What happened in London - part 2!

We made to the party fashionably late thanks to the cab crisis so by then it was jammed with people. I mean literally jammed. It took us five minutes to locate the lovely Jan Jones and Roger Sanderson so we could sign in and collect our name tags and a rosette. This party was the final one for the clebration of fifty years of the Romantic Novelists Assoc. All those of us who had joined the association as unpublished writers, and had gone on through the wonderful NWS scheme to achieve publication become eligible for the Joan Hessayon award. In my year I think there were about 12 of us and the fabulous Fiona Harper was the winner. Winners of the award had very sparkly rosettes so Phillipa looked very glittery. We posed for pictures on the stairs which you can see over atJan Jones blog I'm at the back on the big group one and waving my hands around talking to my friend, Brigid Coady on another one. The evening whizzed past far too quickly and I missed talking to lots of people. People I did get to chat with included Cat Cobain, she bought my first LBD book, Blue Remembered Heels and I always enjoy talking with her as she is great fun and very wise. My fabby LBD editor, Claire, so excited to see her, Broo - who is Phillipa's agent, looking lovely as always. I met up with Sandra Forder, my good friend who I informally critique for and the ever glamerous Liz Fenwick, Cara Cooper, Catherine King, Diane Pearson, Lorelei Matthews, Lizzie Lamb and a whole host of other people.
The volume as ever was deafening so I struggled a bit to hear what people were saying and I was glad I'd left my walking stick at home as I probably would have legged someone over with it in the crowd. The drink flowed and the canapes were delicious especially after I accidently discovered the best spot in the room to stand to get offered them first - yum!
It was a fabulous party and Vik, Phillipa and I were buzzing as we left, like good little Cinderella's, a bit early to taxi across to the station and our ride home.

What happened in London

Vik, a friend from Wombourne writers, and I set off for Euston in time to meet my cp, Kimberley for lunch. Kim is an American, living in Italy and although we've been working together for a while now we'd never met. This is a special week though as her wonderful debut novel, Ask Me If I'm Happy was released from Diiarts press and she was over for the launch.
We met up at Euston and set off in a cab for John Lewis where we'd arranged to meet Phillipa Ashley, one of the coffee crew authors. Lunch lasted three hours that just zipped by in a flash. Kim is every bit a beautiful in real life as she is in her emails and we had a blast.
Once Kim had left to dash off to a literary event at Oxford, Vik, Phillipa and I went girly window shopping around the beauty department. Somehow we ended up in House of Fraser where the wonderful Laura, who was brilliant, gave us all a make-over with her gorgeous mineral make-up. (That is so going on my Christmas wish list).
Smelling delicious and immaculately made-up, Phillipa sprinted off for a meeting with her agent whilst Vik and I went in search of a cab to take us to Waterstones in Piccadily where we had been invited to a Tweet-up with Jane Holland, Talli Roland, Kate Nash, Jenny Bardon and Barbara Alderton. We were at the taxi rank when one of the cycle rickshaw cabs pulled in. So, we took our life in our hands and were pedalled away down Oxford Streets dodging in between the buses and admiring the posh shops and Christmas lights all the way to Piccadily.
We met up with the rest in time to celebrate Jane Holland's birthday which was made even better by a phone call from her agent telling her she had just landed a three book deal for her historical novels!
By the time we'd celebrated we were running late for the RNA winter party. We managed to grab one cab and half our party set off in that. Vik, Talli and I tried to find another cab. With time ticking on and no luck, Talli suggested we walk down to the Ritz as there were sure to be cabs there. Using her charm Talli then persuaded the wonderfully helpful doorman complete with his frock coat and top hat to stand out in the traffic and flag us down a taxi, so we were escorted into our vehicle in style.
After that came the RNA party and I'll blog about that tomorrow!

That Friday Feeling!

The lull between finishing a first draft and tacking the first read through and adits is always a strange period of readjustment. Add in how crazy busy my life is and it's no surprise that I feel a bit like an underwater swimmer who's suddlenly popped out onto the surface of the pool.
Today is a day off from the day job and I need to get various bits and pieces ready for the middle belle's German trip and eldest belle and Mr Nell's Scottish tour. I also need to finish my preparations for my workshop at the conference and plan my hair and nail appointments. Those are my treat to myself after the past few weeks of mayhem. My aditing of Me, You and Him will start as soon as i get back from conference and my aim is to get it completed by the end of July. During this time I also have eldest belle having her toe surgery and a trip to my lovely friend and long standing former cp's wedding - can't wait! Hope I don't cry - weddings make me go all mushy. We're combining that with a trip to take youngest belle for a day out in London - sightseeing tips and ideas very welcome!

Off to London

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, I've taken antihisitimines as the tree pollen levels are rising. We're off to stay at Denham, eighteen miles from London ready for the lunch tomorrow. I'm hoping we can see a little of the area as it's a part of the world we don't know. If the site is good then we plan to take the belles later on and have a family day in London.
I think I've remembered to pack everything in the caravan for tomorrow but if I show up with two odd shoes or minus my ear rings then you'll know I forgot something. I'm looking forward to seeing my writing friends and colleagues and meeting up with my agent and editor. Mr Nell is going too!
The belles are most put out that they get to stay home with grandparents to look after the fish.

London

Yesterday I took the train to London. I swapped my normal attire of sweats or jeans for something more presentable and went for lunch with friends. The internet is an amazing thing. I first met Biddy, Julie Cohen, Fiona Harper, Anna Louise Lucia, Carol and Donna Alward on line. Some of us met via eharlequin where the Britpack hang out in a virtual pub called the mouse and pen. We then met in real time at RNA conferences and the summer party.
Donna is Canadian and although we've chatted in various forums, swapped emails, celebrated and commiserated with the highs and lows of publishing life, until yesterday we hadn't met.
Biddy, who is a superb organiser, had booked us into a lovely Turkish restaurant where we all probably ate too much judging by our sleepy faces when we finally rolled out of there.
We had a wonderful afternoon and the time went far too quickly. Donna is even lovelier in real life than on line if that's possible, we all played with and were entertained by Julie's gorgeous baby boy who'd joined us for lunch. The funny part - and I know some of you will find this hard to believe - but not a drop of alcohol was consumed by any of us. We all stuck to water and turkish lemonade.
(I suspect the M&B writers amongst us may have consumed their quota the day before at the annual M&B bash)
It was a lovely and memorable day, for the good company, excellent food and Reggie Perrin chairs which made embarressing noises whenever anyone moved. I suspect some of the pictures may make it onto people's blogs.