This week-end I participated in a session on Web writing at the Hay Festival. Given it took place early on Saturday morning, I think we were all a bit surprised to be confronted by an audience of nearly 70 people.

I shared the platform with Emily Angle of the BBC’s Get Writing community site, and Kate Mosse who has an Orange-sponsored site called Labyrinth, the same name as her forthcoming novel.

The BBC managed to dominate proceedings (Emily talked non-stop for 45 mins), but people also seemed to be interested in my speedy description of Oldton and some examples of how using a computer, and all the ‘Net has to offer, can change the way you write. Certainly, a number of Oldton postcards were taken away.

I was most struck by something Kate said: “Writers are readers too”. This is something that underpins a lot of digital writing – the ability of everyone to read something on the Web AND then respond directly as an author.

Kate has an interesting feature on her site where people list their top 10 favourite books of all time. A number of famous writers have contributed and it’s great to see how often we’re all connected by our love of particular works of literature. It’s a good leveller.

You can mail in your own Top 10 list at the Labyrinth site. Marquez is popular. Give him your vote and knock that blasted Lord of The Rings off the top spot.