Mark Thornton’s seminar at the Society of Authors today was inspirational. His fundamental message to writers who want to persuade independent bookshops to stock their books was to think like a bookseller (not like a writer trying to persuade a bookseller to stock her book). And as soon as you start to think like that … Read More
Month: July 2007
Arvon Foundation and Mostly Books
One hundred years ago I went to Totleigh Barton on my first Arvon course. It was run by two writers, only one of whose names can I remember – David Benedictus (who was famous at the time for his first novel, The Fourth of June). But the thing about Arvon and the writers who teach … Read More
Selling a First novel, and writing
I’ve been thinking about Mostly Books ever since I typed ‘sell my novel’ into Google (it came up with 15,500,000 sites so I don’t know now how I happened upon Mostly Books, but I am so glad I did). Because I discovered that Mark Thornton at Mostly Books runs a course which gently explains to … Read More
Thomas Keneally and the fear that haunts all writers
Did you hear Thomas Keneally this morning on Desert Island Discs? He was magnificent. He didn’t mention MATs (multiple avoidance – of writing – techniques), but he talked about the most stultifying thing for a writer: FEAR. He said, I can’t quote him exactly because you can’t listen again to Desert Island Discs, but here’s … Read More
Speaking of Sales Figures
I have just discovered that my first novel Speaking of Love (published by the utterly wonderful Beautiful Books) has sold five copies in a week, in my local cafe, Il Molino, on Battersea Park Road. These sales figures will not, self-evidently, make so much as a mizzle in the mugglemist of today’s HP publication celebration, … Read More
Book Quiz, literary blogs, life …
I just did the Book Quiz (at Blue Pyramid) which I found on BooksPlease‘s blog (thank you) and I find I am this: You’re One Hundred Years of Solitude! by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Lonely and struggling, you’ve been around for a very long time. Conflict has filled most of your life and torn apart nearly … Read More
Life in my writing room
The walls are covered with quotations, this is one of my favourites: ‘A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.’ Thomas Mann. My head is always full of words but, this afternoon, they seem to be mixing with each other and making a grey sludge, rather than … Read More