A good day for Sam – and for me!

As regular readers will know, I like to keep you up to date with my triumphs and my tragedies.  And today has been a very good day for Sam Plank.  Yesterday I went into Heffers – our university bookshop here in Cambridge and one of Sam’s hangouts – and discovered that they had only one copy left of “Fatal Forgery” and one of “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”.  So I tentatively asked whether they would like more, and they’ve taken ten (ten!) of each.  That’s a whole twenty books – I’m still reeling.  Of course, they’re on sale or return, but so far I’ve not had any returned from Heffers.

The reason they want so many – the usual order number is six – is that in mid-July they are holding an event called “What’s Your Poison?”, which is for crime writers and readers.  I missed it last year, but this year I have been invited to take part as one of about fifteen authors, and I just can’t wait.  I’m not quite sure yet of the format of the evening, but I’ll let you know as soon as I can.  I do know that the Heffers crime buyer is considered the best in the country, and that reviewers come from far and wide to his events, so Sam will have to put on his dress uniform and try to charm them all.

Inspired by that enormous order, I dashed home and decided to do some writing, and I have managed 1,747 words today – and bear in mind that I am still in the “2,000 words a week” phase of writing, so that’s a good chunk done.  I also thought of a way out of a tricky plot corner than I had written myself into, which is gratifying, and made an unexpected link between two characters in the book, which is very satisfying.  I do like it when they take over and show me what I need to know.  So a good day all round.