Oo Anne, I hope you can make it, dancing or otherwise...

Emma

I'll try, thanks, Emma! But I promise not to bring my sequins and cut-to-the-thigh thong ...

!!!

A
xxx

Why not? It would brighten up the duller, smugger reaches of South Kensington no end. I was born and bred round the corner, and till you've seen a 1970s Sunday afternoon round there you haven't seen dull. It's only marginally better now.

Emma

Why WriteWords is Taking Over the World

WriteWords is taking over the world because it kicks the arse out of every other writers' comunity on the web.

Seriously. I temporarily joined one the other day (oh, the guilt of disloyalty to WW) cos it was free and I felt like sniffing out other novelists who have had bad experiences with an agent that have left them feeling annihilated, but I cannot tell you how badly it compared to WW.

Plus everyone there had photos uploaded, which made it seem like a singles site.

The only excitement was that I stumbled across an ex-friend.

WW has been my lifeline ever since I joined. None of the otehr sites have the glory of our little Lounge.

I'm not sure whether I'll make it to this rendez-vous, after all.

Oh, that would be a shame. Hope you can.

Emma

I'm going to be in that area next Thursday so can make it too. Look forward to meeting you all.

Terry

Fantastic, Terry! That will be great!!

A
xxx

PS As I'm a total wimp when it comes to entering pubs on my own (sorry ...), is there any way I can recognise you all without having a major panic attack??

==:O

Hi guys

I can't make it to this, as work commitments are a-calling. What a fucker.

Sorry to hear that, Sarah. I have to say that I'm having a bad (hyper/manic) week at the moment, so the thought of coping with the Big City on Thursday is rapidly becoming beyond me, I'm afraid ... I'll see how I go.

==:O

A
xxx

Dropping like flies, I fear: When my agent said she's going away for Easter and would love to take my new novel with her to read, I didn't realise she meant leaving next Wednesday.

All shore leave has been cancelled...

Emma

Easter certainly start early in agent-world! Enjoy the sparky writing that will surely come from the deadline, Emma!...

Hugs

A
xxx

Her country retreat is where her husband was born and bred, which is... Uruguay. I guess it's only worth going if you go for three weeks, and she's all Blackberried up, so I get emails from the beach.

Emma

Naomi, Sally, Roger and Tony – it was great to meet you all the other night (also Christine from Sweden, who must have been overwhelmed at being brainwashed into joining not one but three cults on the same night: SoA, WW and the SAS). As someone said, there's a huge difference in meeting people in person, rather than always through the safety net of, well, the net. Being able to watch someone's facial expressions – as well as how they suck orange juice through a straw – tells you a lot about where they're actually coming from. Also, at a very basic level, it's one thing for me to fire off opinions from the safety of my front room, but quite another to get off my backside, run a comb through my hair, remember to put on some underpants, and go out to actually meet some fellow writers.

As it is, I really enjoy talking to serious writers, which you clearly all are (although, Sally, whereas it's brilliant that your first book went to a publishers' auction, I think you'd be wise to include some actual words in the next one. They're not too bright, publishers, but they'll catch on eventually). Basically, it was great to be able to swap stories about publishers and agents that you wouldn't dare commit to writing, and for once not to have to discuss whether or not Chelsea will catch Man U in the Premiership this season, and how Mr Ambramovich is going to handle his third divorce (to Jose).

Terry

Yes, thanks everyone, it was a really good evening, and Roger and I were also able to meet Snowcat at the SoA bash which was a real pleasure. As Terry says it's great to be able to meet fellow writers. Face to face is very different from WW Lounge or a group forum. I thoroughly recommend it.

Naomi