Just one head ... on the loose in London

Dear Reader,

Today has been wonderful for this writer on the loose!

Inside the Guardian!

I spent the morning and afternoon at seminars about blogging (twitter #bloglikeapro) in the Guardian building near Kings Cross. I learned a whole raft of ways in which your experience of my blog can be made more pleasant and useful. You will see some (gradual) changes as the months go by and I learn how to put them into practice. I also talked to other interested writers about The Boy with Two Heads and Trifolium Books. And I handed out some flyers. This always feels good!

Once the seminars finished, I set off into London via Kings Cross Station - my first visit since it was renovated. How could I resist taking photos?

And I found Platform Nine and Three-Quarters ...  It has a shop, too. I hadn't realised it was a permanent fixture.

Later, over a Greek meal near Regents Park, I read part of Louis de Bernieres' ImaginingAlexandria. ‘To the Scandal of Poets’ made me laugh out loud (which disconcerted the Greek waiter – older woman on her own enjoying herself?) and ‘The Man who Travelled the World’ made me want to cry. De Bernieres says his poems are a tribute to the Alexandrian Greek poet, C P Cavafy, but they have other dimensions, too.

On the way home I once again enjoyed the view of the London Eye from Charing Cross. 

So for me this day had all the elements of the perfect writer's day – lots of research, other writers for company, beautiful things to see and be inspired by, good food for stomach and mind, and a glass of good wine.

Just one thing: I didn't write anything!

But I have re-organised the blog a bit. Please let me know what you think – addresses below.

Oxford Street at sunset, Dec 31st 2013

P. S.

Sorry if my title led you to expect tales of debauchery and forbidden pleasures (and/or shopping?). You might find more excitement (though I doubt debauchery) on the Time Out in London blog run by our midday speaker today, Sonya Barber. The whole city is there!

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'J M Newsome, author' on Facebook

All photos my own (sorry about the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters quality) except the cover of Imagining Alexandria, which is from Amazon's relevant page.

How not to sock puppet!

Further to their reporting of the infamous practice of some authors of reviewing their own books in glowing terms (and some even slamming their rivals), The Guardian has started a blog space where authors can in fact puff their own books. In two days it has 229 (and rising) books listed, some very strange and some very interesting. I put my own oar in last night - J M Newsome, The Boy with Two Heads, around number 220.

The link is here, and my publisher, Connie at Trifolium Books UK, has put it about on Facebook and Twitter.

I'm taking a break from blogging till the end of September now. Got to get that first draft sorted! 

Thank you for your following and hope you'll be back then.