I could have floated back to Glasgow from Gloucestershire on a cloud of
happiness rather than taken a flight with Easyjet. The Loveahappyending Summer Audience weekend was fabulous fun and an
amazing success! And it was all down to
the organisational skills of the woman at the helm, Linn B Halton. I first met
Linn on Twitter just over a year ago, when she said she was setting up a
reader/writer website and asked if I like to be part of it. I was new to
Twitter but immediately recognised this as a good opportunity. I’ve never
looked back - loveahappyending.com became established - and Linn and I have become firm friends.
I’d never done an author
talk before, and so I was naturally anxious when climbing the stage to deliver
my Zero to my Latest Hero speech last
Saturday but, happily, the support of my fellow loveahappyending.com authors
and the warm vibes from all the avid readers attending the event gave me the
boost I needed to talk, on a very personal level, about why and how I became a
writer.
Delivering my 'Zero to my Latest Hero' talk!
With Kim 'The Book Worm' Nash
Thoughout the day, Kim was also broadcasting live via
Stafford FM's Book Club and interviewing attendants!
With book blogger Louise Graham
With book blogger Sharon 'Shaz' Goodwin
With fellow author Mandy Baggot and my editor Kit Domino
With fellow Scottish author Chris Longmuir
Me with author & event organiser Linn B Halton and Lou Graham
One of the highlights of the day was the keynote speech by Catrin
Collier, which everyone agreed was spell-binding. Catrin, under various pen
names, has published over 41 novels worldwide. She has had three stage plays
professionally performed in addition to publishing various articles and short
stories. Her first Catrin Collier novel, Hearts of Gold was filmed as a
mini-series by BBC Worldwide, and attracted an audience of 6.8 million viewers
when shown on UK network TV. Another highlight came in the form of the lovely award-winning
author Jill Mansell, who dropped in to select one lucky winner of a a stack of
books and e-books, plus a ‘Devils With Wings’ signed poster by author Harvey
Black.
Author Harvey Black with his alter-ego Jeremy - but which is which...?
The Loveahappyending Group Photo!
We polished off the day with a meal in a cosy Cotswold pub
and raised our drinks to toast a fabulously successful event, each other, and to
Linn B Halton and her lovely husband Lawrence for making it all happen and for bringing us all
together
Cheers!
You can read lots more about the Loveahappyending.com Summer Event, our Featured Authors and Associate Readers by visiting the website HERE
And tomorrow, Saturday 23rd
June, I’ve been asked to speak to authors in Dumfries and Galloway on ‘Building
an Author Platform’. The event,
organised by The Creative Arts Business
Network (CABN) in Scotland, is being held at the Urr Valley Hotel, Castle Douglas. I’m really looking forward to it
and hope all this practice will stand me in good stead for doing lots more author
talks in the future. I’ll report back on how it went next Friday. Wish
me luck!
.jpg)
.jpg)
