Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Things that go bump in the night!

I am slightly horrified to see that it has been well over a month since my last blog post! I've been putting all my energy into my current work-in-progress, Urban Legends, the third book in the Forbidden Spaces trilogy that began with Silent Saturday. The first draft is supposed to be ready by Christmas but I made a very late start on the book because of revisions to the previous one. So now I am working all day every day (my record for finishing the day's work is 10.23pm) in a bid to meet the deadline. I get very fidgety about deadlines; I can't bear to miss them!

Unfortunately, this means that everything else is being neglected, including my blog, the recycling, the housework (we can still see through the windows, but only just) and the exotic recipe planning (I think last night was the third time we had noodles this week). All the same, I thought I had better get online and blog about a very exciting event I have planned for later this month. If I don't tell anyone about it, I may end up like the boy I read about this morning who forgot to give out his 10th birthday invitations at school, so nobody came and he had to eat all the Wotsits himself. This is a fate worse than death especially if you don't like Wotsits...

Anyway, the event I have planned is at Innerpeffray Library on Hallowe'en. Innerpeffray Library is the oldest lending library in Scotland, as you probably know if you have read my blog before. (I shouldn't have to add that Hallowe'en is 31st October but when I told an acquaintance I was doing a Hallowe'en event she said, "Oh, when is it?")

A while ago I did a ghost story evening at the library, by the light of electric candles (naked flames being inadvisable near ancient books) and as Hallowe'en is approaching it seemed an ideal opportunity to do another one. If you are within travelling distance of Innerpeffray (it's near Crieff in Perthshire, Scotland), the event is (indeed) on Thursday 31st October, beginning with refreshments at 7pm and ending at around 9pm. Tickets are £5 each. You can book directly with the library, by calling them on 01764 652819. For details of how to get to the library etc, check their website.

Now - here's the exciting bit! The stories I am going to read have not been written yet. I am going to spend the whole of 31st October as "writer in residence" at Innerpeffray, writing a set of interlocking ghost stories set in and around the library itself. Those stories are the ones I am going to read at the evening event. I'm very much hoping that the ghosts of Innerpeffray will crowd around and give me some inspiration!

This is going to be a very exciting challenge for me, and for anyone who attends it means that you are guaranteed to hear some entirely new stories. Weather permitting, we may include a visit to the adjoining church and graveyard, so prepare to have your spine chilled! Innerpeffray Library is right out in the middle of the countryside so on an October evening it is VERY dark indeed and super spooky.

PS If you'd like to attend, please do pre-book if possible so that we can make sure we have enough drinks and chairs available. Thanks!


Above: Innerpeffray church.