Wow, what a great day out I've had at the Society of Authors northern meeting. In the Old Swan at Harrogate, no less – the place where Agatha Christie stayed when she did her disappearing act.

The first speaker, Ann Lingard, founder of SciTalk, gave us a great insight into what it’s like to be a scientist, and explained that scientists are human too – they drink beer and have homes just like real people… and, on a slightly serious note, made the point that there are herds of scientists of all persuasions keen to offer their knowledge and experiences to writers.

http://www.scitalk.org.uk

During lunch I networked like crazy. Met a woman who writes non-fiction accounts of paranormal events, and a guy who has written about his theory of life after death – right up my street!

Then the second speaker was David Nobbs, who created Reggie Perrin, an extremely funny guy who had us rolling in the aisles.

I said I’d take notes and post details of the talks for anyone who couldn’t make it to the meeting… sorry, I didn’t. You had to be there… so try and make it to the next one.

Dee

Dee, that does sound fun and interesting. Clearly I miss a lot by living in London...

Emma

Hi Dee

I would interested in hearing more about the paranormal writers. Do you have any contact details?

Best

John

paranormal writers

Isn't this just the usual condition of most writers, or do these guys actually hover above the ground, or translocate, or something?

Emma

Alright, alright. People who right about paranormal matters. Honestly...

Wanders off muttering

<Added>

Or alternatively !write! about alternative matters. Alternative that is as opposed to conventional, assuming you have a working definition of conventional, one that works for you, I mean, as oppposed to (sound of small explosion as brain detects approach of circular argument and self-destructs)

Dee, that does sound fun and interesting. Clearly I miss a lot by living in London...

I'm having difficulty determining the degree of sarcasm used in that message.

Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre and you will be in the ball-park

Prosp

No sarcasm intended, except a little aimed at die-hard Londoners like me, who don't seriously think anything goes on outside the M25

Actually, I think it's true that sometimes there's so much going on down here that we boggle and do nothing. Humans weren't built to operate in social groupings of 5 million... I'm sure I'd go to the theatre and cinema more if I lived in a town with one of each, instead of several dozen.

Emma

Humans weren't built to operate in social groupings of 5 million

Yeah. I bet even Dee couldn't network with that many in her lunch hour.

I bet even Dee couldn't network with that many

Well by definition paranormal authors are capable of more than the rest of us...

As well as the resident population, apparently more people commute into London daily than were moved on D-Day...

Emma

Yeah? Well see, if we had had the Chunnel then we could have hosted the party

That's a lot of commuters!

Thanks for the report Dee. V interesting.

Nik.

Dee,thanks so much for the SciTalk link.

Naomi

I bet even Dee couldn't network with that many in her lunch hour

Yeah… well… I only get half an hour otherwise I would

The SciTalk talk was very interesting, although Ann surprised me (mega understatement) by picking me out as someone she knew had used the service and asking me if I’d like to say a few words about my experience with them. My first attempt at public speaking – and completely off the cuff!

Funnily enough, Emma, the fact that EVERYTHING happens in London and we only get two meetings a year, came up during the networking session. So we have to grab every opportunity we can… but I didn’t read your comment as sarcasm at all.

Prosp, I’ll email you those details.

Dee

So we have to grab every opportunity we can…

...and so you do. The SciTalk lot are so interesting, and it's lovely to hear of a gang of authors discussing other things than contracts and agents...

Emma