Phew, that’s another signing over with. I arrived late because of road works in Chester I hadn’t expected, but soon established two sets of my books on the table set up for me near the book. Location advantage: everyone coming into the shop saw me; disadvantae: With the air temperature outside at 6C I soon developed hypothermia. Shivering within a few minutes of setting up, i set off for the Starbucks within the store for a hot Americano. The queue there made me think there was another road works at the counter but eventually I had a bucket of coffee, Starbucks call regular.  On my way back to the refridgerated table my daughter met me and said there was a crowd at the table and to hurry up!

There was a crowd too. Thanks so much to Silky (John Silkstone) who’d driven since yesterday to attend my signing. Also there was Gladys Hobson and her charming husband, Ralph, who’d  journeyed from Cumbria for the weekend. Then there was my daughter, son-in-law, and a mystery woman lurking nearby. I was so busy signing, my pen ran out of ink – or it was protesting because I never made it write more than one signature an hour before. Expecting a slow session I’d brought my Sony Vaio with the intention of writing another chapter of Xaghra’s Revenge, but I was pleased beyond expectations at these internet friends coming to see me. Gladys and Silky are both with me in the Beyond Hill yahoo group: a group of former clients of the defrocked Hill & Hill Literary Agency. Ironically Gladys is also a member, though inactive, of a great ideas4writers website and forum. So is Brian Lux, I mentioned yesterday, who was signing his books in the childrens section of Borders.

Geoff Nelder at Borders

My daughter took this snapshot. Note my laptop on which I did manage to write about 500 words in between signing 18 books – 16 copies of Exit, Pursued by a Bee and 2 of Escaping Reality.

Maria Ayres at our Escape Velocity Mag forum suggested I wear brightly coloured clothes and smiled a lot. Hah. I found this red shirt so I hope that’s OK. I also put out white chocolate Maltesers because they were the only sweets (candies for Americans) that could represent the metallic spheres featured in Exit.

The mystery lady in the crowd was Eleanor Crampton, a former pupil at Queen’s Park High School. It is so rewarding nattering to former pupils and seeing how they’ve developed careers and their lives.

I could have sold my laptop at least three times, and one chap nearly bought Exit, Pursued by a Bee because he thought it was about bees! Hello too, to Jenna of Whitchurch, and Jim of Llangollen. Andrea Skinner, who is poorly though recovering came and gave me a hug – cheers. Also, thanks to her friend, Lisa, and Rob, her hubby.

So 18 books isn’t a huge heap, and my body leaked too much heat, but meeting so many good people warmed me nicely.