Charing Cross Rd

I spent a few happy hours this week wandering round the Charing Cross Rd looking for books that are on my ever increasing bibliography. In this time of the rise of the e-book, e-reader etc it was an absolute joy to immerse myself in the physicality of the paper book. Even the smell of second hand books makes me smile to myself. I've also been to another Fire Station Bookswap this week. I managed to offload Mothers Milk (did not enjoy it) for Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan which has been on my wish list for a while.

Finished!

I finished my dissertation today. It is formatted, referenced and proof read. All I have to do is press print. It feels great. Having said in The Big Decison that I will probably shelve it I have now decided, following comments from my tutor, that it will go on ice and be re-visited when I finish my PhD. I am now going to spend a few weeks reading books that I want to read. I got The 19th Wife at the September Fire Station book swap (swapped it for a spare copy of Pat Barker's Regeneration as the one I kept has a cover that matches the rest of the trilogy!) and also picked up Francesa Kay's An Equal Stillness from the charity shop which I have wanted ever since I worked at her agents last year.

Fire Station Book Swap Birthday

Last night was the Fire Station Book Swap’s 1st birthday. There was cake (but then there always is) and a smattering of balloons. It was a really entertaining evening with Matt Rudd (William’s Progress) and Andrew Kaufman (All My Friends Are Superheroes and The Waterproof Bible) as guests. Both were extremely engaging and funny; it will be available as a podcast on iTunes soon and I recommend it (it's free!). Am adding Andrew’s books to my ever increasingly Christmas list.

Book Swap –The Return

I went to my second book swap at the Fire Station Arts Centre last night. There was a good turnout which meant lots of cake (I love Mrs. Scott’s macaroons!). The guest authors were Bronia Kita (The Swansong of Wilbur McCrum) and Aliya Whiteley (Light Reading). It is such a wonderful concept – the atmosphere is so friendly and the fact that most of the questions are not about writing means that you get to know more about the authors themselves. They both came across really well. I was interested in Bronia’s book and hope to get to read it once my dissertation is done and I can read non-MA related books again. It was good to know that Bronia had done an MA (Goldsmiths) so there may be hope for me yet and also that Aliya was published via the MacMillan New Writing.
http://broniakita.com
http://www.aliyawhiteley.com

Fire Station Bookswap

I had a great night out at the Fire Station Bookswap this week. It is a monthly event and was established a year ago by Scott Pack and Marie Phillips. The guests this month were Emma Darwin and Edward Vallance. The 'stage' is set up with a sofa and table complete with kettle and cake (the latter is passed around the audience during the evening). The audience put written questions in a pot at the start of the evening and these are used by Scott and Marie during their chats with the guests. Questions on subjects other than writing are encouraged which lends even more of a relaxed feel. Perodically, audience members are asked to pitch the books they have brought along and those who are interested try and pitch their book and get the swap. I was rather shy of using the mic so Scott kindly did it for me. I can now honestly say Scott Pack pitched my book (alright I'm strteching it a bit but hey). Anyway, back to writing my book; nearly at 20,000 words.