It was my own monthly book group meeting yesterday evening, but while we were discussing Sebastian Barry’s ‘The Sacred Scripture’, (together with all sorts of non-book related topics ) none of us remembered that the winner of the Booker prize was being revealed at that very time. It wasn’t till I opened my daily briefing from the Bookseller after work today that I discovered the winner.

I have to say that I haven’t yet read any of the 6 books on the shortlist, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed dipping into various book blogging sites and reading reviews. (A few of my favourite sites are mentioned below) Not only do these act as an enjoyable displacement activity taking me away from my own writing projects, they can almost persuade me that I’ve actually read these books!

I did say ‘almost’ but that itself is a gross exaggeration - or is it wishful thinking? No, the reviews inspire me to be reading these books, not to have read them. It’s the state of being in-the-middle-of a good book that I love. The state of having-just-finished one can make me feel bereft.

Mmm. I’ll have to think about that. Actually, there is also pleasure in reflecting on what I’ve just read – a kind of mental meandering around the edges of the book’s territory, and making forays back into its heart. But that’s enough aimless musing for one day.

Back to the Booker winner, HilaryMantel. I’ve just googled her to check out the names of the two of hers that I read and enjoyed, ages ago: Mother’s Day’ and ‘Fludd’ . I was fascinated to see the speed with which Wikepedia gets updated- the wording of the short extract below makes it seem as if 2009 were already done and dusted – as if the year isn’t rattling past fast enough as it is.

“The long novel Wolf Hall, about Henry VIII’s minister Thomas Cromwell, was published in 2009 to high critical acclaim.[3] The book went on to win that year’s Man Booker Prize and upon winning the award, Mantel stated “I can tell you at this moment I am happily flying through the air”.[“

Reading the various articles about Hilary Mantel has taken me back about eleven years to the lecture hall at Nottingham Trent University where I was doing my part-time MA in writing – two evenings per week for two years. One of the joys of that course was the ‘Core’ module. All we had to do was to turn up on the Monday evenings, sit back and listen enthralled to a visiting author who’d been invited to inspire us to follow in their footsteps to fame and fortune (or at the very least, to publication.)

One thing I remember from Hilary Mantel’s visit was her advice to make sure we were working on our next novel well before the one that had just been accepted came out in print. That was the first time I realised that it could take up to two years from acceptance to publication. There were other authors too, who spoke in an equally down-to-earth manner about their journeys towards publication. In a strange way, this made the possibility of our own eventual publication both more, and at the same time less, attainable.

At that time I don’t think I really believed that a novel of mine would ever appear in a book shop. How wrong I was! Here’s a link to an article about my own experience of what happened after my novel was acceptedfor publication.