It’s been an interesting week as I transitioned from a self-published to a published author on Thursday. Is all the hard work over or has it yet to start? Time will tell. I haven’t quite transitioned away from being a secondary school teacher of French however and continue to ply my original trade here in Calderdale. Whether the writingย ever eclipses, orย even eradicates the teaching is another unknown. It will, ultimately, come down to what enables me to pay the bills. A combination of teaching and writing seems to be my future for the foreseeable future at least and it’s why, for the next couple of weeks, I’ll still be at the chalkface (or however it is now referred to) looking forward to the events of the half-term holiday.
Not me…
First up is the Cycle Touring Festival where I am speaking at lunchtime on Saturday 27th May. Ticket sales have now closed (although a direct approach to the organisers might, I suppose, be possible). I spoke at the festival last year not once but twice. The main event was a general talk about cycling in Europe with a follow up talk later on Sunday which was more specifically about my 2015 journey from Tarifa to Nordkapp and which has now been retold in Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie. However, as I had yet to write much of the book by the time I gave that second talk, my thoughts hadn’t yet coalesced into a succinct series of anecdotes so if any of you did happen to see the talk in 2016 and are attending the festival again this year, it should be a very different angle on the journey.
If you are not in Clitheroe for the Cycle Touring Festival but happen to be near Oxford or Bristol, I’ll be speaking at two venues later in the final week of May. First up is The Handle Bar Cafรฉ in Oxford where I am talkingย on Tuesday 30th May. The plan is to set up a Facebook page for the event in the next few days so watch this space (or, rather, that page on Facebook…). On Thursday 1st June the roadshow moves on to Bristol where, at 7pm, I’m speaking at Roll For The Soul, ‘Bristol’s community bike cafรฉ’. Once again, there is a plan to set up a Facebook page for the event linked to the cafรฉ’s own pageย in the coming days.
Both Oxford and Bristol have a reputation for being centres of bicycleย excellence in terms of the enthusiasm of their residentsย to cycle. Let’s hope that that enthusiasm extends as far coming along to hear me chat. If you are one of those residents and are able to share details of the event with your friends it would be much appreciated if you are able to do so. Signed copies of all my books (especially the new one!) will be available to pick upย at all the events. I look forward to seeing a few of you in either Clitheroe, Oxford or Bristol.
The Handle Bar Cafรฉ, Oxford
Roll for the Soul, Bristol
