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Monday 21 January 2008

Meeting Jack Trelawny

On Saturday I went into Kettering Town Centre and wandered into Waterstones for a quick browse.

In a corner of the children's section was a small desk piled high with books and posters. It was a book signing and I hadn't heard about it. People were walking by and ignoring the poor bloke when I was there - hopefully it picked up a bit later on. There hadn't been much publicity locally, which I think was a shame because I'm sure lots of children would have loved to have met him.

I spent a pleasant few minutes chatting to him about his experiences when he was trying to get published. He was incredibly helpful to me, giving me some tips about writing a synopsis and presenting my work. He reckons that if you submit something that is well presented , with no spelling, punctuation or grammar mistakes and you are polite in your initial letter then you are at an advantage straight away. This advice echoes that of Jane Wenham-Jones in her book.

He did recommend self-publishing initially, but I said I wouldn't really be interested in that. He said he knows several authors who have successfully started out in this way.

He is a really nice man and I wish him well with his Kernowland books, the first of which is "The Crystal Pool". I have a signed copy to give to my grandson when he is older and, who knows, he might turn out to be the next J K Rowling!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That must have been really interesting for you to meet him. He sound really lovely. Great that you could go up and ask him questions, (I would have got all tongue tied and said something totally stupid!)

HelenMWalters said...

What a nice man he sounds. Well done you for going and asking him the right questions as well!

Anonymous said...

Just had a go at the typing speed thinggyt and got "You type 139 characters per minute
You have 21 correct words and
you have 3 wrong words" No way I beleeve that. Esspeshually after 7 pints uv peroni an aglass (one is never enuff) wine.

Oh deear, I sem to be under the affluence of incahol. Hic!

Lane Mathias said...

Sounds like a lovely chat Annie. It must be awful to have one of those signings and have people ignoring you. Still wouldn't mind being in that position though:-)

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

How lovely that he gave you some useful tips. I think if I was in that position (wishful thinking) that I would bribe my entire family and any willing friends to come along and pretend to be shoppers.

Annieye said...

Mother X: I probably did say loads of stupid things!

Helen: He was really nice. I hope his books do well.

Captain: Oh dear! Hungover fingers, or what! You'll have to slow down a bit now you're well on the way to becoming a Saga Lout (lager louts over 50).

Lane: That's exactly what I thought. I found myself apologising for my town ....

Debs: What a good idea! Friends, family, work colleagues, the milkman, the paperboy, neighbours, kid's friends ... the list is endless.