My talk in Helmsley library last Saturday went well. Helmsley is a small market town near where I live so I didn’t expect as many people as I had at Scarborough, the large seaside resort on the Yorkshire coast. The small gathering in Helmsley was an interesting one. The people here were as equally receptive and attentive as the larger audience in Scarborough, so much so that I got an extra half hour of appropriate questions which demanded lively and informative answers
Libraries such as these two deserve to escape any cuts. Scarborough, serving a much bigger community, should be safe, Helmsley, on the other hand has what promises to be a bleak future, but it is hoped that enough interest will be stirred to save what is an attractive library, recently renovated, now with a much pleasanter arrangement and also a delightful small room for such functions as my talk. There are opportunities here to try and attract the communitywho should rise to the occasion and save what is a valuable asset. For the moment they have gained a reprieve for a year, giving time to find alternative arrangements or another solution. Rally round SAVE YOUR LIBRARY.
Last Saturday I gave a talk to Friends of Scarborough Library. About 60 there. A very receptive audience – I think a speaker can quickly sense that.
I am giving a similar talk at the Helmsley Library this Saturday.
During the week I have been getting on with my new novel — 10,000 words so far. ONLY another 90,000 to write !!!! before February but I like to be ahead in case of alterations so I set target as 1st January.
Went to a Romantic Novelists Association (Norther Branch) at Beckwithshaw near Harrogate today. Very good turn out. Pleasant chat among pleasant company. Lively talk by Linda Acaster about ebooks and their publication. Cleared my mind about them. Admired an iPod brought along by Shirley Wells a successful Romantic Novelist who has also had success as a Crime Novelist. A very attractive tool for writers – will I be tempted? Doubt it. I like my desk-top. If I got an ipod as well I’d never get away from a key-board!!
My new novel is underway nicely. I’m 5000 words into it. Only another 95,000 to write ! I’ve been held up progressing further this week because I have been preparing a talk to give to Friends of Scarborough Library tomorrow. It will deal with my writing life and look at the changes in the writing world during the 60 years I have been writing. 60 years! That shocked me. Where as the time gone?
