What else happened in London last week

Well, I’ve already written about Aliya’s book launch, but there were ulterior motives for my jaunt down to the Big City last week. Chief among them was a meeting with Will Atkins (of MNW) and Julie Crisp (commissioning editor for Pan Macmillan). Julie has taken over editing chores on The Horde of Mhorrer, and after the intense revision of the final, final draft at the end of last year, I was a little nervous about the meeting: a) that she liked what I’d written, and b) there were no other major changes on the horizon.

I need not have worried…The good news is that there are no major changes needed for The Horde of Mhorrer, just a few nips and tucks (and a very pertinent continuity error involving gunpowder, which I can laugh about now but would have really irritated me if the book had gone into print with it in – so Julie’s already got a gold star from me on that one!)
And just as important to me, they think I’m developing well as a writer. I’ve already gone on record to say that I feel I’ve learnt more about my craft in the last two years than at any other time in writing life, so to hear that was a massive confidence boost. I came out of the meeting feeling relieved, assured and encouraged, which is everything a writer can ask for from a meeting with their editor.
(You know, I’ve been quite blessed with editors so far; first Mike Barnard, then Will Atkins and now Julie Crisp. And I know that not many writers mention their editors in their blogs, nor their newspaper articles, but hey… without them, the stories we write wouldn’t find their way onto bookshelves.)

The other good piece of news is that the publication date for The Horde of Mhorrer has been brought forward to January 2009. Pan Macmillan are also looking to publish the paperback of The Secret War alongside the hardback of The Horde of Mhorrer, so Christmas comes a little late/early depending on your point of view. I’ll be doing another book-launch in Sheffield (hopefully at Waterstones, Orchard Square, after the success of last year, but that needs to be confirmed) and I’m looking to make it a public event this time. I’m also tempted to do a London event too following the success of Aliya’s launch last week and other Goldsboro run events I’ve been to in the past. We’ll have to see.

So watch the skies, watch this blog.
Watch this space…