This week I’ve had my sales hat on….books don’t sell themselves! This seems to be the least favourite part of the whole publishing process for most writers. I suppose we are by nature a solitary bunch, happiest hunched over a keyboard, glass in hand (I still type with one finger) wrestling with words long into the dark night…Any gathering of writers usually includes one or two who are still mentally wrestling. You can see it in their general twitchiness.

Now I’m not given to a lot of twitchiness (mainly because dark nights for me usually mean settling down with Bake Off) but I did try and keep the weirdness

in check when I visited the very lovely Waterstones Kirkcaldy for an author visit and book signing this week. They call Kirkcaldy the ‘Lang Toun’, and Waterstones is placed a lang, lang way doon the toun, depending on where you park (and your sense of direction).

After a lovely welcome from manager James, we talked books and writing long into the dark night (well, for at least an hour). Well done to the hardy souls who made it through the cold and rain- it was great to meet you. It wasn’t a very nice evening, weather-wise, but you can always be sure of a warm welcome in your local bookshop. Where would we be without them?!