I was invited as the guest speaker today at the Sydney ’76 Ionian Club monthly meeting and the venue was the beautiful and chic Castlereagh Boutique Hotel in the city. It was absolutely pouring with rain. Knowing how difficult it is to find parking in the city centre, I chose to take the train which was good as I managed to catch up on all my emails on my way there.
Being a punctual kind of person, I arrived half an hour early, so I stopped at McDonalds to grab a rather luke-warm coffee. I was meant to be at the venue by 11am and I reached there with plenty of time to spare.
Usually I tend to ask well before an event how many there will be in the audience as I like to hand out bookmarks as a small token of thanks. This time though I forgot to ask the organiser. I wasn’t expecting more than about 20 women….so imagine my surprise when I stood outside a glass door, looking into a vast room filled with about 60 ladies.
I spoke for 30 minutes about my writing journey, my novel ‘Diary of an Immigrant Bride’, the institution of arranged marriages and my upcoming interview on ABC radio this Sunday. And then the questions just kept rolling in….one after another….it was the greatest fun!
I had only carried with me a few copies of my book, because I hadn’t expected such a huge crowd, and within moments had sold every copy.
My talk was followed by a scrumptious lunch of lamb roast, mashed potato and steamed vegetables and then a delectable Creme Brulee for dessert.
The club members were all very welcoming and made sure I was wonderfully looked after. It was a lovely afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed myself 🙂