Last Sunday, there were 10,225 people on this email list. Today, there are 10,171. The cost of speaking my mind about Israel and Gaza was 54 unsubscribes. There were no hostile emails; in fact, the opposite was true. There were several supportive messages.
Good morning!
It’s another hot day in Cambridge. I’ve situated myself directly beneath the air conditioning system. The air conditioning belts out cold air throughout the year. In winter, you have to wear a woolly hat and a scarf to sit under it.
Station Square is bathed in sunshine. There are two sails on wheeled vehicles directly in front of the station exit advertising ‘punting tickets’. Punts are the long rowing boats that pass up and down the River Cam, powered by poles.
It’s Pimms with strawberries and cream time in the south of England. Wimbledon starts tomorrow. The Glastonbury Music Festival began on Friday evening.
I’m glad I didn’t book club promotions for this weekend. Too much competition. They start next Sunday.
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Two of my worlds collided this week. I am one of the three co-organisers of the Chinese Business and Social Network. We hold monthly networking meetings at Lucy Wong’s, a 1950s-themed Hong Kong basement cocktail bar in central London. (And it really is as wonderful as that sounds)
One of our members, a student, arrived at our meeting on Tuesday with the paperback copy of my book ‘Beyond The Shining Portals’. She asked me to sign it and took a photo of us holding it. She flew back to China on Friday. She wants to be a ‘book influencer’. She has great social skills and boundless energy. Watch this space!
Once I complete book three, I’d love to hold a book signing event in an independent bookshop.
I will be interviewed by a famous author. There will be wine and cheese, and afterwards, people will sidle up to me, glass in hand, and say, “Daaaahling, absolutely loved the book!”
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I have added a link to a fellow author’s work. Her name is Louise McLaughlin, and she’s Glaswegian. She is the author of ‘Discovery’ - an Urban Fantasy novel which blurs the line between conspiracy and reality.
Her newsletter sign-up link is here