As I said in an earlier post, my previous agent, Maggie McKernan, has returned to publishing, this time to Head of Zeus. She took up her post on November 20th.  I was in need of a new literary agent.
Last Wednesday, December 11th, I took a flight from Edinburgh to London. As has been much reported, there was a fog problem at Heathrow so, after a flight that ended up taking almost as long as a train trip, I arrived late for my appointment with Judith Murray of the literary agency Greene & Heaton.
I am delighted to say that Judith agreed to represent me and I am very happy to have joined her list of writers.
Anybody who has anything to do with the publishing world will have heard the word ‘subjective’. Sometimes it is something of an excuse. But authors and agents really do have to balance the subjective with the professional side to work well together. So when I was working out which agents to approach I sat down to compile a list. I was first struck by what could be called the recognisable things. That Judith represented Poppy Adams, for instance, an excellent writer whose The Behaviour of Moths (The Sister in the US) I thoroughly recommend, was one of the initial things that attracted my interest.
My editor Kate Parkin, now at Hodder, also drew up a list of possible agents for me.  We both had Judith on our respective lists.
And then it was a question of contact, talks, plans – and finally an enjoyable meeting over lunch. Some weeks do go well. The day before, on December 10, my younger daughter gave birth to a lovely little boy.