Writing, Publishing and Country Hotel

View from our window

 

What a lovely weekend I had speaking down at the Dumfries and Galloway region in the south of Scotland. The writing and publishing day was full of information, networking with other writers and an overview of the choices available to writers these days and the practical considerations of running a small business. My own talk and presentation was about e-publishing and self-publishing options and the comparison with traditional print publishing.

The sun shone the whole weekend and my husband and I stayed overnight nearer to the coast in a beautiful hotel that was once an eighteenth century mansion. Situated in its own massive grounds, with woods, lots of walks and golf course, we wished for more than one night! To cap it all, there was an unexpected (to us) dinner dance in the evening and we took to the floor for a couple of Scottish country dances and the odd waltz - very fitting for St Andrew's Night!

Our window seat

The location was stunning and the hotel full of spacious, elegant public rooms. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to enjoy the full length indoor swimming pool but did appreciate the cream tea on arrival! We shall definitely make a return visit at a different time of year so we can explore all the walking routes. Great for researching that period of building for future novels.

Graceful interior

Now, I need to absorb all the information I gleaned from other writers at the conference and get my next writing projects organised. At the same time, I'm judging the Romantic Novel Award at the Scottish Association of Writers Weekend Conference in March, which also involves me writing a fairly detailed constructive critique on each. And the bundle of entries will be arriving any day from the competition secretary! Guess what I'll be doing for the next couple of months, in between Christmas. Looking forward to reading them all and offering my humble advice.

Remember the half price kindle sale which includes Midwinter Masquerade and The Aphrodite Touch until 8th December - and the great list of other books from Tirgearr Publishing.

Rosemary