Tag Archives: questions

…and we’re off!

By Posted in Author Event, Edinburgh, new book, new writing, Novel, Short Story, Social history Tagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

Book Launch 2‘Assured Attention,’  book 2 in the series about a large Edinburgh department store now moving into the 1980s, was launched on Monday 31st July at Blackwell’s Bookshop, South Bridge, Edinburgh.

An attentive audience appeared to enjoy the interview of the author carried out by Gordon Lawrie from Comely Bank Publishing and came up with some interesting and challenging questions of their own!

Not least among these was which person would Jane Tulloch choose to read the books for audio recording. Hard to say. There are male and female voices required. Jane’s choice of Judi Dench was purely a default selection. Perhaps?  Hannah Gordon might have been best? Food for thought anyway.

It was a very friendly evening all round. Blackwells, as ever, did us proud.

Back to Work!

By Posted in Author Event, best selling novel, Edinburgh, new book, new writing, Public libraries, Scotland, Short Story, Tea Rooms, Womens Groups Tagged , , , 4 Comments

stock-illustration-50715032-woman-back-office-work-monitor-drawingWell the Summer break is over. Fun was duly had by all. Blackwell’s ‘Writers at the Fringe’ event went well. Time to get back to work. There’s lots to do. I started last week at the Kinross Thursday group and the Westwoods Book Group. Enjoyable evenings, interesting ladies to speak to and some great questions posed. Just what I like. Luckily, there seems to be more of these events lined up over the coming months. Bring it on.

Otherwise I’ve got lots of writing to do. Book 2 has been submitted to the publisher-Comely Bank Publishing- and I expect to be doing my ‘corrections’ as they emerge from the copy editing and proof reading stages. Then there will be cover design to think about and all the various aspects of book production that readers don’t think about. I know I never did until  my best selling novel ‘Our Best Attention.’

My other writing has been short stories for a certain ladies weekly story magazine published in Scotland. Guess which one? This has been a most enjoyable foray away from Murrays although the popular ‘Tea room ladies’ feature in two of them. I couldn’t help myself!

Next outing is as part of the ‘Edinburgh Tales’ series at the Edinburgh Central Library on 21st September.  I’ll be talking about the book but also remembering the wonderful department store which was the inspiration for the setting of ‘Our Best Attention.’ Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look on it all the tickets were snapped up weeks ago.

What matters? Who for? What does it mean?

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When you’re reading a book what matters most to you? Is it the characters? Location, location, location? Or a compelling storyline? Is it a winning, though rare, combination of all three?

How do you know in advance whether you’ll like a book enough to take the step of opening it and entering into it? Of paying for it, downloading it or taking it out from the library. It’s a risk of course. It’s all a risk. You could have been misled by a good cover, intriguing blurb on the back or previous experience of the writer’s work.

One aspect that can be overlooked is not the part of the writer but that of the reader: the consumer of this product that is a book. The reader’s literacy level may be variable, as can concentration span, time available for reading and reason for looking for something to read.

Sometimes people need to escape into a different, soothing world. Sometimes readers want to be entertained, frightened, intrigued, educated or distracted. The reasons for reading are as innumerable as the readers and may relate strongly to their mood.

So what does this mean for the poor writer simultaneously trying to tick all these boxes?

Just do it! Its all you can do.