Surrey International Writers’ Conference

I must confess that the SIWC, and everything that goes along with it, was the highlight of last week.  On the Thursday night, as I have done 2 or 3 other years, I went to Chapters Book Store in Strawberry Hill to listen to a bunch of authors reading or telling their story.  This year my friend Edith came along with me and it made the event doubly pleasurable.  Also we got there early enough to get front row seats and it made a huge difference. As the author spoke you could see his/her eyes and the expression on his/her face.  An absolute delight.  This time there was a first time published author Sam Sykes.  I enjoyed his reading but I’m sure it would have taken him a LOT longer to get published if he had not been the son of Diana Gabaldon.  I’m...