Buttonwood Books
Day 2, and I've spent the morning touring the whole of the US by radio - from West Virginia to Florida, Milwaukee to Detroit - from my hotel room in New York. In a matter of hours, though, I'm off in person to the first live event of the Sepulchre tour, a reading and talk in the Hingham Public Library organised by Buttonwood Books.
I'm staying in the same hotel in Boston I stayed on my tour for Labyrinth last year, when I was still writing Sepulchre, so it feels a great way to remind myself that all that hard work paid off!
The questions an author is asked - by readers at a live event, or by radio broadcasters or by literary reviewers - is a great way of getting a sense of your own book and writing. This is why I enjoy touring so much (that, and the room service of course ....)
It's easy for an author, when focusing on getting everything in place in a novel, to lose sight of the bigger picture. Sepulchre is part traditional ghost story (nothing too ghastly!), part Tarot tale, all mixed up with a mystery tied in to the 19th century history of America and France. It was great fun to write but, boy, was it complicated too! Only now, after the dust of writing has settled and the ink is dry, can I start to really look at the novel with objective eyes.
But readers see the book as it really is straight away. They react - hopefully with excitement, with enthusiasm, sometimes with helpful criticism - with innocent eyes and thoughts. As a result, I feel I learn as much about my own work from readers' responses as I do from my own analysis of my writing. And that's the way to move forward, to enjoy each book for its own merits. Listen and learn, listen and learn ...
Tonight, in the Hingham Public Library (66 Leavitt St, Hingham MA), this process of learning and sharing the years of work on Sepulchre will begin in earnest. And, the more of you who read the book and let me know what you think - either in person during the tour, or via this website - the happier I'll be.
So, ahead of tonight, a huge thank you to Buttonwood Books for organising tonight's event. Boston here I come ....
A bientôt
Kate
I'm staying in the same hotel in Boston I stayed on my tour for Labyrinth last year, when I was still writing Sepulchre, so it feels a great way to remind myself that all that hard work paid off!
The questions an author is asked - by readers at a live event, or by radio broadcasters or by literary reviewers - is a great way of getting a sense of your own book and writing. This is why I enjoy touring so much (that, and the room service of course ....)
It's easy for an author, when focusing on getting everything in place in a novel, to lose sight of the bigger picture. Sepulchre is part traditional ghost story (nothing too ghastly!), part Tarot tale, all mixed up with a mystery tied in to the 19th century history of America and France. It was great fun to write but, boy, was it complicated too! Only now, after the dust of writing has settled and the ink is dry, can I start to really look at the novel with objective eyes.
But readers see the book as it really is straight away. They react - hopefully with excitement, with enthusiasm, sometimes with helpful criticism - with innocent eyes and thoughts. As a result, I feel I learn as much about my own work from readers' responses as I do from my own analysis of my writing. And that's the way to move forward, to enjoy each book for its own merits. Listen and learn, listen and learn ...
Tonight, in the Hingham Public Library (66 Leavitt St, Hingham MA), this process of learning and sharing the years of work on Sepulchre will begin in earnest. And, the more of you who read the book and let me know what you think - either in person during the tour, or via this website - the happier I'll be.
So, ahead of tonight, a huge thank you to Buttonwood Books for organising tonight's event. Boston here I come ....
A bientôt
Kate
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