You know how you get weeks sometimes when everything is insanely busy, and you’re juggling diary dates like oranges and plates? Well, this is one of those weeks.
Last Friday I set off on the complex and fiddly train journey to Gretna Green for a ‘Crime & Publishment’ get together. Although it’s not all that far, it involves three separate trains, awkward connections, a 20-minute (uphill) walk, and a lift at the other end. The logistics are… challenging, but I got there in one piece in spite of late-running Virgin trains and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. There’s a core group of us who live close enough to get back every couple of months or so, plus others who come when they can. We chat about writing, publishing, our various achievements, and how best to bury all those dead bodies, with the result that we often spook the wedding guests sat next to us in the bar or restaurant! Throw in a great ‘pub grub’ meal and a few drinks in the bar afterwards and you have all the makings of a fun night out.
Then yesterday I hurtled into Kendal to meet another friend, a journalist/photographer/designer who was in town for the annual Comic Art Festival. We set the world to rights over a coffee at the Brewery Arts Centre café and swapped notes on publishing, literary festivals, book design, and goodness knows what else.
And this weekend I’m heading off in completely the opposite direction, to Southampton, for a one-day event entitled ‘CSI: Southampton’ which involves crime writers and forensic experts comparing their approach to the subject. It sounds absolutely fascinating and I’ll post a report next week once I’ve got my breath back.
Anyone who ever thought being a writer involved sitting at a desk and typing all day every day might want to think again!
Tess Makovesky 