So the time for signings is with us
again. Usually the first one takes place in the Harbour Bookshop in
Kingsbridge but this year the proceedings started in the Totnes
Bookshop on the Friday after publication day. Marcia was really
delighted that this year the signings started in her home town.
Friday in Totnes is, as you know, market day which means the town is
very busy and the car parks are full – and especially so in the
morning – so this year it was decided to try the afternoon instead.
 |
| In Totnes Bookshop |
It just so happened that Marcia's
friend for a couple of hundred years or so, Susie (you may remember
that our last dog, Jossie, came to live with us after Susie's mother
died), was in the town as was a chap called Terry Ford, with whom I
worked about fifteen years ago and have not seen for ages. It was a
wonderful surprise to see him and to swap news. While we were waiting
for Marcia to finish at the bookshop, Susie, Terry, his cousin and I
sat chatting around a table in Rumour – the bistro just down the
road from the bookshop – where we were joined by Bob Mann: writer
and historian (Bob and I have collaborated in a couple of books on
local history), literary critic (it was Bob who wrote the very first
review of Marcia's first book - Those Who Serve), publisher (he now
runs Longmarsh Press which he describes as a "craft publishing
house") and good friend. Eventually Marcia joined us and the
party really took off. Indeed, it was gone five thirty before we all
decided, reluctantly, that the time had come to move on.
 |
| Bob Mann: writer, literary critic, historian and publisher. |
Next day it was down to Kingsbridge and
the Harbour Bookshop. As always here, there was a group of readers
waiting for Marcia and a pile of books to be signed for people who
were unable to be there in person.
 |
| Work is being done on one of the roads we usually use. As a result we were driving down a lane we haven't used for years and there, suddenly, in the middle of nowhere was this lovely group of cyclamen in full bloom/ |
There seems to have been a subtle
change in the signings over the last eighteen years or so. To start
with there were far more people at the signings and virtually no
books set aside to be signed in the purchaser's absence. Now that is
changing. This is probably because more people work these days and so
cannot make the signings but, whatever the reason, the number of
books Marcia signs steadily increases each year.
 |
| This is the first of the foreign editions of Postcards from the Past to arrive. Please note the Newfoundland dof! |
There was a report of an interview
by Benedict Nightingale with Tom Stoppard in Wednesday’s Times.
Here is something he said: “There are too many things I find it
difficult to say no to. So I’m clearing my desk and planning to
work without interruption. When I was younger I could do something
useful just by being free for half a day but now I need five days to
get the world I’ve left out of my head and ten days or a fortnight
of not talking to anyone to hold what I need to hold inside my head.
I can’t just put things aside for a day and come back. My brain
just isn’t good enough any more.”
I’m a year younger than Tom Stoppard
and I have to agree that getting back into gear is taking me far
longer than it used to – and, unlike Mr Stoppard, what I do is not
creative. These days I find myself starting to stare at the blank
screen and then, without really willing it to happen, find I am doing
something else by way of displacement therapy. Sometimes this is
something useful (like paying the electricity account) but often it
is totally pointless. Clearly this needed to be discussed with
another creative writer, Marcia (eight years Mr Stoppard’s junior).
Did she recognise this problem?
“Yes, very much so. Every year it is
harder and harder and so difficult to get people to understand. It
doesn’t take me as long to switch from one world to the other as it
does Tom Stoppard but stopping for ten minutes to drink coffee with
someone may not look much to them but it probably means it is the end
of writing for that day. How can you be, say, down on the River Tamar
inside Oliver’s head as the world shifts beneath his feet and be
talking about something else, something completely away from your inside world at the same time? You can’t
and I am going to have to learn to say ‘no’ more often.”
There is a bit of a story about this
week’s very tiny blog dog, Beau. He has been rescued from a home
where they could no longer afford to keep him and where he lived with
a number of flea-ridden cats. These had been such an irritant that he
had bitten himself almost bald. Now, after treatment at the vet’s
and a few week’s wearing a collar to stop him licking off the
medication, he is as right as rain.
A few weeks ago, we had an Oscar of
unknown breed and I was asked what he was. Well, I have been hoping
to see him again and find out from the owner but no such luck. My
guess is that he is a cross and may even have three breeds tucked
away inside that strong little body. Do I see a touch of terrier and
a bit of labrador? I think I do.
Signings as of today (all signings last 1 hour):
Friday, October 18: Bookstop, Tavistock 10.30 am
Saturday, October 19: The Torbay Bookshop, Paignton 10.30 am
Tuesday, October 22: Bookshelf, Saltash
Saturday, October 26: Waterstone’s, Plymouth 11 am
Saturday, October 26: Waterstone’s, Roman Gate, Exeter 2 pm
To be scheduled: Waterstone’s, Truro and The Bookshop, Liskeard.
Lastly, Marcia will be appearing at the Taunton Book Festival at 7.30 pm on Wednesday, November 6th in Brendon Books, Old Brewery Buildings, Bath Place, Taunton. For details CLICK HERE.
Lastly, Marcia will be appearing at the Taunton Book Festival at 7.30 pm on Wednesday, November 6th in Brendon Books, Old Brewery Buildings, Bath Place, Taunton. For details CLICK HERE.
