So, an end to speculation as Alison Baverstock's book is launched!

It was definitely worth the gruelling train journey from Waterloo to Kingston to attend the talk and signing at Borders. Nice shopping centre, too.

By the way, I defintitely recommend my new hobby of attending book launches and literary talks. They are usually free or very cheap and the highly charged astmosphere is like opening night at the theatre.It doesn't go on too long and you even get food and drink! Well, that's not always true and you can't even predict it, but you're not going to starve to death in the hour or so you sit through the talk if it's not on offer. Last night there was wine, so not such good value as the Ottakars crime writing discussion I attended a few weeks ago, which had wine and sandwiches, but better than Morley College on Monday when I had to resort to the canteen. On the other hand, Wendy Perriam in a red hat and matching vest made up for that.

That's all in addition to the intrinsic interest of the subject matter for learner writers, and the chance to ask questions at the end.

Normally more of a a library person than a purchaser, I'd bought Alison's book, plus a copy for a friend, so joined the signing queue at the end. The reason for the untypical behaviour, of course, was that I was a contributor. How flattering to see one's own words quoted alongside the literary giants. Malcolm Bradbury and Stephen King have their say about the value of wide reading, but my two penn'orth is in there too!

In fact, I haven't had much chance to read the book, except on the (cooler) journey back to Lewisham, but it is much as expected - ten chapters about what it takes, not so much to be a writer as to get your work into the bookshops, with a questionnaire at the end. The questions more or less summarise what has gone in the chapters before, and ask you to grade yourself according to the criteria. As Baverstock was a publisher, she knows what she's talking about.

With all those quotes it is inevitably a patchy read.I like reading writers' quotes and my attention span isn't what it was so that aspect didn't bother me. What surprised me more was poor quality of the proof-reading. Still, I suppose you can get away with it when you've been a publisher!

Sheila

Sheila, I'm annoyed that I missed this - it sounds fun - especially as the meeting-up-with-a-friend I was going to do instead didn't in the end happen. And I'm a fan of the principle of the book - anyone dedicated to explaining exactly and in detail just how hard it is to get anywhere as an aspiring writer should be encouraged!

I've quoted this on WW before, but it's so true: when asked if creative writing courses put aspiring writers off, Flannery O'Connor replied, 'Not nearly enough.'

I'm more and more coming to the conclusion that writing's one of those things you should only try to do professionally if you simply can't bear not to.

Emma

I'm more and more coming to the conclusion that writing's one of those things you should only try to do professionally if you simply can't bear not to.

Oh dear, Emma - that sounds gloomy!

Any wine and sandwiches at your readings?

Frances

Well, maybe I am being gloomy. It's just that it's such a bruising process and not every good writer's suited to it, and it's a shame if taking the non-professional route is branded as failure. I also worry that if the only criterion for writing success is being commercially published, then writers lose sight of the joy of it - a bit like training for a marathon so hard that you never look away from the road and see the birds and smell the country air. As Jim Crace says in judging a competition, despite the vast majority not winning, 'there's no one who is sorry that they wrote their story.' There are many aspiring writers who will get more joy and fulfilment out of recognising that, and writing some more for the love of it, than they ever will out of counting their rejections.

Don't know about my readings: the only reading I've got scheduled in this country is at the Poetry Café on 22nd September, where there's full-blown food and drink, but everyone pays for their own!

Emma

<Added>

Realise the end of the first para sounds as if I think the Rejection Pledge is a bad thing, which I absolutely don't. If you're going to go for it, then it really helps to make it a positive process.

Well I'm of the opinion you can either write or you cant.

Yes, you can learn techniques, skills and rules but if you don't have a natural predisposition to it it just won't happen for you.

I agree with you, Lola.

And I find it funny how many random people I've happened to chat to in day-to-day life who seem to think that writing a novel and getting it published is as easy as falling off a log. They all have an idea of a book they'd like to write, and lots of them think it would be 'nice' to be a full-time writer. Little do they realise how many years of hard graft and bitter experience it takes to produce anything near decent!

When people say they'd love to write a book, I smile and say, 'Great! Go for it!A page a day is a book in a year.' They soon shut up.

Emma

As Jim Crace says in judging a competition, despite the vast majority not winning, 'there's no one who is sorry that they wrote their story.'

Oh, I don't know about that! Thinking of some of the (not very good, as I realised afterwards) stories I've written and entered for competitions...

Frances

Stories I've written in order to put in competitions are always awful; it's the ones that I wrote because they wanted to be written that seem to get somewhere. But I think JC's right in the sense that no writing is ever wasted, even if it didn't get anywhere in that sense.

Emma

Just heard a snippet of a radio 'news' interview with Jordan who is promoting her new fiction novel called Angel. It went something like this:

Interviewer: did you find writing the book easy.

Jordan: Oh I didn't actually write it. I dictated the 'story' into my tape recorder and ? (didn't catch the name) types it up and adds her bits to it.

Wonder how many books she has in her?

Kev.

It must be a bit frustrating working as a ghostwriter and never really taking any of the public credit for all your work.

Hmm. Being a ghostwriter to Jordan - that would be a bizarre experience!

It's even worse being a 'with', as in:

Victoria will be writing the book with Hadley Freeman. Hadley is an award winning fashion journalist and currently deputy fashion editor of the Guardian and a contributing editor of Vogue.

(website quote)


Victoria has famously never read a book all the way through, and I expect she'll be too busy shopping to do much other than dictate her thoughts. However, I expect Freeman thinks the publicity, not to mention the money, makes it all worthwhile.


Sheila