august part 2: gypsy pancakes and mikes up skirts
So August was such a smorgasbord (yes, you read right, smorgasbord…) of good things that I’ve had to do a two-parter blog. I should warn you there’s a lot of my face in this post and for that I can only apologise and promise it won’t happen again (that soon…)
Gdansk isn’t just one of my August highlights but one of my year ones. As part of Once Upon a Deadline and the Polish Arts Festival myself and four other writers: Hamid Ismailov, Chris Shevlin, Peter Moore and Phil Terry went out to the beautiful Gdansk to write, edit and perform a short story in 11 hours transiting five secret locations that would only be revealed to us as we arrived at them. It was genuinely one of the best things I have ever done. The stories all perfectly represented the types of writers we are and I’m still developing the story I wrote now. If you’re curious about what the early story was like, here’s a wee link of me reading it there’s also a Gdansk Radio report of me ‘loving the see-saw best’ in a playground (I know…) I can’t thank everyone enough (especially Ros, Douglas, Rob and the British Council) for such a wonderful, creative, laughter-filled weekend. And here’s a picture of us lot before we took on the challenge:
Then I got home and got to go film Buzz About Books with the very gorgeous and lovely Simone Thorogood. I’d never been in a proper studio before but it was the proper experience…I had a mike up my skirt and had to be de-shined and everything. I loved meeting Simone and everyone else at Buzz About Books and it was such a well-researched that the interview was a pleasure to do…you can watch that wee one here (sorry, it is more of my face)
There was also a frankly awesome spread in the Cambridge Journal who covered Tony Hogan as part of their monthly book group. The very kind ladies of Cambridge gave Tony Hogan a hootenanying 9 out of 10 all round and to the lady who said she’s read it twice, I doff my hat. Thank you very much Cambridge you made my day!
As did my review in the Aberdeen Voice. Special to me because it’s like having a pat on the back from an old, good friend. Kerry, you see, is one of ours. That I am Aberdeen, that I am.
See? Smorgasbord. I’m feeling very lucky indeed.