Learning From The Stars

Last week, I spent two days at the SPS indie author conference in London. This is the fifth year I've been to this event. This year, the organisers had revamped it and moved venues, and they promised it would be better than ever. I knew it would be great when I came out of the station and was greeted by this inspiring sight.

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

The conference was held in County Hall, former home of the Greater London Council. These days, it's used far more productively as a conference centre. I don't know how many different events were going on at the same time, but the building is enormous.

County Hall, set on the banks of the Thames

Onto the important part. I met so many fabulous authors. The presentations were top class, and the opportunity to chat to other authors during the breaks, both to ask questions and to make new friends, was golddust.

Rachel McLean and me

This is the second time I have met Rachel McLean. As she writes a Dorset crime series and I'm writing a Hampshire crime series, I feel like we're neighbours!

I met Tony Lee, who writes as Jack Gatland. Tony loves talking, and I was lucky enough to get his undivided attention for about 45 minutes, during which he gave me about 26 trillion tips. I have already started putting a lot of his advice into practice.

Husband and wife team, MS Morris, write crime thrillers together. By coincidence, I'd bought one of their books a few days earlier. I have now read it (The Landscape of Death: DCI Tom Raven book 1) and it's awesomely good.

The two halves of MS Morris, and me

One of the best bits of the two days was catching up with friends, and it was great to spend lots of time with Freddie P Peters and Denise Yoko Berndt.

Denise is great at finding photo opportunities so, on the way back to the station, we dropped by New Scotland Yard, the perfect place for a crime author to have her photo taken.

Me at New Scotland Yard

I learned a ton of stuff (including the fact that I need to practice posing for selfies!). I was buzzing by the time I got home afterwards, Hopefully, I can implement all that new-found knowledge and rock this business of being an author.

I can't wait for next year's conference.