From major to minor

So that’s another week written off for me. Pat became ill on Tuesday and was admitted to the emergency ward at St. Richards. All her markers were rock bottom, and it took three transfusions, several saline drips and antibiotics to get her back to normal. The transfusions have to be irradiated, and consequently have to come down from London. Thankfully I have her home now, but she has to self-isolate for eleven days. This isn’t because she was diagnosed with the Corona virus, but she was tested as a precaution and consequently needs to complete the fourteen-day self-isolation. That means no visitors and no trips out. We had to cancel four appointments booked for next week, and now will be relying on a phone appointment with the haematologist for her pre-chemo check. The chemo is scheduled for next Monday and should go ahead. Poor Pat.

I managed to find a home for Tuppence while Pat was in hospital. I use a group called Barking Mad. Very efficient and reliable. I contacted them Tuesday evening and at 12.30 the following day they had found a home (a “Host” as they call the dog minders) for Tuppence and picked her up. I’ve used Barking Mad a few times before and am very happy with their service. Tuppence is due back on Tuesday. This gives me a chance to get out in the garden and spray some weed killer about.

Naturally my book world has taken a back seat, but I’m hoping to go to a meeting of our Chindi book group in ten days’ time. Just to be in a group of like-minded people, talking about the direction in which we think our Chindi group should go and maybe chatting about our books etc. will be like some kind of therapy for me.

I finished The Lonely Skier by Hammond Innes. He was a remarkable storyteller, although I must admit that the book seemed a little dated. I still enjoyed it. My next literary venture is Scott Mariani’s House of War. I’ll let you know how I got on with that next week. Bearing in mind that all football has been postponed in UK, it means I’ll have more time to sink my nose into a book in the evenings instead of watching the footie on my laptop.

Last Monday was the Self-Publishing Show Live at the South Bank in London, something I would have been attending if it hadn’t been for Pat’s illness. Judging from the Facebook responses, the show was brilliant, and the evening on the Dixie Queen river boat was a real hoot. They plan to have the show again next year and have even contemplated a two-day event. They just about managed to sneak in before the Corona virus ban was implemented. Hopefully, no-one who attended the event will have picked up the bug.

I’ve no idea how my week will go next week. I might be able to put pen to paper and write a few more words for my pulp fiction thriller. Or not. But my main focus is Pat and avoiding the virus. Wish me luck!

One Gee's enough

Our week began in a similar fashion to the previous one: shoot into the hospital on Monday morning for a blood test (for Pat), dash home, bite to eat, walk the dog and then back for the afternoon chemo session. Home by six o’clock, grub, feet up, watch TV. Phew! Poor Pat: this chemo session was more tiring for her, probably because she started her morning tummy jabs on Monday, which usually means her immune system is at its lowest. The jabs are finished now, and she is showing signs of improvement already, thank God. We now have one eye appointment for Pat this week, then a couple of weeks before we’re back on the treadmill.

Some sad news for me as well this week: my elder sister, Joyce, died after an operation which she knew could be fatal. She was 90, very frail, and not really expected to last much longer. She had a fall at home which led to the op and her subsequent death. In the midst of life etc…

I struggled to get through the crime thriller (?) I was reading. The author, who currently has a series on Amazon and apparently doing well, made what I believe is a basic mistake, and one that irritates me intensely. The two main characters, one a DCI and the other a DS were called Grecko and Grace. The more pages I turned, so my irritation increased I was literally speed reading just to get to the end. I mentioned this to one of my sons during the week. He told me that when he attended a script writing course in London about twenty years ago, they were told never to use the same initial letters for characters because of the confusion it would lead to. This was the same script writing school that Guy Ritchie had attended the year before my son. So, I’m not alone in considering that kind of thing as poor writing. But that’s my opinion and I could be wrong.

No news yet from Joffe Books about Past Imperfect, but I don’t really expect anything until probably the end of the month.

Having ‘finished’ that book I started looking for something else, going through the best sellers etc. on Amazon until I leapt back into my past and downloaded a Hammond Innes novel. Innes has always been my favourite writer and I've read most of his books, including this one, The Lonely Skier. I can’t remember anything about it of course because it was so long ago, but already I’m enjoying a master wordsmith. Incidentally, it was his novel, Campbell’s Kingdom that inspired me to write North Slope (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01L02R626): published by Macmillan in 1978 and saw me being described as a “gifted narrator” in the Financial Times. Thanks to Hammond Innes.

