It was a  great pleasure to meet  lots of my  fellow  Oxford dwellers last  saturday  at  Waterstone's.  Many thanks  to  Martin for looking after us, and to  Phil for helping set things up and  particularly  Scott  Coning  for making it  all possible.  See  the  gallery  for  photos.

With some pride,  I am going to be the first  new author to do  a  signing  at  the  amazing  Waterstone's  store  at  William Baker  House  in  Oxford  this  coming  saturday,  14th  October.  As  usual  champagne and nibbles  will be  available  whilst  potential customers  check out  my debut WHITE  SUMMER.  All  welcome!  Kick  off  is at  12  noon.

A big thank you to Terence and Kate for generously arranging the signing at their wonderful trout farm. It was a lovely evening and I enjoyed meeting couples from Japan and Germany, holidaying in The Cotswolds, aswell as non-holidaying locals. Many thanks to the book club members who came along (see photos) and Tom and Jenni from The Wilts and Glos Standard.

Deborah Wright, bestselling author, April 2006
Great stuff. Wonderfully witty and sexy.

Roundtable Review
‘Reading White Summer is like a breath of fresh air.’

www.roundtablereview.co.uk/edition_3/fiction/summer.html

Fitzrovian News
‘Immensely readable, entertaining for both the male and female audience.’

Before a few weeks lay off from Ottakar's (they probably need a break from me!) I went down to Lymington, this time with my parents, to sign copies of White Summer for all those who missed the opportunity in Poole. Again it poured with rain, but that didn't stop people from battling in with brollies and anoraks to take a look at what we were doing and to indulge in a quick drink. Lucie, the manager there, was a charming host and was quick to tell me where the gents was when another rogue bottle of champagne exploded, soaking me from head to foot. After five minutes of using the hand dryer I returned to make the first sale of the day, looking, I hope, like nothing had happened.

The afternoon flew past as I got talking to the enthusiastic book buyers, so the incident was soon forgotten. I might have to write an updated version of Calamity Jane Rides Again!

Thanks again to all the staff at Ottakar's and to the people who bought White Summer. Never fear, I am working on the sequel!

Hight Wycombe is a funny old place. As you drive in you see a big viaduct which is fun, but there are no signs to the town centre. I had to make a quick phone call to the Ottakar's store to find out exactly where to go, but with Tash's expert driving skills we eventually made it and went through the usual routine of pouring out the champagne and waiting for Tom to arrive! Always late that man. (just kidding). The day went well and even though it was pouring with rain we still had a good load of customers. In fact it worked in our favour because when the downpour was particularly hard, it trapped people in the store, making them easy prey for the charm offensive!

Thanks to all the staff at Ottakar's there, and probably the best photo of the tour so far (check out the gallery).

It's always fun to get away to the seaside once in a while, so when the chance to do a signing down in Poole came up, I jumped at the chance. I went down with my girlfriend, Tash, and we stayed the weekend in a hotel in Bournemouth. With the signing either side of a two night stay, we enjoyed some great Asian food at Funky Sushi the first night, and had a delicious Indian at the Taj Mahal just up from the coast in Poole after our day spent at the Ottakar's store. Dee the manager was delightful and we managed to convince the lovely customers that White Summer was the book to make them laugh. Hope you're still laughing now, guys!

Neither Tom nor I had much of a clue where St. Neots was when I asked to do a signing there, but we're pleased we went. (It's near Cambridge, by the way) Jacqui and Hannah who looked after us were delightful, the table where all the copies of White Summer was set up was right next to the till (so we could pounce on any likely looking punters) and we had a good giggle through the afternoon. I don't think any champagne exploded on us during this trip either, which is something of a rarity!

The signing at Ottakar's Epsom was the first event I did on my own and I realized there how much Tom does when he's with me. Handing out flyers is a useful way of getting people through the door! Don't worry though, I still sold plenty of books and enjoyed handing out some champagne, whilst also quaffing the odd glass or two myself.

Thanks to everyone who came, and hope you're enjoying the book.

The next signing we did was at Ottakar's Banbury, where Mairi looked after us brilliantly, even supplying me with a gourmet sandwich at lunch time. Now that's what I call service! Thanks, Mairi, and sorry it took so long to work out how to spell your name!

I thought it might be a fun idea to do a book signing in a bar, as lots of scenes in White Summer are set in various establishments which sell booze. If you look in the gallery of photos you can see we all had a lot of fun at Joe's Cafe in Summertown, Oxford.

Book signing number two was at Ottakar's in Chippenham. Thanks to Jim for putting on a great event. We met some lovely people and drank champagne and cranberry juice through the afternoon with our new frriends, Richard and Zowie. We all got along so well that I even ended up staying the night! Looking forward to going back next year.

The best bit of the day, however, was when Tom opened the first bottle of champagne and it showered him and the books!

Wednesday 7th June was the day of my first book signing, an event put on by the Ottakar's in Cirencester. It started at 6pm and when the doors opened people came flooding in. The promise of some free champagne always does the trick! I had a great time and was thrilled so many people came to pick up a copy of White Summer. I followed the successful signing with dinner at The Wild Duck at Ewen with friends, and went home fat and happy.

Thanks to Peter, Vicki, Octavia and Daphne for all helping to put on a really successful event at the store.

I am thrilled to have White Summer published. After a great night at the Radisson Edwardian Grafton Hotel on Tottenham Court Road, where various states of drunkeness were reached (though I stayed amazingly sober), the book reached the shops today. Thanks to everyone for coming to the party and thanks to everyone who has bought or is thinking of buying the book. Take it easy.