Well, I think I probably win the title for the LAST person to blog about the Festival of Romance... to quote one of my grandsons (Bill, who is two) why, oh why, oh why??? Of course he would follow that with ‘Gam, Gam’! (Left – Carol E Wyer, me, Nicky Wells, Kim from Safkhet Publishing, Sheryl Browne)
It was an amazing weekend and I couldn’t wait to find time to sit down and do my own little record of my first visit to a big ‘authorly’ event! It was everything I hoped it would be – dazzling, glitzy, I sat with three nominees for awards and opposite award-winning Mandy Baggot (right). The very naughty Carol E Wyer kept filling my glass with pink champagne and, of course, it would have been rude to refuse to drink it … well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Nice one Carol!
I saw faces I’d only previously seen on social media, I learnt quite a bit from the conference day and I danced my feet off. So much so, when I went for a long walk today to clear my head (muddy, water-logged country lanes which involved trying to side-step country-smelling mud) they were still reminding me of my dodgy dance moves! I also did a live reading in the shopping centre – there’s a first time for everything! I met up with lovely book reviewers Lou Graham, Kim Nash and Dizzy!
So what delayed me downloading my photos and dishing the gossip? After three days away I then spent the next two days on Grandma duty. Or, to be precise, Gam Gam duty. Try explaining to a two-year old the need to get online and blog – it doesn’t work. Instead we went to the library, read books, played Thomas the tank and lined up his train on the window sill. We then filled one of the goods trucks with shell-shaped pasta and little Bill promptly decided to post some of the pasta down behind the radiator. He does this with everything, then looks at me with huge, innocent eyes and says ‘Gam Gam get’. It’s a game he never tires of – with feet sore from too much dancing and a massive lack of sleep, I wasn’t exactly quick off the mark.
OK – so you can see why I was delayed by another two days, what about Wednesday? I awoke at 5.30am as usual, I dragged my laptop from under the bed and began loading Tweets for loveahappyending.com. Things were going well, I even began looking at the four Inboxes I man and the huge backlog! Then it happened. I live in a converted cow shed and hayloft. Our bedroom is the hayloft and we always sleep with the velux window open. As I luxuriated in bed, working away quite happily and so grateful I work from home – the drumming rain made me look up. There is was! The BIGGEST spider in the whole wide world. REALLY. Think 6″ by 4″ wide. Monster. Sitting proudly on the net curtain and larger than life!
Mr Tiggs, our cat with attitude, was lying alongside me on top of the covers. He immediately went to investigate – oh, I’m saved! No! He playfully swiped his paw and it nestled into a fold, he swiped again and the beast ran under the bed. By now the laptop is throw aside, I’m standing on the bed and holding up my pj bottoms – why, I don’t know. Exit Mr Tiggs, he’ll eat birds and mice but draws the line at monster spiders.
Four hours later, everything in the room is stripped. Our bed has a LOT of what I call ‘fripperies’. Six pillows, two small cushions, double duvet and matching king-size duvet over the top. Think Princess and the pea.
Every inch has been hoovered, chest of drawers has been moved and checked, each of the drawers turned out. Bed virtually dismantled. I even blasted the hairdryer behind the wardrobes to encourage the moster to appear. No luck.
I gave up at lunch-time and settled downstairs to work. Last night I slept on the sofa, goodness knows what I’ll do tonight. We Googled how long they live – it could be a year. Can I sleep on the sofa for a year? Can I sleep in bed knowing full well he’ll crawl out and find me? I can see the headline now ‘newbie writer frightened to death in her bed’. Not quite the defining headline I’m hoping for ha! ha! The good news is I’m catching up with work and the ‘to do’ list is getting shorter. The bad news is, despite popping upstairs every twenty minutes today he’s still not put in an appearance.
Anyway, I really did want to say I had a fab-u-lous time at the Festival of Romance – and when I say I wish I was still there, I really, really, really mean that … and I can’t wait for next year! It was great guys, you are a fab bunch!
Below – posing with Kim The Bookworm Nash, Sheryl Browne – and two glasses of champagne later!
