Cathy
with violinist Irene Orton
Fellow artists Dan
& Steffi from Bishop Auckland College
. Cathy
with artist, Julia Allison
Cathy
with artist, Dan |
Cathy writes:
I arrived at the Town Hall in good time,
with Ian (hubby) in tow to carry books etc. Everything was already set
up – all I had to do was pile the books and painting onto the table
and smile sweetly at people as they started to trickle in about half an
hour later. Gillian Wales, the Town Hall manager, was there all the time
to ensure smooth running.
It’s funny, but I thought that most of the people I ‘know’ live
either on the other side of the world (internet folk) or in faraway
places like Kent and Sussex, but it turns out that I must know a few
locals, because I reckon of the thirty odd people who turned up, there
was only one I didn’t recognise. I’ve no idea who she was, but she
took exception to my comment that people who write should also read. She
said afterwards that she takes care not to read anything, in case it
influences her writing. I didn’t really have an answer to that, other
than to try not to let my jaw drop too far.
Peter Walters, novelist and leader of the Wear Valley Writers gave me a
brief and very complimentary introduction, during which I have to admit
to a touch of nerves – but then it was my turn to speak and the nerves
mercifully evaporated. Those of you who’ve met me will know that in
social situations I tend to be reticent (if not downright bloody shy)
although on forums I can be quite forthright. I’ve now discovered that
the ‘public speaking’ me is the same person as the forum me. I loved
having a captive and polite audience who were there to listen to Me! Me!
Me! *ahem*.
So, what did I talk about? I started off with brief biographical stuff
about my background in music and sudden switch to writing. I talked
about how the writing started, and the grotty poetry I wrote at first. I
explained my views on what makes bad poetry really bad, giving a few
examples and referencing the famed writethis.com ‘banned words’
list. I talked about the people who made me realise what you have to do
in order to avoid the pitfalls, and how I learnt to do it
‘properly’, mostly through the influence of people like the late
great ‘bru’ from msn group The Blank Slate. I talked about how my
novel “The Sand in the Painting” came to be written and published. I
described the different types of publishers – and how to avoid being
ripped off by scams like poetry.com. I lauded the legitimate small
presses to the skies.
I then moved onto the poems – I’d picked out about eight of them
from the book to be read out by fellow author Mary from the writing
group, so I had a rest while she read them, though I gave brief
introductions to each. We ended the readings with ‘little piggies’
which always gets a laugh. I asked if there were any questions, and
there were quite a few, many of them interesting, and all of them (thank
heavens) answerable.
Then it was onto the (free) wine and the book signing. Ian acted as
treasurer, and I signed and watched the piles of books go down. A good
feeling. Afterwards, I chatted to the people who’d come – friends,
relations, my art teacher, other artists, ex-colleagues from the music
business, writers – and, to my delight, three people from internet
writing forums who I’d never met in the flesh before (Joss and
Mattspop from Slingink, and Ack from creativewriters/spiritnet/etc.).
Finally we packed up the remaining books, and lurched over to
Wetherspoons for a pint of Black Sheep with the artists, where I managed
to sell another book to a complete stranger.
I’m posting this report on a few sites, so some of these thank yous
won’t mean much to everyone, but here we go:
Thank you Jeff from creativewriters for the invaluable advice on press
releases. As a result of using your formula, I managed seven pieces in
various newspapers in the run-up to the launch.
Thank you everyone who’s ever
critiqued a piece of work of mine – there are hundreds of you and it
would be invidious to pick out any one name, other than bru and Nigel
and bfgg and danimik and – so many more – but without online
critique, I wouldn’t have discovered the unbeatable buzz one can get
from writing (quite apart from the rather pleasant aspect of earning
money).
Most of all, thank you Kay Green of Earlyworks Press / Circaidy Gregory
Press for boundless enthusiasm, support, critique, editing,
proofreading, friendship and all round brilliance.
Signing, with Cathy's
original cover art on display |
