Magic

I've always had this thing that I'd agree to nearly anything so long as it was far enough in the future. Then you wake up one morning and find it's looming ominously on the horizon. I'm in that situation now.

Months ago, I managed to convince myself it would be good promotion for my book 'The Wizard's Apprentice' if I did a one-day first-steps workshop on the essentals of magical practice, something I haven't done for years. Having set the wheels in motion, I promptly forgot about it. Now it's suddenly all happening next month -- Sunday November 11 to be exact.

The venue is the Fairgreen Holistic Clinic, in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland. The cost (I think) is €80 and you can join in the mayhem by calling Pauline at 00353-(0)45-898243. And no, I won't be teaching you spells or how to fly a broomstick. Magic is a psycho-spiritual discipline, whatever Harry Potter told you.

Cheltenham

Just back from the Cheltenham Literary Festival, which was a bit of a personal disaster to tell the truth. For some reason, two of the promised school classes failed to turn up at my talk, so I was left with a tiny audience of kids who were mostly too young to follow the scheduled lecture. The week before I had a massive turn-out at Ballymun and Finglas in Ireland for the Dublin Children's Book Festival, so I expect the UK trip was God's way of telling me not to get big-headed.

Having said that, I did like Cheltenham itself. Lovely hotel and there was a Writers' Room in the Town Hall where they laid on yummy food and decent wine (both gratis) all day. That's what I call proper treatment.