Book Reading at CCP

On World Book Night, 23 April, I did my first book reading. You may be aware of this, I might have mentioned it. Okay, I mentioned it a lot, because I was so petrified. I was asked to read at my old workplace, the library at City College Plymouth. It seemed like such a good idea at the time...

Reading

Having a drink before hand

Spilling my drink - good start!

Me, John van der Kiste
and Matt Sharp

It was a very busy day in the end, because Hubby was doing 24gigs in 24hours (the link takes you to his fundraising page - charities benefiting are the Devon and Cornwall Air Ambulances, donations still accepted for a couple more weeks!) so I was rushing to get to a couple of those, plus fitting in my reading.

I read The Walking Dead from That Sadie Thing, although I found myself editing as I was going along, which is perhaps not the best way to read aloud.

It was a small turn out, because I was there so early, but it meant I knew almost everyone, so I volunteered to read first just in case any strangers turned up! In hindsight it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be, so if anyone wants me to read my books, I'm ready for it... (just give me some warning, and a glass of wine!)

John read Death of an Artist 1905 from his book Devon Murders and Matt read his story Robot Hunter Squad which was published in Riptide 8.

Looking backwards and forwards

So, I am now a year older, and five days more exhausted than I was on Friday!

Looking Backwards
I had such a great time with Kyra Lennon - first at lunch, then at the Fozzy gig in the evening. My mum cooked a great meal, and baked a birthday cake with far too many candles in it (although unfortunately it was the right number). Manchester City won the FA Cup semi-final, although some of the unsporting behaviour was awful and best glossed over. And the Duke Special gig that Hubby took me to last night was such fun because he played my favourite album in its entirety, so I knew all the words and I started to get a flash of a story while he was singing... I just don't know what the story is yet.

The free promotion for That Sadie Thing seems to have been successful - lots of copies were downloaded, including three in Germany and two in Canada. It's lovely to know that these poor old stories are getting a second lease of life, and aren't just languishing in my filing cabinet. So, thanks to everyone to now owns a copy, and I hope you enjoy it.

Looking Forwards
So now I'm ready to get back to my novel, possibly tonight, but definitely tomorrow. And I'll be practising a lot for my first ever book reading on the 23rd April for World Book Night. The venue is the library I worked at for fifteen years (I left three or four years ago, I can't remember which!) so it will be like going home. Several of my old colleagues still work there, and I'm dragging another ex-colleague alone with me for moral support. Fingers crossed I don't turn into a puddly mess!

The other thing that's happening is Hubby is undertaking 24 gigs in 24 hours in aid of our two local air ambulance charities. I'm going to be following a couple of gigs, but I'm not getting up before dawn! If you live around Plymouth (that's the UK version, not the several worldwide ones), then why not check out the times on the link and pop along.