Episode 1359: Launch Of Penning Perfumes

So my first London trip this month went well! Texted Sophie before I got in, so we had coffee and hung out for a couple of hours. Saw this hardback in Oxfam Bloomsbury titled All The Sad Young Literary Men, Keith Gessen's debut novel. A quick look online suggests that it's either trying too hard or readers are too unintelligent these days, both being equally likely and neither precluding the other. Will order from Amazon UK so that I can return it if it really does prove insufferable to read. Then it was off to the Penning Perfumes launch, which is possibly the best-smelling publication I'll ever own. The event, hosted by Odette Toilette, was great fun, so I'm really glad I made the effort to attend. It was also lovely to finally meet Lindsey Holland (it's like I'm collecting face-to-face meetings with my editors before I leave the UK for good!) and to get introduced to Tori Truslow, after Claire Trévien saying several times in the past that we should be. Had a good chat with Emily Hasler as well, which has given me some ideas for what I want to put in my portfolio due in September. There's still a small possibility that I might actually just blitz through that next week, instead of writing and handing in my EN954 essay, but it mostly depends on how prepared I am by this weekend. Also heard back from Sean Colletti at The Camarillo Review, and he's happy for me to contribute reviews. Am actually wondering if I could offer to do one of Penning Perfumes, since I was at the event too. For now though, I think the essay needs to remain my top priority, right?