Saturday! Lovely Icy Saturday…

Happy Saturday to you! 

It’s still November but preparations for the season are already running me off my feet. There are two major November events on my writing calendar that are looming and which have taken some preparation time, so that means less writing time on my current WIP- writing in progress.

As I write this, I’m snatching a few moments here and there from speaking to potential customers, and the people like a recent customer who couldn’t decide on which mystery to buy herself so she bought a double pack at £1 off. A good deal for both of us. The venue is a local Town Hall and I’m at my last FOCUS Craft Fair of the season.

It’s hovering on freezing outside so it’ll be really good to see people cross the door, those hardy souls who are braving the cold. Snow isn’t forecast for the area but it’s Scotland, so who knows!  

   

My main preparations haven’t been for the fair today but more for the BookWeek Scotland events that I’m involved in next week. BookWeek Scotland is week of events arranged through  the Scottish Book Trust and one that I've done something for every year since 2012. 

On Monday 27^th, I’m doing 2 presentations and book readings to 10 and 11 year olds at an Aberdeenshire Primary School. It’s going to be a challenge to tell them about me the author, what I write and why, using a short PowerPoint presentation. I’ll also be doing a ten minute read from The Taexali Game (my only suitable novel for the age group) and need to leave time for questions - all within a 40 minute slot. And when I’m finished with the first 60 kids I’ll be changing class to do it all again with the other year group!

I wonder what they'll think of Ptolemy's map of Britannia with the Taexali tribes marked in the slot that's currently Aberdeenshire, Scotland? 

Ptolemy Map of AD. 130ish

Then next Saturday, I’m off to my very first official Book Fair at Auchterarder in Perthshire. This is another BookWeek Scotland event. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with other Scottish authors and taking a table alongside them. I’m an old hand at selling/ signing my novels and speaking to customer/readers at my usual Craft Fairs but not used to being in a room with more than one other author. Paul Henke writes espionage thrillers which are a totally different genre from my mysteries and historical fiction. So, going to a Book Fair will a group of other authors be a novelty, but I also hope a great learning curve for me.  

There are hundreds of BookWeek Scotland events going on during the days 27^th Nov – to ^3rd Dec. If you’re interested, this site HERE has a list of the official events, though there are also many others, like the ones I organised during the last few years. some of my previous events were very local and others were on line events.

Then, of course, Thursday coming, 30th November, is St. Andrew’s Day. I’m not booked for any outside events but I will be planning and cooking our St. Andrew’s Day menu which is often based around haggis, or some other Scottish produce like venison!

Updates sometime later on my November exploits.

Slainthe!