it real, be grateful to my nanny for always believing and be grateful to Glamager and Saschmeister (dad) for giving it their all. We are indeed the generation of "can do's," and "go get it" and as TEDxTeen so eloquently put it, the generation of "remarkable disruptors." Yip, that's me -- disrupting with positivity, with insatiable will and throwing in a cheeky wise crack every now and again!

So without sounding cliché, I reckon God, goodwill and gumption play a combined role here. So on that note, I'm going to celebrate this incredible book deal from Scholastic UK... ponder who will play me in the movie in 2017 (lol).

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