COOKIE ISLAND - Linda Kay Silva was one of the most dynamic guests to appear on the Meet an Author show. Not surprising for an ex-cop, she started the show with chilling and hilarious real life tales of how she didn't fit into that line of work. Now she has 8 published novels. She gave a powerful readings from her latest urban fantasy 'Across Time'.

Silva will be teaching a free creative writing course on Cookie Island to help others learn from her experience every Tuesday at 3 p.m. SLT. She didn't get into writing easily, moving from cop to teacher and finishing 4 novels she calls 'horrid' before using her experience to write crime novels about a powerful policewoman called Delta. These novels found her a publisher and she was in her stride as a writer.

During the show she talked about the various genres, how to find the right subject for a novel, and the difficulties facing small publishers today due to large bookstores steamrollering smaller bookstores and independent publishers. It wasn't all negative though - the benefits to writers and publishers and ways to promote books using the virtual world were also revealed.

Silva's novels were published by publisher Spinsters' Ink, which specialises in novels by and about strong female characters. You can find out more about them on

http://www.spinsters-ink.com

Her creative writing workshop is just one of a series of courses by past and future Meet an Author guests  on Cookie Island to help us while away the summer productively. Contact Jilly Kidd to find out the courses available - all of them free - and join in the fun with other aspiring writers getting help and inspiration from Meet an Author show guests on Cookie Island.

To find out more about the courses and this area dedicated to writers and creative people visit the Written Word area http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cookie/32/124/21 or take a look at our website http://www.writtenword.org.uk

The Author in your Pocket  and Meet the Author shows are held on Saturdays on Cookie Island. For a full listing of events filmed by SCLN-TV see their program guide at : http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=hmu6pr08lqed0k7r94f6aor0p8%40group.calendar.google.com&pvttk=2b6b4136d5790676f8126e6a0a