A Bunch of Introverts Trying to be Extroverts

What do you get if you put together a dozen authors in a French chateau? Last week I found out.

My wonderful agent, Robert Caskie, spoilt his writers rotten by inviting us to fly down to Chateau Engalin just outside of Toulouse.

The two groups of authors gathered together completely randomly – those who could attend the first half of the week and those who preferred the second half – and it was such a perfect mix of people. I’m not quite sure why I opted for the second half, perhaps I was hedging my bets that fine weather would be guaranteed the later in the month we arrived, but instead we had mostly rain until the last 24 hours.

Yet it didn’t matter, not one bit. I was only away four nights, yet it feels like a week or even more. How did that happen? Two things, firstly we didn’t waste days sunning ourselves by the pool because, as much as I like doing that, the hours do speed by and, secondly, we hopped into hire cars in groups and explored the area. You’ll be pleased to know my obs…