It's been a bit of a whirlwind, becoming a published author.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Of course I'm thrilled. But I've found that the contrast between the extremely introvert activity of writing and the very public business of talking about my work quite a challenge.
Having said which, it's been great fun. I've had some fun events, including a tremendous book launch party organised by a wonderful and generous friend. I've also had some highly encouraging feedback from readers, some of whom I know, and some I don't. Readers have said they've been entertained, moved, made to think. Lots want to know what happens next. Some confess to worrying about my characters (me too, me too...) Altogether, that's been so lovely... and also something of a relief.
Which leads me on to what I've been reading recently. I picked up a biography of Mary Wesley at a church fete recently. I was intrigued for two reasons. One - that she was an author who wasn't published until she was in her seventies. ("I am famous chiefly for my arrested development," she said.) As someone who's come to fiction later in life, that's interesting, although I had no idea how financially desperate she was before she was published. Two, she wrote a lot of stories set in the period of the Second World War, and I'm currently researching this period for my next book.
Anyway, reading her fascinating biography - and she certainly led a colourful, if not always happy, life - made me want to read her books again, which I remember enjoying when they came out in the 1980s and 1990s. Her stories are what once might have been termed "racy", clearly informed by her own experiences.
"Many women my age will tell you how much they enjoyed [the War] because it was so liberating," she once said. "They'd escaped from home, got jobs, lived absolutely for the moment, slept with their lovers - because the next day they might be dead."
So I have whizzed through Jumping the Queue, Harnessing Peacocks, A Sensible Life and Part of the Furniture in the last week or so. I'm looking out for the rest of her back catalogue to fill in the gaps.
Did the books stand the test of time? Yes; they do. They are an effortless read, but there's a lot to them. She is clever and conjures up believable characters with mischief and verve. A different world, yes; another era, certainly. But she writes with zing and I found myself raising a glass to her for her late success.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Of course I'm thrilled. But I've found that the contrast between the extremely introvert activity of writing and the very public business of talking about my work quite a challenge.
Having said which, it's been great fun. I've had some fun events, including a tremendous book launch party organised by a wonderful and generous friend. I've also had some highly encouraging feedback from readers, some of whom I know, and some I don't. Readers have said they've been entertained, moved, made to think. Lots want to know what happens next. Some confess to worrying about my characters (me too, me too...) Altogether, that's been so lovely... and also something of a relief.
Which leads me on to what I've been reading recently. I picked up a biography of Mary Wesley at a church fete recently. I was intrigued for two reasons. One - that she was an author who wasn't published until she was in her seventies. ("I am famous chiefly for my arrested development," she said.) As someone who's come to fiction later in life, that's interesting, although I had no idea how financially desperate she was before she was published. Two, she wrote a lot of stories set in the period of the Second World War, and I'm currently researching this period for my next book.
Anyway, reading her fascinating biography - and she certainly led a colourful, if not always happy, life - made me want to read her books again, which I remember enjoying when they came out in the 1980s and 1990s. Her stories are what once might have been termed "racy", clearly informed by her own experiences.
"Many women my age will tell you how much they enjoyed [the War] because it was so liberating," she once said. "They'd escaped from home, got jobs, lived absolutely for the moment, slept with their lovers - because the next day they might be dead."
So I have whizzed through Jumping the Queue, Harnessing Peacocks, A Sensible Life and Part of the Furniture in the last week or so. I'm looking out for the rest of her back catalogue to fill in the gaps.
Did the books stand the test of time? Yes; they do. They are an effortless read, but there's a lot to them. She is clever and conjures up believable characters with mischief and verve. A different world, yes; another era, certainly. But she writes with zing and I found myself raising a glass to her for her late success.
RSS Feed
