So, What Happens Now?

I know that this may be a strange title for a blog post, but it's not a blog post.................it's a book!

To be more specific, it's MY book. And to be more specific still, I wrote it!! Yes, I am now joining the ranks of The Published Author! And here it is:

My Book!

I realise that I am sounding very show-offy and braggy, but I am so excited that I can burst.

But, let me begin where I should begin, at the beginning!
Around the year 2002 I started to write a novel. I had no plan, no idea where it would go, but I started and it just sort of took me with it and I got swept along and became caught up in the plot and the characters. I made myself laugh and cry, Rob helped me with phrases and I read bits to him for his input. I sat every day after school if I had a few spare minutes and over weekends and the holidays I sat for longer. As I completed the chapters, Rob put them onto a memory stick and I rushed up the road to have them printed in case the computer broke or was stolen, or I fiddled and somehow lost it all in the process!

Finally I put the last full stop onto the page, re-read the ending, cried a bit (I think it's a good ending but you will have to buy the book!) and downloaded a list of publishers! I was sure that they would be fighting over my manuscript and I would eventually sell to the highest bidder. In my mind I was the next Maeve Binchy. I was ready to paint my own cover picture, a gentle watercolour of farmland, a farmhouse in the distance, a windmill. I posted off several copies and waited for the phone to ring!

Yes, well, it didn't happen that way at all! I had really nice letters back from the Publishers, (together with the manuscripts), all saying basically 'Thanks but no thanks'. And so that was that really. A few friends read the manuscript and I think most of them enjoyed it.

My daughter nagged me a bit about self-publishing and I procrastinated and dragged my feet. You see, I really had a vision of a pile of my books gracing the shops, Exclusive Books would organise a signing, I would tour the country and become famous (and rich!)

Well, that's not where the story ends because, today, I received my birthday present from Catherine. My book! A real book with pages, a cover, a stunning photo on the front, and my name on the cover! Catherine had organised all this without a word to me! Rob knew but said nothing! All I knew was that there was a parcel coming from Catherine for my birthday. She told me to check the post box and let her know when it arrived.

I am completely overwhelmed, I think this must rate as the one of the very best gifts that I have ever received, and guess what?
I have already sold four copies!!! Mine, Catherine's, and two friends who have bought via Amazon, from the Kindle Store!!

FOUR!!

Here's the link!! Just for fun, you can read a sample of it. (Or buy it....)

So, What Happens Now? on Amazon (paperback and kindle versions available)

Lost and Found!

They say that things always happen in threes, and last weekend was no exception! The schools closed on Thursday for the Easter break and the weekend was a long one, so our little village was full of holidaymakers. Also, I think a few people from here went away to spend time inland, so there has been a fair number of comings and goings as you can imagine!

So, on Friday morning I was standing idly chatting to my neighbour and watching two little boys riding their bikes round the block, followed by a sort of Jack Russell mix female dog with a long tail. They were having great fun, and every now and then the dog plunged into the bushes to try and catch a francolin (no chance there!). As they rode past for about the fourth time, I said to them 'Gosh, your dog is fit, isn't she tired yet?' They stopped to chat and the younger boy said 'It's not our dog!' (I had a flashback moment to the Peter Sellers Pink Panther movie when he asked the chap 'Does your dog bite?' and the answer was 'no' but it did bite and then it turned out that it wasn't his dog!) Apparently this little dog had simply arrived at the boys house and played with them, spent the night and was more than happy to stay. 

Catastrophe!

I am sure that you will have worked out by now, that any title beginning with 'Cat...' is about..........cats! I have to slip a story in every now and then, being a cat lover myself and having a family that is moggy about mogs!

As you know, my daughter is very involved with rescuing strays, and most weeks has two or three in those clever traps being taken to the various vets who neuter and vaccinate. A few weeks ago a small one-eyed female came out of the bushes and literally flung herself at Catherine’s friend, desperate for food and love, thin and weak. Off she went to the vet to be checked, treated and spayed. On top of her poor condition the vet had to clean and stitch the empty eye socket (turns out she was born that way thanks to a virus). She was named Lily (as I said to Catherine, 'Lily with one i, just as she is', clever hey??) She stayed at the vet's for a while, wearing a collar to stop her scratching, and became a firm favourite.

Lily with her collar after her op. (Pics thanks to Catherine)

Jigsaw Jeopardy!

I am doing the ultimate in frustration................a jigsaw puzzle!

I have always loved doing puzzles, and so has Catherine, my daughter. She used to choose the complicated ones in the triangular box, the cartoony people in swimming pools, or on the beach, busy street scenes with lots happening. Every time she started one, Andrew would sneak one piece and keep it in his room, so he would always claim to have the final piece to complete the puzzle! I lost track of how often that happened! I was forbidden to touch it as I loved to stand there and fiddle, so I would do some when she was in bed, and then undo it before she saw. The love of puzzles must run in the family because my sister often has one on the go. She has the added complication of having a dozen cats that either enjoy batting the bits around, or insist on lying right on top of it! I am also very happy to see that Mateo is a puzzle lover too, and he manages to complete some fairly complicated ones.

Just before Christmas, a donation of over a hundred puzzles arrived at the Hospice shop. They ranged from 250 pieces to 1000 pieces, and lurking among these was the Hardest Puzzle in the World. Seriously, it was even printed on the box! Not only is it a very complicated picture, it is made made even more complicated by having the picture printed on both sides of the pieces! Not only that, the picture on the reverse has been rotated 90 degrees to the one on the front! Are you still with me? Good!