Sunday 7 August 2011

Meeting Report: 1st August 2011

The theme of our meeting on 1st August could well have been summarised as ‘Faint Heart Never Won Fair Publishing Deal’ as three authors spoke about their books and very different experiences of the publishing world.

First off the mark was our own Richard Holdsworth who showed admirable fortitude in navigating the shark-infested waters of self-publishing. Despite being bitten several times he has, thankfully, had great success with his two popular autobiographical works, Six Spoons of Sugar and In the HOT Seat – and picked up several awards for life-writing along the way.

Second was another successful member of the group: Kate O’Hearn demonstrated the huge sacrifices and tenacity necessary to realise her dream of being published. However, all this hard work has paid off in Kate’s case, and her two exciting children’s fantasy series, Shadow of the Dragon and Pegasus, have achieved great success with the Pegasus books now being international best-sellers.

Last, but certainly not least, was a visitor to the group, Ian Morson, who generously gave of his time to share his journey from librarian to crime writer. Ian specialises in medieval detective stories and is the creator of William Falconer and Nick Zuliani; he is also one of the Medieval Murderers group of writers. He gave an inspiring account of the perseverance, common sense and ‘pot luck’ necessary to succeed as an author.

Members of the group are very grateful for authors' honesty and generosity in sharing their experiences; we are now more aware of the pitfalls and the rewards of treading the sometimes treacherous path of published writing.

For enquiries about activities and membership please contact the membership secretary at membership.hwg@gmail.com or visit our website: http://www.hastingswriters.co.uk/

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