Monthly Archives: March 2011

A Writing Week.

Books, News

The title fits this week very well.  

Last Saturday I had a signing session at the Whitby Bookshop. It was a beautiful morning so I left home early for the drive across the moors and a walk by the sea and on the harbour piers in Whitby. The signing session went well and I met some loyal fans and made some new ones. 

During the week I received a copy of TRAIL TO SEDALIA which had been published in Large Print . (Information and a  picture of the cover appear on a separate blog).

I received, for my approval, copies of items for the proposed cover of the next Jessica Blair novel, THE ROAD BENEATH ME , which is published early next year.

I also received a contract for the next Jessica Blair novel to check and agree. This has to be ready by 1st February. Piatkus had already agreed to take this novel so I had started work on it and have about 5000 words written so far. Another 95,000 to write!

I have a talk in Scarborough on 2nd April to Friends of Scarborough Library so I did some preparation for that.

And I did some work for my Review Column in my local weekly paper.

So, yes, a Writing Week !        It’s nice to be busy.

RNA MEETING

Books

Just back from our Northern Chapter meeting of the Romantic Novelists Association – the first after our winter break. It was good to meet up with writers again, especially those with similar interests. As this was the first meeting of the new session we had a round table of news – what everyone had been doing in the writing world during the winter and what was happening in that world. There were a number of successes with books published and commissioned. Concern about library closures and the impact that might have on publishers,  particulary those who cater mostly for the library trade, was voiced with great feeling. Those with experience of ebooks and the world it can open up for writers was mentioned as a preliminary taster of  next month’s meeting when the mystery of  publishing in this new format  will be fully revealed by Shirley Wells and Linda Acaster. A meeting in such capable hands to look forward to.