Happy
Friday everyone – I’ve had a an even busier week than usual as I’ve been out
and about on writerly business. On Monday I was invited to the famous and very romantic location of
Gretna Green for a meeting.
It
was wonderful to catch up with writers I already know well through the Writers
Scotland Group, to be reintroduced to one or two I’d met before through the
Romantic Novelist’s Association, and to meet some new lovely writer peeps. The meeting was interesting, involving romance writers, commercial
enterprise, media and PR, but as it was a preliminary talk, I don’t think I’m
at liberty to tell you exactly what it was all about just yet - so I’ll tell
you more when I can!
After lunch and the meeting itself, a few of us had a tour of the famous blacksmith’s shop and the wedding room and had our photo taken in front of the wedding anvil!
In this photo: myself,
Lynda Denton, Eileen Ramsay and her husband Ian,
Michelle Styles and Gwen Kirkwood
Michelle Styles and Gwen Kirkwood
The Marriage Anvil at
Gretna Green
On Tuesday, I was invited to speak about my
writing and my life as a writer at the first meeting of the season for the Dumfries
and Galloway Tangent Club in a private room at a restaurant in Thornhill. It
was an honour to be asked to talk to these lovely ladies and I was right to
suspect that when I got there, it being a local group of professional and
business women, that I would already know many of them. We had a glass of wine,
friendly conversation and lots of laughs, and we also had a lovely dinner. I
felt my talk went well, as the atmosphere in the room was so relaxed and warm. I
rounded off my talk with a short reading from ‘Reaching for the Stars’ and we
had a quiz/competition - the winner being the first correct answer drawn by the
restaurant owner!
On Wednesday, I was asked if I was interested in doing a talk and a writer’s
workshop on the afternoon of Sunday 20th October at an Arts and
Crafts Weekend being held at a local village Hall. I thought it sounded like
another good opportunity to get out and about and to meet people interested in
reading and books. So I accepted.
All
of this is of course great practice for the Festival of Romance event in Bedford on the weekend of the 8th/9th & 10th of
November, which I am attending as an author. I’m speaking at this event on the
Saturday morning at the ‘Coffee and Cake’ event. Tickets are on sale now at the
Festival website.
The
rest of this week I’ve been writing and reading, attending online book launches,
and following some exciting blogs. It’s a very busy and exciting time to be a
writer!!
Haste
ye back here next Friday!
