The tour continues…

Posted by Harriet Evans at 16:14 on 29 Jul 2010

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I’m writing this in bed at the Malmaison Leeds, early in the morning. Can’t sleep as a combination of a rich meal last night and very cold aircon meant I was up at six. So instead of watching GMTV talk about postnatal psychosis (where women try to kill their child – way too early in the morning for that) I thought I’d update you on our tour.

We have ‘done’ our panel at five cities: London, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh and Leeds, and today after I’ve popped into the Waterstone’s in Albion Street to sign some copies we’re off to Liverpool, for the last event tonight. Though it’ll be great to be back home tomorrow, I’m sure I’m not the only one who’ll be a little bit sorry when the tour is over, because it has been so great. The four of us on the panel – Katie from HarperCollins, Carla from Marie Claire, and the various brilliant agents from Curtis Brown we’ve had with us along the way, as well as Elinor and Amy (HarperCollins and Marie Claire respectively) who are along to help us – have all got on so well and had a brilliant time travelling around together.
But every evening when we have a drink or a meal afterwards we find ourselves talking about the event and it’s always been positive.
Thank you, so much, to everyone who’s come along. I’ve met quite a lot of you, but there are others I know who’ve talked to Katie or Carla too. There have been some amazing stories and great conversations at the drinks afterwards. You know how you go around your daily business being annoyed by the person who pushes past you on the bus or the woman singing too loudly down the street and you scowl and grit your teeth all the time? (I do, anyway). In fact it’s actually true that most people out there are just really nice. We have had a lot of fun talking to each other, and I hope the people who’ve been there would say the same.

I’ve met a girl named after Anjuli, the heroine in the Far Pavilions, someone whose friends call her the cut-price Tesco Carrie Bradshaw, an interesting man called Len who was dressed as a ‘woman’ called Poppy, a couple of lovely mums who’ve come along with their daughters for support, and a lot of Louises, Gemmas and Katies – at least two a night. We even had someone in Edinburgh who’d come up from London specially for the event because that was the only one that had tickets left. We’ve all enjoyed chatting over a glass of wine in the bar afterwards.

More importantly, for a lot of people I think it’s been almost cathartic to talk about their desire to write. Up until now some have been putting it off or not sure how to go about it and though we’ve been being quite harsh with our tips and advice – because the reality is extremely tough and we don’t want to raise false hopes – we are also hearing that people do want guidance on how to take those next steps and be as realistic as possible about it.
Ultimately, as I’ve been saying (at the end of my talk so everyone always looks relieved) it’s about you doing it for yourself, because it’s your passion in life. I have said it before, but when it’s over and I can translate my rambling scribbles, I’ll post the top ten tips I’ve been giving for getting published, in case they’re of any use to others out there too.  
Best go down to breakfast now and start another day on the road. Good luck to all of you. Looking forward to Liverpool! Sad, but like a great book, all good things must come to an end…
 
Harrie
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