After a very comfortable night’s sleep in my smart Edinburgh hotel I was met by John, a lovely sales rep for my publisher. On our drive out of Edinburgh John filled me in on the city’s haunted hotspots. Because, naturally, when I arrive in a new city, determining the most haunted locations is one of the first things I do…especially when I’m in the midst of writing a ghost story. Unsurprisingly, one of the city’s famous areas for paranormal activity is the Greyfriars graveyard that I had managed to get lost in the night before. Apparently visitors frequently report strange sensations and unexplained injuries appearing on their bodies after a visit to the cemetery. I have been regularly checking myself for mysterious bumps and bruises since I heard this, however it appears as though this time I have managed to escape unharmed.
John drove us out of the city to Linlithgow. We had a brief visit to the ruins of Linlithgow Palace – birth place of Mary Queen of Scots and the recent location for a Chanel fashion show (bizarre but true). With a bit of time to kill I enjoyed a stroll through my second graveyard of the trip. I’m not normally this morbid; I don’t actually spend that much time in graveyards. But I may do from now on, they really are quite interesting places.
Linlithgow Palace Graveyard
Armed with a large, strong coffee, I was welcomed into the gorgeous local indie bookshop (check out www.maddingcrowdlinlithgow.co.uk) and sat down to sign 80 copies of Sammy Feral for tomorrow’s World Book Day book fair. Miraculously my wrist survived, although my handwriting did become more illegible the further I got through the book pile.
Signing Books in Linlithgow
After a swift lunch in a local cafe it was on to Linlithgow Bridge Primary School for my first event of the tour! I spoke to 2 year groups for an hour. Absolutely lovely children with some fantastic questions and brilliant weird animal suggestions (the Darth Vader Bat that lives in a pencil case and the vampire hedgehog were a few choice favourites). After the event John drove me to Glasgow, kindly bestowed some book proofs on me, so I now have a nice fat reading pile to work my way through, and dropped me off at my hotel for the night.
After just one day and one event I’m somehow shattered, and have decided to save my energy. I’ve opted to stock up on author essentials from Waitrose (roasted almonds, red liquorice, hummus and Rioja are a balance diet, right?) and crash out in my hotel room with my laptop for the evening…
Tomorrow is World Book Day and my schedule is jam-packed with events! Bring it on, Scotland!
Peace, love and stories,
Eleanor xxx
Eleanor Hawken 
Mar 07, 2013 @ 21:12:57
all sounds very exciting.!!
Mar 09, 2013 @ 09:07:43
Just a quick note on your visit this week to Kirkhill Primary School in Glasgow. My son now has both the Sammy Feral books and sat for two hours after school yesterday reading the first one before getting it read to him at bedtime. Thanks for inspiring him to sit down and read.
Mar 11, 2013 @ 20:03:52
Thank you so much! My day at Kirkhill was brilliant, I had so much fun. Great to hear that children are enjoying the books 🙂