Harriet Goodchild was born in Glasgow and lives in Edinburgh. That’s the complete about-me section from one of my novels. Short, sweet and to the point. There’s more to me than that, of course, but to my mind the book is the thing that matters. Does knowing that I’ve got odd-sized feet, two cats, went from Glasgow to Edinburgh the long way round via New England and middle England, and like Bittermints but not Aftereights enhance your experience of my fantasy? (If it does, hurrah!)
I don’t like talking about myself online. I don’t really like talking online. It took me ages to come up with the extra facts in the previous paragraph: they needed to be true but utterly innocuous. That’s why they’re so generic. Could be anyone. All the truly informative stuff, the details that are important to me, and probably of much greater interest to you than my taste in sweets, stays offline.
Some people enjoy social media, others don’t. This blog is as personal as my online exposure gets. I tried facebook but didn’t get on with it at all and visited less and less often until I realised one day I’d not logged in for months. It’s unlikely, I think, I’ll be going back. Family, work, day to day successes and failures, general elections, Brexit (or not), Independence (or not)… I prefer to engage with all such matters offline. Social media are like being at a shouty party all the time. They’re not the ideal milieu for an introvert. It’s my books that are out in the world, not me, and so most of the time I prefer to stay behind the curtain. That’s why this blog is filled with bits and pieces of my writing, and only the occasional, sidelong glimpse of me.
Folksong and Fantasy 