We at 2Impress are delighted to say that the first Lomond Writers' Gathering was a great success; not perhaps in numbers, certainly not financially but in the satisfaction of the participants and of the organisers.
As organisers we have to thank and say how very grateful we are to the dedicated writing professionals gave of their time to help make the gathering a success. They came because they know, they remember the frustration and the challenges of starting out on a writing career and they all want to give of their knowledge and experience as successful authors to help others.
Here is a little information about them:
Pat McIntosh has been writing all her life, as well as doing all kinds of other things which make excellent copy now she has actually got into print. She came to detective fiction late, because she thought you had to be very well organised to write it; the reality is completely different. Her first book about Gil Cunningham, THE HARPER'S QUINE, was published in 2004 and the ninth in the series will come out in July 2012.
Hugh Scott lectured in Creative Writing at the Adult and Continuing Education department of the University of Glasgow, columnist and cartoonist, he writes as The Guru in Writers' Forum magazine.
He
has won the Woman's Realm Children's Story Competition and the
Whitbread Childern’s Category Book of the Year award
Books
and Publications includes amongst others: Why Weeps The Brogan? (short-listed
for the McVitie prize 1990), Freddie and the Enormouse, The Haunted Sand, The
Camera Obscura, The Summertime Santa, A Ghost Waiting (The Ghosts of Ravens
Crag, The Grave-Digger, Likely Tales
Moira McPartlin was born in the Scottish Borders but grew up in a small Fife mining village. She has led an interesting life as a mother and successful business woman and now lives in Stirlingshire with her husband Colin. In 2005 Moira resigned from a global position with Shell Oil to concentrate on writing. She is one of the organizers of Weegie Wednesday, a literary networking event and sits on the editorial board of New Voices Press, the publishing arm of the Federation of Writers’ Scotland. Her debut novel - The Incomers – tells of mission-raised Ellie Amadi’s struggles to adapt when, in 1966, she and her son Nat leave home in West Africa to join her white, estate factor, husband James in the Fife mining village of Hollyburn.
Alan
Bissett, author of Boyracers, describes her novel as “a graceful, searching
tale of a stranger in a strange land. Its emotional resonance and narrative
sweep fascinate to the end.”
Check out her website at www.moiramcpartlin.com
Of
her writing career Raven McAllan
says ‘Ever since I won not one but two, Cadbury, ‘where does chocolate come from’ competitions in primary school, I
was convinced, one day I would write a book. Lots of books.
So
what happened to my grand ideas? Life got in the way-as it does.
A
couple of truly awful M/S were sent off and duly and rightfully
rejected. I gave up on my dreams.
More
years later than I'm prepared to disclose (hey a woman has to have some
secrets) I realized I'd been writing as I thought I should, not as I
could. It was the 'eureka' moment.
I got typing, the ideas came fast and furious, and here I am, a published author.’
www.ravenmcallan.com email ravenmcallan@hotmail.co.uk
Born
and educated in Scotland, Marguerite
Kaye originally qualified as a lawyer but chose not to practice. Instead,
she carved out a career in IT and studied history part-time, gaining a
first-class honours and a master's degree.
A few decades after winning a children's national poetry competition, she
decided to pursue her lifelong ambition to write, and submitted her first
historical romance to Mills&Boon. They accepted it, and she's been writing
ever since.
You can read excerpts and more on Marguerite's website atwww.margueritekaye.com and you can chat with her on Facebook
at www.facebook.com/margueritekayepage or on Twitter @margueritekaye.
Her latest UK releases are: The
Highlander's Redemption, lThe Highlander's Return, Mills&Boon Historical, Spellbound
and Seduced (ebook novella) The Rake with a Frozen Heart, May 2012
Shirley
Blair
has been Commissioning Fiction Editor of The People’s Friend since 2007 but has
worked on fiction throughout her career with DC Thomson since 1975. She has
extensive experience of fiction from the 1000-word short story to 50,000-word
novels and fifteen-instalment serials.
www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk
Arya Grey is a 26 year old author, from
Falkirk, Scotland. She lived in the U.S. for just over ten years, where her
love for creative writing bloomed. But it's recent that novels have become the
main focus. She writes in a few genres, such as Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Romance and Horror. Under pen name Arya Grey she has a short story in
"The Blood Bar Chronicles, Book 1: The Alphas". This Anthology will
be published on the 16th of March. Her Young Adult Series "North" is
due to be published in the Summer.
