It’s always lovely to be in London

Another trip to the capital is always something to blog about – as usually it has something to do with my writing. Thursday was no exception. And a trip like this usually provides the flesh and bones of several blog entries. So here goes the first one…

Another red-letter moment

Travelling down alone (my good wife was fulfilling her duties of being an NHS staff nurse) I managed to squeeze in some writing during the two and half hour journey from Sheffield. From the station I was met by friend and fellow writer, Dave, and after dropping my gear off at this, we wandered the streets of London – or rather wandered into bookshops to check if they were stocking The Secret War. In Sheffield this kind of thing is limited – there aren’t that many bookshops unfortunately – but in London there seems to be one on every corner. The ratio of The Secret War sellers to non-sellers was even, and those who did sell it seemed to have a few copies and spaces were copies had been sold. One shop had sold out completely which is always good news.
It was also during this stage of my visit that I experienced another red-letter moment, at Goldsboro books near Leicester Square (a great place to get signed first editions by the way – I parted with most of my cash buying a rare signed first edition of my favourite book, Weaveworld by Clive Barker).

Whilst buying the book, I was amazed to discover two people in the queue behind me were buying a copy of my book. I joked that it was a setup, but it was actually a big thrill to see someone spontaneously buy The Secret War in front of my eyes.
I wonder if other authors felt the same way the first time someone bought a copy of their book while they were browsing anonymously – writers who I will not name-drop here simply because it would be too crass to compare me to the heavyweight bestsellers of the world.
But even they had to start somewhere, right?

The reason for coming

Mike Barnard is retiring. There will be some here who do not know this name, but there is a reason why writers who visit this blog should remember him. It was Mike who brought together Macmillan New Writing, and as one of my fellow writers said at the end of the retirement-do at the Macmillan building, “I must say goodbye to God.” I kind of feel the same way. A writer is what a writer does, that is to write. But an author’s life is dependent on being published and the giver of that life is certainly Mike, and the staff of Macmillan New Writing. I think the strength of this gratitude was summed up in two moments. The first is that so many of the Macmillan New Writers turned up to the retirement do – perhaps the largest concentration of any of the writers Macmillan has published during the course of Mike’s long career.
The second moment was during Geoff Todd’s (also retiring) speech, who described Macmillan New Writing as Mike’s fan-club. And I guess we are in a way. We have a lot to be thankful for, as should any writer who gets that first break be it a good one or false. It is one of the hardest things in the world to be published, as all of us on Thursday night agreed – and none are complacent. The second book is something that each of us feels a certain pressure to deliver and while some are getting their second novel into print, there are other Macmillan New Writers who are not.

As for me, I suppose the best gesture I can give to the man who discovered me amongst the thousands of hopefuls, is to ensure that The Secret of Mhorrer isn’t as good as The Secret War...
...but better.