Report from Publishers & Readers Day

My friend and I enjoyed the Publishers and Readers Day. However, there was a problem in that of the several workshops we could have attended, three of them that we particularly wanted to go to, were at the same time in the morning! It would have been better, we felt, if another session, perhaps in the afternoon, could have been arranged for them. We said as much in our survey forms. We did attend two workshops, both of them listening to various East Midlands writers talking about their books and reading from them. From a writing point of view this was good for me. 

 I did hand out my flyer to a few publishers, not as many as I would have liked, because several of them were only interested in poetry, guide books or pamphlets. The good news is that one of the publishers suggested I send in a synopsis and three chapters. This morning, that is what I have done! I've just checked my emails and have had a personal response from someone there. I found this encouraging instead of the usual auto-response. 

Fingers - and toes! - crossed.

 

This coming Saturday, 12th March, I am attending a Publishers and Readers event with a friend organised by Derbyshire County Council in Matlock. Besides workshops with various local writers, there will also be stalls of various independent publishers from the East Midlands. I'm hoping it will be an ideal opportunity to promote my own novel Save The Last Dance For Me. To that end, I've had great fun compiling a flyer with contact details, a photograph, and a blurb about the novel. I'm quite excited about the finished result. I've done a couple of years studying desk top publishing at a local adult education centre so it was good to put my skills to work. Wish I could post the flyer on here but it would take up too much room.

I'll let you know if I have an favourable comments!

A bit more about my writing

Although I've been lucky enough to have many articles about family and social history published in one of the best-selling national genealogy magazines, for the past few years, I've been concentrating on the fiction market. A couple of my short stories have been published in national publications and I've won 2nd and 3rd prizes in short story competitions. The phrase 'never the bride' comes to mind! After many rewrites, I finished my novel Save The Last Dance For Me last year and submitted it to an independent publisher. As I didn't hear anything from them, I've just submitted it to another publisher. I'll post here if there's any progress. In the meantime, I'm writing a follow-up novel featuring several more minor characters from 'Save The Last Dance For Me.'

That's enough for now, folks! (Possibly some of you are saying, that's quite enough!)

The Write Spot

If you're a 'senior' like me,  the poem, 'When I am an Old Woman' is brilliant. It's about wearing purple with a red hat, if you want to, when you are old. The poem was written by Englishwoman Jenny Joseph in 1961 and popularised in the United States by Elizabeth Lucas in the 1980s. For a shortened version of the poem, see Wearing purple.

When I took early retirement, I vowed to take my interest in writing more seriously. And with great good fortune, that is what I have been able to do. Like all writers, my ultimate aim is to get my novel (about which more another time) published but the world of publishing so far remains unconvinced.

Confession time now. This is the first time I have blogged so hope I've done it right!