September 2009 Archives

See me reading an extract from Cut Short on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW3Ixmq3OyA

Two months after the launch Cut Short has already been reprinted!

The summer is coming to an end and the manuscript for my second book, Road Closed, has gone off to my publisher. The third book in my series of thrillers featuring DI Geraldine Steel is beckoning. I'm trying to resist becoming engrossed in that world for a while, taking a short break.

Not an idle break . . . Today I'm giving a talk to a library reading group, tomorrow the Curzon Group are out for lunch (!) then I'm meeting a local bookshop manager, book signing in Oxford, and off to BBC Broadcasting House for an interview - a typical week in fact.

I've met some wonderful people during my promotional tour this summer and had some . . . interesting . . . experiences. For a student of human nature, my encounters with strangers have been fascinating, predictable and full of curiosities. If that sounds like a contradiction - think about the people you know!

I'm pleased to have met staff in many bookshops this summer. I've even been invited back on weekdays and Sundays as I have no Saturdays free between now and Christmas! As a Harrow author, I'm particularly pleased to have met staff in many local bookshops and libraries: Waterstones in Harrow have been fantastic, as have the librarians in Pinner, North Harrow, Hatch End, Kenton and Gayton. Everyone has been very welcoming and I'm looking forward to building long term relationships with them.

I hope to see you in Harrow on September 12th
I'm signing at Waterstones in Harrow followed by a talk at Gayton Library from 5 - 6pm

All the time, Road Closed is revolving in my head. What exactly is the nature of the relationship between Geraldine Steel and her boss? Have I written enough about the Detective Chief Inspector? I quite like the understated development of her relationship with Geraldine Steel, but what will my readers think? Is there enough tension to keep my readers on the edge of their seats? And are the police procedure and the forensic science as authentic as in Cut Short? And scenes from my third book, not yet written, keep flashing into my mind.

I'm doing my best to take a break from writing but, as Ionesco said, "A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing."

Leigh Russell
Author of Cut Short
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710