{"id":6867,"date":"2016-03-20T07:00:09","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T07:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=6867"},"modified":"2016-03-20T07:00:09","modified_gmt":"2016-03-20T07:00:09","slug":"not-so-solitary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/reading\/not-so-solitary\/","title":{"rendered":"Not so solitary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My
My busy few days started with a talk by the lovely Sue Moorcroft at the London RNA chapter meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Writing is a fairly solitary occupation \u2013 well, depending on your definition of solitary.<\/p>\n

I do spend a lot of time sitting at my desk talking to imaginary people in my head. When I put it like that, it does sound a bit strange \u2013 but you know what I mean (I hope).<\/p>\n

But this week was very different \u2013 and involved the things that are most important in a writer\u2019s life \u2013 readers, book bloggers (otherwise known as wonderfully enthusiastic readers), other writers, librarians, readers and learning things. And Readers \u2013 did I mention readers?<\/p>\n

It started last weekend with a meeting of the London chapter of the Romantic Novelists Association. The meeting was led by the fabulous Sue Moorcroft<\/a>, who talked about short stories and how they can help a writer\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

I write short stories. In fact, you can read some of them here<\/a>, but have lately let that side of my writing slide. Too Busy \u2013 that\u2019s my excuse. Sue gave me a push in the right direction \u2013 and I AM going to find more time for short stories.<\/p>\n

But the day wasn\u2019t just about short stories \u2013 it was about learning something new, or rediscovering something lost. I want every book I write to be better than the one before. I really think it\u2019s important to make time for what HR departments call \u2018professional development\u2019. One book or twenty \u2013 there\u2019s always something new to learn.<\/p>\n

\"With
With such great displays promoting our talk – no wonder it was sold out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My second outing was to the Hoddesdon Library for the Hertfordshire Libraries Litfest 16.<\/p>\n

What a lovely afternoon it was \u2013 a full house of readers joining myself and my author chums Jean Fullerton <\/a>and Liz Harris <\/a>for afternoon tea to talk about \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 books.<\/p>\n

Meeting readers is a constant joy. It reminds me of why I do what I do. It doesn\u2019t matter if they\u2019ve never read my books \u2013 a shared love of reading is more than enough to allow us to connect. If there was ever any doubt of that, all you had to do was listen to the volume of the chatter over the clinking of tea cups.<\/p>\n

I love and support libraries, and Hoddesdon Library did a great job hosting this event. (The biscuits were particularly nice ).<\/p>\n

One of the audience came up to me later and said she had taken my book out from the library. She sounded apologetic because she hadn\u2019t bought a copy, to which I say \u2013 don\u2019t be. Borrowing books from libraries keeps them alive\u2026 and libraries are among the most important places in any community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The audience at the library talk – it was such fun to meet everyone after for tea and cake… AND I came away with the idea for a story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And the third event of my week was at the Book Blogger\/ Author Shenanigans in London \u2013 another event for people who just love books. Book bloggers are wonderful. They love reading and not only that \u2013 they love to share. They can help spread the word about an author\u2019s books and they encourage others to join in, pick up a book and see if reading works for them.\u00a0 That is priceless.<\/p>\n

\"I
I took this photo a few minutes after I arrived, right at the start of the event. Within half an hour, the room was so full of people, you could hardly move.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was great to meet the bloggers who have reviewed my books, and my friends\u2019 books and have given me some suggestions for new authors I want to read. The noise level in the pub where we met was possibly so far off the scale it might even have been illegal \u2026 That says it all really.<\/p>\n

Next week \u2013 I\u2019m off on a writing retreat \u2013 the other end of the writers activity scale. Along with a small group of writer friends, I\u2019ll be tucked away by the side of the Thames, getting down to the serious business of writing a new book.<\/p>\n

And after this week, I am in just the right frame of mind to write up a storm.<\/p>\n

\"I
I just had to share this photo. When the book blogger event started, this chap was sitting alone in one corner of the room – the only person who was not part of the throng. He left soon after. I really hope it wasn’t us (or our loud chatter) that drove him away. If you are out there sir – next time, do come and join in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing is a fairly solitary occupation \u2013 well, depending on your definition of solitary. I do spend a lot of time sitting at my desk talking to imaginary people in my head.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}