UK GLBT Fiction Meet - day one

Okay, this isn't any sort of official summary this is just about my day :)

And it started early after a really bad night's sleep - but off we went by 7.30 am over Snake Pass in the early morning sunshine.... and into Manchester.. where I promptly got lost and went around the hotel about 3 times before I found the car park...... I swear my sat nav lies to me..... okay, she doesn't really, I just wasn't concentrating... possibly...

So I met some other people in the lift on the way up to the meeting room and there were a lot of people sat around having coffee .... some obviously had a very good night on Friday :)

I found Clare London and delivered a transatlantic hug as requested ... she was very pleased and was saying how much she is going to miss Chris at GRL this year.  I then knitted whilst we waited to start - and got quite a few comments as I was doing so :)

The first panel was about covers and what sells....... and how we might not like the decapitated naked torso but it helps with sales.......  After that I went to a panel run by Aleks Voinov, Victoria Oldham (of Boldstroke Books) and Becky Black on aspiring authors (what can I say, sometimes i have delusions that I might write something publishable one day)

Then there was lunch..... when I sat and nattered to Charlie Cochrane, her daughter who is general dogsbody for the event, and Liam Livings about all sorts of things.

After lunch there were tables set up for different conversations and I again found myself on a getting started at being published table..... though the conversation wandered around a lot including dealing with over ambitious plot bunnies, how we write, the importance of honest friends to read for you and for some reason I then ended up talking about different YA authors and how a lot were offering a wider range than just M/M books (which reminds me, must get some web addresses for these for tomorrow).  I may just have also got a potential first line editor for a certain brat-fic story that I could be writing.... not sure entirely how that happened!

I met up with Anke, who was lovely, and we talked, dogs, holidays and her visit to England as well has how much she misses seeing certain conversations she used to see on line.

Today's key note speaker was Elisa Rolle, who is one of the most long standing M/M bloggers.  She was talking about her introduction to gay romance (through E.M. Forster's Maurice which she bought with her pocket money when she was 14) and how the genre has evolved.

After that there was a sales opportunity for authors.... in which I had a wander round and looked longingly at lots of books before setting on getting a copy of Aliens, Smith & Jones by Blaine D Arden, I narrowly missed the last copy of A Party Boy's Guide to Dating a Geek by Piper Vaughan but made up for it byy buying probably the only books by J.L Merrow I don't already have......... I may have had a minor embarrassing fan-girl squeeing moment at her - but I am sure she will forgive me for this - she gave me one of the really nice embroidery thread bracelets she'd made.

Then alas I had to go home to deal with rent a mob and the nikked ones....... who were quite unimpressed to see me.  I have since unpacked my swag back... I have lots of post cards, book marks, a memory stick of stuff, note pad, couple of key rings and badges... oh and lots and lots of pens.....

Tomorrow I am going off again in the early hours for day two............... and next year I am so staying over and doing the whole thing!