I woke up this morning, feeling like I’d been kicked all over, indicating that I was more tense about yesterday than I’d realised. I think it was because I’d been forewarned that there’d been a misunderstanding with regard to the publicity material and it hadn’t been displayed – this meant that there were fewer people than anticipated. I worried that no-one would turn up. I worried that people would show up, but that I would get tongue-tied and have nothing to say. Let’s just say I worried, and I needn’t have as everyone was very gentle with me! I think that there were eight of us in total, and I felt very comfortable with the group. I hope that I didn’t waffle. Its such a novelty for me to actually talk, rather than type, and I have a tendency to go off on a tangent without the use of my delete key to get me back on track!
Mind the generation gap! Doing another talk for the libraries service made me think back to the last one I did. My book was not aimed at, but written for, my own peer group. It became clear that the content would not appeal to all age-groups (with exceptions) following the book club at a local library. One person said that she enjoyed the book but felt uncomfortable with some of the terminology I used in a particular scene, which I fully understood – it’s one of the reasons why I begged my grandma not to read it!!! I am not a prude, but personally felt extensive swearing in a Jane Green book I read was a bit off-putting. I knew that was my problem, and that to many others it would be perfectly acceptable. This made me realise that I should extend the range of books I read, rather than just those I assume are targetted at my age group. Am hoping to get hold of Another Time, Another Place by Sam Grosser (another debut author I’ve met online). Her novel is set in WWII and is not my usual choice of theme.
Off topic, I have just purchased four tickets to see the Silver Bells Christmas Show at the Journal Tyne Theatre (beautiful building) and was shocked to find that I was charged an additional £1.95 PER TICKET in fees and then a further £1.90 for them to allow me to print my own ticket (using my time, my equipment, my electricity, my ink and my paper). Doesn’t sound much but buying the tickets cost me £48…with fees, it was almost £58. I didn’t care what the tickets themeselves cost, as it’s for charity, but Ticketmaster is certainly not charitable. Boo! Hiss!