Had a brilliant evening in Inverness with Highland Literary Salon (see below). Met some good people and the Salon clearly has a lot going on so thoroughly recommend investigating if you live within striking distance -and an hour's drive to the Salon and back seemed quite normal so that covers a fair bit of ground. The event was run with backing from Scottish Book Trust as part of Book Week Scotland and it reminded me how lucky we are to live in a place that still supports reading and writers so strongly. Long may it continue!

To celebrate Book Week Scotland, Highland Literary Salon are holding a special event which aims to encourage local writers to put themselves and their work forward and aim high. There will be plenty of opportunity to look at traditional and non-traditional ways of approaching publication, and at what sort of support might be available. 

​I've been invited to join the panel to talk about my route to publication - through winning the Sunday Mail Fiction Prize in 2015 - and the other panel members will be Helen Sedgwick, who received a New Writers Award in 2012 which led to publication of her debut novel The Comet Seekers earlier this year, and Lynsey Rogers, Writer Development Co-ordinator at Scottish Book Trust. Author Caroline Deacon will be chairing the event and keeping us in order, and all are welcome - you don't have to be a member of the Salon, although if you're a local writer it could be worth investigating what else the Salon does.

The event is free of charge, so why not join us? Hope to see you there!