Newcastle Writer's Festival

I spent this afternoon at the Newcastle Writer's Festival.

City Hall was full of writers and bookworms ... it was blissful to be amongst my tribe!

I only attended one session, "Going it Alone," in which host Linda Drummond interviewed authors Greg Field, Nim Gholkar and Francesca Suters about the complexities of self-publishing both digital and print.  Here is Francesca's blog entry about her experience as the presenter.

I was thoroughly impressed and took six pages of notes during the one hour session.  I found plenty of inspiration for now as a writer, and practical tips to prepare me in case I decide to self-publish a book in the future.  Here is an article Greg shared on Facebook about the choice between traditional and self-publishing.  

Of course, I also found the bookshop.  This is what I brought home:  

*  My Year Without Matches, by Claire Dunn 

*  Returning, by Francesca Suters

*  How I Rescued My Brain, by David Roland

*  Unravelling Anjali, by Nim Gholkar

Happy reading days ahead!

Finally, here is what can happen when you take a selfie in front of a half-finished painting ... it's not something I have tried before, and I unwittingly discovered what I'd look like as a reindeer:

I was more successful capturing a 'writerly' pose when I enlisted the help of Miss 9 ... she did well, and I chose this one for my profile picture:

Until next time, happy writing!

P.S.  Lucky me, I made it to another session ... "Take Your Writing to the Next Level" ... check it out at Jessie Ansons' blog.