After the Dagger
We're back in the northeast and it's a joy to wake up to the sound of gulls and the foghorn at the mouth of the Tyne. We're still living in chaos, waiting for walls to be knocked down, so we can unpack and feel the house is ours. I do have a makeshift office, though, and at last it's been possible to get on with the the second Shetland book. 50,000 words in now. It's always a tricky time, the middle of a book. Best not to think too much about how it's working and just keep writing.
I left Kirklees Libraries at the end of September. I loved working there and wouldn't have stopped if we weren't so desperate to get back to the coast. Went out with a bang - a readers' day for visually impaired readers, with writers Val McDermid, Kate Long and Sophie Hannah and actor Gordon Griffon. Gordon has read more talking books than anyone else in Europe. The speakers were wonderful and the afternoon tea a triumph.
Since the Dagger my profile has changed a bit. Raven Black has been part of the 3 for 2 offer in Waterstone's and Ottakar's. I've not hit the best seller list yet, but at least the books are visible in the shops. There've been more foreign rights sold too, so now the books will be translated not only into German and Dutch, but French, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Japanese and Korean. Raven Black will be published in the States on June 7th next year. I don't know yet if I'll be visiting for publication, but I hope to get there sometime next year to catch up with old friends.
And there have been more exciting opportunities. Next summer I'll be guest lecturer on an Elderhostel crime writing trip which will visit the UK, then return to New York on the Queen Mary. I hadn't really thought I could take to cruising, but the Queen Mary is something special and I've never been to New York, so to see the city first from the sea will be thrilling.
Perhaps I don't really regret leaving Kirklees after all.
Posted by Ann on Wednesday, October 11th 2006 @ 03:22 PM GMT [link]