I managed to make more microscopic progress on my current WIP. I will get there eventually, but I have to fit my writing time in when I can. I’m currently writing this blog in the front room after walking the dog, quick shop over the road, and getting the ironing done. And on top of all this, just like everyone, I have to give serious thought to the corona virus and all it portends, particularly as I’m looking after a vulnerable woman, and also because I’m at that age (79 this month), which also puts me in that category. I would have been travelling up to London tomorrow for the Self-Publishing Live show at the South Bank on Monday. I cancelled my ticket last December, so have had plenty of time to get used to the idea of not going. The London Book Fair has been cancelled, and we wondered if the SBS Live would be too. But it’s going ahead, and they are expecting most of the 900 who purchased tickets to attend. A few have pulled out because of the virus implications, which is a shame for them.

That’s it then. Now, where are my pills? Wish me luck.

Questions, questions, questions.

No, no blowing of trumpets, simply that I was nominated by my Chindi colleague, Helen Christmas, to participate in a summer blog event. It meant spending a little more time on social media than I really wanted, so I’ve taken a shortcut and answered the questions that Helen answered. She did set me new ones, but I’d answered those I saw first and couldn’t be bothered to go through them all again. So, here are the questions that Helen had, followed by my answers. The weekly blog follows the Q&As.

When you were little, what did you dream about becoming when you grew up?

I wanted to be a Trolley Bus conductor so I could slide the poles out from beneath the bus and lift them to change the pick-up arms on to another set of overhead wires. See? No ambition!

What is something you like to do the old-fashioned way?

Write with a fountain pen.

What is one of your favourite smells?

Fresh cut grass.

If you could call anyone in the world and have a one-hour conversation, who would you call?

There is no-one outside of my family that fits that criteria, but if it was for someone long dead I would have to choose two people (I know — it said one). Jesus would be my first, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows I am a Born-again Christian. The other is my mother who died a few years before I had my first book published. She was an ardent reader and was never to know how proud I would have made her.

What job would you be terrible at?

Anything a woman does around the house.

If you had a million pounds/dollars, what would you do with them to help the most people?

Because it’s not enough to buy an ailing football club, I would try to do my best for local charities, and also my church here in Aldwick.

For one day, you can do whatever you want. What would you do?

Emulate my son, Terry, and fly a fast jet.

Give me three words to describe yourself.

Optimist. Talkative. Supportive.

What is your favourite food treat?

Mince, mash, vegetables and gravy. (I know it’s boring, but I’m a simple man with simple needs.)

What is your favourite outfit?

I like to dress in spivvy clothes but have long given that up. I used to like wearing a dark shirt, leather jacket and slim trousers.

You have one last wish… go for it!

A complete cure for cancer.

My apologies to Helen for not following the rules. You can find Helen’s excellent blog at https://samefacedifferentplace.wordpress.com/2020/02/26/.

So, how as the week gone for me and Pat? She had chemo last Monday, which doesn’t seem to have affected her too much. We understand there is usually a downside, but we’re not complaining. We were called in by the hospital to have a blood test because Pat’s had been done more than 48 hours before. That meant a quick dash into St. Richards, home again, walk the dog, grab a bite and get back for her one o’clock appointment. They have changed the chemo schedule too: it means we’re in again next Monday, and then not for three weeks. We have also been given all Pat’s appointments up to the end of April.

I submitted my book, The Boy from Berlin, https://www.amazon.co.uk/B079SSJP9V to BookBub for a featured deal at the beginning of the week. They accepted it but not for the USA. I was given the opportunity to promote it in Canada, Australia, India and the UK. They didn’t give a reason for the ban on USA, but I suspect it’s because the story is about the race for the Whitehouse, and the main protagonist is a right wing, white racist supremacist, and also the chief suspect for the murder of a State senator. The police office leading the investigation is Lieutenant Amos, a black cop! I guess BookBub considered it a bit delicate and maybe have an influence on the presidential election coming up this year? (He says with tongue firmly in cheek). So, Donald Trump can sleep safely in his bed and dream of another four-year term.

I finished reading The Auction Murders by Roger Silverwood; his third in the DCI Angel series. I think I have a problem with police procedurals because there seems to be the need for the main character to have a problem, whether domestic, emotional, or physical, and this requires a lot of wandering off plot to fill the reader with narrative that, for me, doesn’t drive the plot forward. It isn’t just this book too; I’m finding the same with the one I’ve just started, but more about that when I finish it (if I do).

I’ve heard nothing from Joffe Books about the progress with Past Imperfect. I don’t really expect to for a while; it’s just me getting itchy feet and wanting to see it finished and ready to go.

I received an email from one of my new subscribers who had signed up for a free copy of Hell’s Gate. The message was clear: “Stop sending me emails.” I guessed she meant to unsubscribe, which I did for her, and sent her a reply to say I’d done this. I received an email the following day from her asking me if my book was available in paperback! Hmmm! I wonder if she’s bought one. I live in hope. Wish me luck.