Greetings all!

Today I will be boarding a plane to head over to Bristol for the GLBTQ Meet. Rhys Ford is already in situ, Fala Black is on her way and Penndragon Press will be picking me up at the airport. I will be pitching, talking about world-building, and generally acting the lig.

For anyone attending the con, come and say hi! If you aren’t, the twitter feed embedded below will (hopefully!) be updated with pictures and chat from the con while I’m there. This will probably include a variety of posts from the airport, since I have a habit of a: getting delayed and b: seeing hen parties where everyone is dressed as gender-swapped comic heroes (except for that one girl who just came as Mario complete with moustache).

Social media is, of course, part and parcel of being a writer today. This is particularly true of any author who self-publishes or who writes for an indie publishing house. On the other hand, was it ever really any different? Sure, Dickens didn’t have a #DickensInnaHouse tag and keep his fans updated with what he’s got up to throughout the day.

On the other hand, he did hold massively popular – and unquestionably financially inclined – book tours and went to readings across the country. He courted his readers, just the same way we do today. The only difference is, these days we require both more access and less. OK, that might just be me but generally, most authors (the sort of general ‘I read your books’ authors, as opposed to ‘I love your books and have created fan art’ authors who I would follow into a fire)  I’m happy to dip in and out of their lives a tweet at a time, rather than obligate myself to two hours or more of a reading*.

I once interviewed Neil Gaiman – #namedrop! – and he said he didn’t believe that there had ever been a time an author could truly just sit and write in their garret. Ever since Shakespeare, writers have had to get out there and shake our tushie for readers.

If you want to add your tweets from the con the hashtag I am (again, hopefully!) tracking for this page is #GLBTQBristol.
Tweets about GLBTQBristol
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