I'm an author and I joined BookCrossing in order to thank the many readers who have registered and JE'd my books, EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY, A LIFETIME BURNING and STAR GAZING. I've donated a lot of copies of my books to BookCrossing and BookCrossers have kindly released them for me and spread the word. I've also donated copies of anthologies of poems by Scottish poet Ian Stephen whose work partly inspired my own.

I now live near Glasgow but lived for 6 years on the Isle of Skye, off the west coast of Scotland, a location I've written about in two of my novels, EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY and STAR GAZING.

I've spoken to BookCrossing groups and taught writing workshops in Birmingham, Oxford and Aberdeen, at the 2007 Unconvention in Brighton, the 2008 London Convention and the 2009 Edinburgh Unconvention. (PM me if you'd like me to come and talk to your group.)

I've made lots of great friends through BookCrossing and feel hugely grateful to BookCrossers for their support of my books and of me as a writer. Their feedback has been invaluable. There are now BookCrossers who read drafts of my books and make editorial suggestions so my relationship with BookCrossing has become a creative partnership. :-)

Many publishers and authors are suspicious of BookCrossing because they think it damages sales. I'm doing my best to convince the book trade that, on the contrary, involvement with BookCrossing leads to increased sales and invaluable word-of-mouth publicity.