Heatwave London

I was at the Exclusively Independent event at Fulham library last night, and had a great time meeting the other writers and reading from my book… but blimey, I hope the next event is in the winter. Out here in sedate Great Missenden it has been possible to keep cool by staying indoors or going out in the Jeep with the roof down, but the Tube during the rush hour was quite a different matter.

From Marylebone, I just had a short hop to Paddington and then it was the District Line to Parsons Green – straightforward, but after the packed train stopped for a few minutes in a dark bit, and then more and more people got on at Earl’s Court, I bailed out for a while. I got on another train a bit later and was still in plenty of time for the event in the library’s exhibition hall – and in my boiling and dishevelled state I probably did look quite an exhibition by then!

There must have been about 30-40 people in the audience, which was ideal – not too crowded but not too sparse. Also speaking were Alec Silifant, Candi Miller, Michael Marr and Peter Cave – all our books are in different genres and styles, and really showed the diversity of the independent publishing sector. Thanks to all at Legend Press and Fulham Library for organising the event, and to everyone who turned up on such a very hot day to show such wonderful interest in the books.

I haven’t got any pictures yet but a professional photographer unobtrusively took loads throughout the event, so I’ll have some soon - though I possibly won’t look very glamorous and author-like without some major photoshopping.

One thing that has changed since my book came out is that I now really enjoy reading my work to an audience. Before, I was OK with doing a speech or something, but actually reading out my fiction to anyone other than the dog felt embarrassing and stupid. I also didn’t like the idea of answering people’s questions at an event – I thought I wouldn’t have a clue what to say. Now I much prefer doing a reading + Q & A, not least because this appeals to my laziness by not requiring much preparation!

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A few random bits of  self-promotional showy-offy news:

My Xtranormal video  was chosen as best video of the week on writers’ site Red Room 

I’ve been interviewed on WriteWords

I’m getting tons of website hits from Keele University as I think I must be on the intranet or forums there, so if you’re visiting from Keele, hello! Hope to see you at my Science in the Humanities seminar talk on 18 November.