Catalan interlude

There are many downsides to the author's life: the bad weeks (or months) when the words won't come, the books that are turned down, the bad reviews.

Occasionally there are the wonderful highpoints, the moments when you know exactly why you want to write: the words that come flying out of your fingers on to the laptop, the readers who get exactly what you meant, the surprise sale of rights that brings in unexpected money.

And sometimes you are invited to wonderful places to talk. This week I spent a couple of days near Girona in Catalonia talking to readers enjoying a Booklovers' holiday run by 7 Day Wonder.

I've lost the adaptor for my digital camera so can't post my photos until it turns up. But the website link above will show what a beautiful venue this is. Of course, it's the people who really make it fun, and Lee and Debbie, who were running the week, cooking and generally looking after us, couldn't have been kinder. The readers staying at La Torre de Dolt for the week were a lively, thoughtful group, all passionate about books, and it was a real treat to chat about authors we enjoyed.

I had to bring a touch of winter to the sunny atmosphere by talking about Restitution, set, of course, in the throes of a Prussian winter. But hopefully it just made everyone relish the sunny comforts around them even more.