Writing about writing itself; namely my book and other stuff I write
I had an email a wee while ago from Nick, a reader of “Up The Creek Without a Mullet“, telling me about how much he enjoyed the book. I originally mentioned it here. Nick’s been back in touch to tell me about a wee quest he and his friend Chris have been undertaking lately, an…
It was an immensely fun time in Glasgow this past weekend, and a great opportunity to catch up with various friends. On Saturday morning I signed copies of Up The Creek Without a Mullet at Waterstones in Sauchiehall Street. The staff told me they’d just recently sold a lot of copies and had more on…
Nicole and I head off to Glasgow this evening, on the joyful Megabus, something I’ve not had the pleasure of for a long time. I’ll be signing copies of “Up The Creek Without a Mullet” at Waterstones on Sauchiehall Street on Saturday at 11am. It’s a bit of a Sandstone Press jamboree, in fact, as I’ll be…
I’m looking forward to Saturday 15 May – the Scottish Cup Final between the mighty Ross County and Dundee United. We’re going to be making a weekend of it in Glasgow. Convenient, then, that I’ve been able to meet a request from Waterstones on Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, for me to sign their stock of “Up…
I was due to be in Edinburgh for work today, but decided last night that it would not be worth it given the sudden flurry of snow that has descended on the country. It turns out it was the best thing to do, as this drama indicates. With the sunshine returning, whistling innocently as if…
No, not me, but Kieran – friend, director of aidconvoy.net and one of the people you’ll meet in the early chapters of Up The Creek Without a Mullet. He’s currently in Hamburg, passing through on a research mission to Tirana. That’s what I discovered, at any rate, when I called him this afternoon to catch…
I got back last night from four days in Edinburgh, a big highlight of which was the book reading in Glasgow. A healthy crowd packed into the excellent coffee shop and second-hand bookshop Biblocafe on Woodlands Road on Wednesday night, where part of Up The Creek Without a Mullet was written, to hear a few…
Thursday was a day trip to Stirling for Nicole and I, to do a bit of touristing in the afternoon and then of course hit Waterstone’s for my book reading. The reading was fun, the crowd seemed to enjoy it, and I signed a massive pile of stock for the store at the end of…
I’ve received an email from the events coordinator at the Blackwell’s store in Edinburgh which hosted last week’s reading, with some photos she took. So there you go – proof people turned up. And in fact, one of the folk who came along out of the blue wrote a blog post about the reading. Meanwhile,…
I’ve just had a call from the Waterstone’s store in Aberdeen where my reading was due to take place on Saturday. Very unfortunately, they’ve had to cancel the event – due to stock problems at their warehouse they don’t have enough copies of the book in, and don’t want to do an event to promote…
I got back late last night from three days’ work in Edinburgh. Later than I expected, in fact, due to a bridge strike holding us up at Pitlochry for an hour. As I tweeted at the time, it was fun watching the increased exasperation of the conductor as he tried to explain the situation to…
I’m on the train to Edinburgh just now, for three days’ work. Oh yes, and a book reading (see the “writing” page). And I’ve just been phoned to tell me that I was in the Inverness Courier on Friday. The article reports my book launch – yes, the same book launch that was nearly a…
Look what my friend Mike in Edinburgh photographed in the window of Blackwell’s on South Bridge the other day…
Lots has been going on chez Varwell, and today is being spent on various chores rather than writing. Tomorrow sees the start of a full and travel-packed working week with Stornoway on Wednesday and Edinburgh on Thursday and Friday. I had told myself that with the launch of “Up The Creek Without A Mullet” I’d…
Justin emailed me yesterday, with a comprehensive analysis of Up The Creek Without A Mullet: I appreciated your use of the Oxford comma and of hyphenation. Hardly anybody likes to put hyphens in words any more… And (I’m not being sarcastic here) the font was really nice too, which added to the readability. Excellent. But he…
It was quite a nerve-wracking experience speaking about the book in front of a room of (mostly) friends and family on Monday night. I can imagine that speaking about it to a group of writers would be even more so. And yet that’s precisely what I am doing in a couple of weeks. I was…
I’m rather delighted to announce that a reading has been lined up in Glasgow, making March a busy month on that front. Glasgow is not only a place I lived briefly and have many friends in, nor am I only delighted that I lined up the reading on the same date as the Mono gig at…
Last night was the book launch in the beautiful Bishop’s Palace at Eden Court, and it was terrifically good fun. A packed room, good banter, and there was lots of wine drunk, questions asked, and books bought and signed. Thanks so much to everyone who came along. There were even some oatbakes from Liz Ashworth,…
If you found yourself in the passenger seat of a white van today, in Scotland at any rate, you’ll have inevitably found yourself reading the Daily Record, and would have stumbled across this article on page 8. It’s a great article and I reckon my publisher will be delighted with the publicity. The book appears…
I now have a Stirling book reading lined up, which will be on Thursday 11 March at 6.30pm in Waterstones in the Thistle Centre. Full details have been added to the schedule on the writing page. Fingers crossed I will get a Glasgow date sorted in the next day or two, but failing that, at…