Journey to a novel

My little promotion display

I held my first author event yesterday. It was only to my local Townswomen’s Guild, of which I am a member but, in a way, that was harder than giving a talk to strangers. I couldn’t help wondering if they were thinking, ‘Who does she think she is?’ and the scriptural thought sprang to my mind, ‘no prophet is accepted in his home town.’ (Matthew 4:24). In the event, I needn’t have worried because it went down well. I’d called the talk ‘Journey to my novel’ and talked of certain aspects of my life that had contributed to me becoming an author. I’d been advised that it ‘wouldn’t do’ just to talk about one’s book, one should give some background to it, so that’s what I did. The main thrust of my talk was about how much influence my home town of Horwich, Lancashire, had had on my life. After many years away from Horwich, we returned to live in the town when I was thirteen and thus I spent my formative years there. Francis Pryor, the archaeologist, said in his book ‘Britain in the Middle Ages,’ that ‘the person you are is synonymous with the town where you grew up.’ This is, I believe, very true of me. As readers of this blog know, up to that point, I’d led a very sheltered life, growing up as I did in other people’s houses while my parents were in domestic service. Returning to Horwich was the beginning of my journey to adulthood. And, as Horwich is very much featured in ‘A Suitable Young Man,’ it necessarily formed a large part of my talk. One person said to me afterwards that she hadn’t realised how sheltered a life she had led compared to mine!

Having been a Leeds tourist guide in the past, I am used to speaking in public so I was surprised to find that I was exceedingly nervous. My voice sounded shaky and quavery, not helped by the sore throat I was suffering from. Of course, it may have been with it being the first time I’ve done this talk but I hope I do better than that next time. I think I’ve said before that I’ve put my name forward as a speaker for other Townswomen’s Guilds in the area but I’ve not had any takers yet.

At the end of the talk, I gave a reading from the book. I had chosen a passage which had an element of humour in it and that went down really well. Although there were only thirteen members there yesterday, I did manage to sell eleven books so I was well pleased. Of the other two, I was one of them and my friend, who’d done a beta read for me was the other.

All in all, a worthwhile experience even if I was a nervous wreck beforehand!