Back home

How quickly two months can pass when you are on holiday.  Did I have a good time…Oh did I ever!!  Before I left NZ, I had been so busy with the launch of The Glasgow Smile that I hadn’t given much thought to my time away. However, when I was on the plane home, I reflected that i had in fact not just travelled to the Uk, Italy and Croatia, but more importantly, I had been down memory lane. I had visited several really great friends, our relationships going back many years and in many different countries and we laughed and hugged and talked about old time…it was so very special. I think Memory Lane isn’t a path, but a mirror on your life, reflecting love and loss, the triumphs and failures, the happy and sad times through the eyes and hearts of other people, but most of all its an assessment of yourself and in some way, judged by the people you like and admire.

The Theakstone Peculier Crime festival wasn’t quite as I expected…there being far more readers than writers. I actually knew very few people and found it hard to bowl up to people and introduce myself. No one wore name tags so it was hard to know who was who.  but of course it was a great networking opportunity.

I came away with lots of books to read…..but my favourite  by far was the book I carried with me from NZ ,,The Axemans Carnivale.   I have no doubt we have some brilliant writers in this country but a lack of support and opportunity in many places make writing a breakthrough novel a formidible  and it feels as time, an unachieveable task,