Let us Convene

It is day one of the Black Library Weekender.

The husband and I have breakfasted heartily with the other writers and artists, families and staffers attending the event and I am sitting in the bar of the Belfry hotel in Nottingham writing this morning’s blog.

It is later than usual, but then this is  not a usual day.

I generally wake up in the morning, the husband brings me a cup of tea, and I wrote a blog about whatever happens to be on my mind; it could be just about anything, as my regular readers will appreciate.

On days like today, it is hard to think about anything. My mind is a kind of blank. It is not that I am thinking about being ‘on’ as the husband must be, since he is ‘on’, he is very much in the public eye, he is very much in demand, he really is at the sharp end, he is working. It is not that I am thinking about the Black Library or the bits and pieces of work that I do for them and have done for them over the years. I do not hold the work in my head; I do it, and I move on.

It is simply that this is an event, that this place is full of people that I know quite well and am very fond of, and like to catch up with and spend time in the company of; that this place is full of people I see a couple of times a year, who began as fans and reviewers and punters, but who asked me to friend them on Facebook, who follow this blog, who talk to me on Twitter, who have become part of the backdrop of my life in a very familiar, comfortable sort of way.

Being at an event like this, convening, drinking endless cups of coffee and glasses of fizzy water, and talking about stuff, or about nothing at all, and laughing... laughing endlessly, and being hugged and called Mrs Dan, or Ma’am warms my cockles.

I am sitting in the bar, alone for the moment, writing my blog, but, already, I have saved the hour, and brightened Liam’s day by rescuing, last night, a t-shirt that was left abandoned on a banquette, and I have been embraced by Oliver, and my health has been asked after by half-a-dozen friendly people, and I have just been waved at by Matthew, who is beaming at me across the bar, and here comes Evelyn to say hello and examine my new ring.

It’s going to be a fun weekend... What am I talking about? It’s already fun!