Foyle’s bookshop is on Charing Cross Road. I knew to get off the tube at Waterloo because that’s what I did when I was in my twenties and knew London quite well. I was hot and tired and hungry by the time I got there. I was glad I hadn’t worn the high heels.

The conference was on the top floor in a kind of attic space with the pipes all showing. The blinds were down and to me it very closed-in, but then I am used to wild open spaces and the wind and rain on my skin, so that’s hardly surprising.

Why on earth would you give 90% of your book profit away when you can learn how to market and sell your own work? That really was the basis of everything. That was the line that sent shivers round the crowded room. I saw hairs stand up on arms. I saw notebooks pulled rapidly from bags. I saw everyone in that room sit up, switch on and take heed. As did I. I even forgot about my feet until I had to walk back to the tube ten hours later with my entire world changed and my heart beating to the sound of my own looming break out into the Indie world.

I sold quite a few books. Thank you to everyone who bought one. I forgot to get emails, because I am new at this.
It was an exhausting few days but such a wonderful thing to do. I had taken my daughter out of school on Friday, so we could fly to London together. I told the school she was having a “growing day” and while I expanded my mind and horizons in Foyle’s, she went shopping with my sister. She had certainly grown in confidence by the time I caught up with her again. As had I. We flew home to the north of Scotland very late last night. The child will be back in school tomorrow and I hope she can list all the ways a trip to London can help grow a girl!

There are some things I forgot to mention. Inside the book, on page 4 or 5 you’ll find a QR code. If you scan this with your smart phone you will be directed to an audio file of me reading The Lost Chapter.