Full disclosure.
I forgot ENTIRELY about this blog post until this morning. In my defense, I was on a plane for most of the weekend. Time passes differently when you are in transit. Just ask the passengers in Stephen King’s The Langoliers.
Every time I get on a plane I do it with the intention of being productive, writing a set amount of words, and then getting a body-clock resetting nap. Instead, I read five books and two novellas and ate far too many orange slices. If I travelled more than I already do I would up well-read, but with scurvy and some sort of insomnia induced delirium.
Luckily enough, this was the last long-haul flight of the year. I might go away for a long weekend sometime in December, but not that far.
I am, however, planning next year’s schedule already. It’s the sort of forward planning that always makes me feel a little hubristic, but you got to do it and cancellation policies are USUALLY pretty reasonable these days.
So, what’s up in 2020?
Feb: ShiMMer in Birmingham. I’m not going as an author this year, just a reader. So I’ll get to hang out and have fun with people, instead of being stuck behind a table. I’ll also be able to snake off at some point and check out the big Primark in Birmingham, just in case it is better than the other ones. (Protip? It isn’t. They are basically all the same. You still have to check though, right?). So I won’t be signing or selling books, but I always love to meet new people! So you can find me hanging out with Penny and Andi Lee, so at some point we will hit a local bar for lunch to be riotous and eat chips!
March: The Salon du Livre. The Paris book fair has rapidly become one of the highlights of my year. It’s just so huge and so full of people that love books, and some people that love my books! Even without that, though, there’s just something invigorating about being in a crowd of people that love writing and reading as much as you do. This will be the first year I go that I can’t go to Notre Dame, but I do intend to visit and wish her well on the road to being rebuilt. I will definitely be at the Juno booth to sign and hopefully at the MxM booth too – but that will be finalised next year probably! Do come by and say hi! My French is terrible, but I do try…and other people there will translate for me. (And yes, many French people speak great English. However, my accent has thrown the occasional spanner in there before.)
July: My birthday! I will be doing something for it. It’s not book related, but still. It’s my birthday. And otherwise there would be quite a big gap before…
Sept: Book retreat with Rhys Ford, Andi Lee, and Penny Rogers. Well, we’re all going to get together in early September, hang out, eat Pho and sushi, and gack a lot. Some writing will be done! Writing will definitely be talked about. So it counts 😀
Sept: UK Meet. The UK Meet was actually one of the first conventions I went to as a writer. This is my first year attending when it is in Southampton, since it’s waaaaaay easier to fly Belfast-Bristol, but I’ve heard good things about the town! I will be there as an author, so expect some freebies and lots of swag. Not sure if I am staying in the hotel this year or not, but hopefully. Last time I stayed in an AirBnB over an improv comedy theatre, which was great fun but did involve some frantic dashes down the road of a morning, bags of swag slung over my shoulders.
I have some cool ideas for panels, so I’m looking forward to when that opens up.
Oct: HOPEFULLY I will be at GRL in St Louis. It depends if I get a ticket, of course, but if my fingers are fast and the internet favours me I’ll be there. GRL is always such a great event. I mean, it would be great if I could remember that in the last months before GRL (when I am usually convinced that no-one will speak to me and I’ll have oranges thrown at me), but it’s still awesome. I have also never been to St Louis, so I am really looking forward to being a total tourist and seeing the highlights of the city.
Huh, that’s looking like a pretty busy year already. I should probably start picking out my books for the planes.