Apologies. I’ve been remiss. It’s been a while since I posted an update on what I’ve been up to. Here’s a quick rundown.
At December’s excellent and very successful Oxford Indie Book Fair I had the pleasure of meeting Colin Wade, Steve Lunn and others of Oxford Independent Authors (OxIA), a newly formed group focused on marketing, promoting and raising the profiles of writers in the Oxford area. Their enthusiasm convinced me to throw in my lot with this merry band of active writers.
In May I attended my first OxIA event, HeadLitFest in Headington, Oxford. Both the weather and the mood were sunny, and the lemon drizzle cake some of the best I’ve tasted. There I bumped into some familiar faces: the authors Peter Tickler and Steve Sheppard; as well as meeting other OxIA members for the first time. I was out again with OxIA for the Risinghurst Fete in June, spending an enjoyable day talking about and selling books, eating yet more cake and soaking up the village atmosphere of a summer fair. I’ll attach a selection of pictures below.
It’s hard these days making your voice heard above the clamour of the big five publishers and their celebrity clients. Associations like OxIA, where writers join forces and pool their collective talents, help increase the volume of the noise we can make. All power to them! More profile-raising OxIA events are planned throughout the year.
Enough of the marketing! What about the books? A Novel Solution (published in June 2024, almost exactly a year ago. Happy Birthday ANS!) and Note to Boy (reissued this April) have been making their presence felt. Note to Boy was seen in Pimlico library in London, and A Novel Solution was featured in the Round & About magazine (see below).
What’s next? My third comedy, But Mostly Mabel, is nearing the final stages before submission to the publisher. This is a nail-shredding time for any writer. Will they like it? What edits will they ask for? Just generally, ‘Eeeek!’ I’ll keep you posted on how Mabel fares.
Finally, I’m taking a couple of months off over the summer months to recharge and rethink. Hope to be back again around September. Have a wonderful summer!
