At the end of day three at Earls Court, here are some things that stand out for me:
- Meeting lovely people I know only from social media, and finding them even better in real life
- The lure of bacon sarnies first thing in the morning
- Standing room only at seminars in Author HQ
- Finding out what ‘domestic chillers’ are (hint: Zanussi doesn’t make them)
- The rallying cry to indie authors (and the brand new ALLi badge)
- Terry Pratchett on video loop
- Aching shoulders from accumulated bumf
- Some cringe-making questions from the audience (“How does one start to write a book?”) and Katie Fforde’s incredibly courteous reply
- An awesome open mic session at the indie fringe fest
- Agents emerging blinking in the light after days spent holed up in the International Rights Centre
- Pizza with not enough pepperoni (Pizza Express, please look up ‘loaded’ in the dictionary)
- It’s not just my London Book Fair. It’s also my London, so here I am standing with my book in front of the house where I was conceived.
34 Trebovir Road SW5
You might also like to read these other author perspectives on this year’s London Book Fair
Pills & Pillow-Talk 
Great pic at the end there, Carol! Meeting you in real life was certainly one of my LBF highlights – I’m glad I bunked off all the seminars in order to spend more time meeting online friends in real life! Can’t wait for LBF15 now…
Thanks so much, Debbie, and I’m delighted you feel the same about socialising at LBF. Yep, LBF15 is already in my diary, but I’m not sure I can wait that long before meeting up again with my new real life friends.
I know, I’m so looking forward to seeing Jessica Bell again at her Homeric Workshop & Retreat, in August! http://www.homericwriters.com/
I think quite a few ALLi members are keen to set up local meet-ups too, which would be great. I’ve got a Google hangout on Wednesday with Orna, Karen, Nerys, Neroli, Gee & Philip, and will add the subject of meet-ups to the agenda. Hard to engineer something to please everyone as we are so far flung – ALLi is truly global – but let’s try!
I can’t make the G+ hangout work for me, but the Homeric Workshop and Writers’ retreat is definitely exerting its siren call.. Let’s have some local meet-ups too and keep the momentum going.
Shame my commitment meant I couldn’t enjoy your company longer, or TLBF, Carol. I am certainly pleased we met at, The Blackbird, though!
Great to have met you too, Glynis. Perhaps you can take part in LBF fun next year.
Excellent post but I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject?
I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more.
Bless you!
Thank you, Makayla. LBF was a bit of a whirlwind of seminars, workshops, and informal networking, interspersed with looking at books. As I’ve been rushed off my feet since, I limited my post to what struck me most!
Pingback: What Not to Do at the London Book Fair | Pills & Pillow-Talk