Monday 3 February 2014

Author Talk - Rebecca Alexander

After the cheap and easy therapy of last week's blog post (apologies for the excessive grumpiness there), it's nice to have something more positive to talk about this time.

On Thursday 30th January published author and writer extraordinaire Rebecca Alexander came to the college to do an Author Talk about her brilliant debut The Secrets of Life and Death, and her craft as a professional novelist.

I met Reb while doing my MA at Winchester Uni but haven't physically seen her since that time.  We've kept in touch via the wonders of the internets, beta-ing each other's work and chatting about our writing.  It's something I highly value.  Without it I could easily feel cut off from the rest of the writing world and I'm far too insular as it is.

And now that Reb's published, with a three-book deal from a major publishing house (WOO!), she's in the perfect position to impart her wisdom to the next set of aspiring authors (and I'm including myself in that group along with the students).

There were two sessions and though the numbers weren't huge, I felt they went really well, chiefly due to Reb's skill as a speaker.  She oozed confidence and ease, keeping all of her words relevant, helpful and entertaining.  If I'd been in her position I know I would've been an incoherent wobbling mess.  The whole thing took me right back to my uni Creative Writing classes and I loved it.

Ahh - University Nostalgia.

So I say thank you to Reb for a lovely day and urge the rest of you to go and buy her book immediately.

Seriously.  Off you go.  I'll wait.

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