July 11th.

It looks like I missed a week, but lots have occurred which kind of diverted me. Hospital appointments get in the way. So essential of course, but they do take up a lot of time. Last Monday I went into Chichester and introduced myself to the Waterstones manager. He was very pleasant and didn’t throw me out of the shop. I was able to talk about CHINDI, the writers group I often mention now. He said he wouldn’t be averse to doing a book launch, but would have to vet the book beforehand. I thought this was reasonable because I doubt if he has any say in the matter if it’s a top-line writer with a book launch. It’s a step forward for us, and a connection: so important too.

I also ventured into East Wittering along the coast from where we live, and spoke to Lindsay, the owner of Kings Bookshop there. She was happy to talk about our books and book promotions; so another contact has been made which should help to spread the word about our writing group. I know it’s always the aim of a writer to sell books (usually), but for the moment it’s all about building relationships with people in the book world.

I took the plunge and asked my publisher if she could give me the paperback rights to the last two novels she published for me: The Boy from Berlin and Past Imperfect. She has agreed to give me the UK rights, which I am really pleased about. It means now that I can publish those two books without having to worry about editing and proof-reading. Well, not quite. At the moment I am going through the edited manuscript of Past Imperfect and editing my Word doc. So I suppose it is a form of editing. However, the book jacket will be different. I can’t use Photoshop properly, but I have watched a training video on using Microsoft Word, and I think I might just be able to cope. Time will tell though. With luck I can have the book ready by the end of August and follow that up in September with The Boy from Berlin. I’m quite excited about this development because our CHINDI group are holding a big launch day in September, and hopefully I’ll have at least one, new title to offer.

On the writing front; I have reached 68,000 words and changed the plot line of my WIP. It was the only way I could see myself making progress. I still have a mini mountain to climb, but hopefully I will get there in the end. At the moment I am planning to offer it to my publisher. If she turns it down then I will publish it myself. But that will incur costs: about £1000 if I’m brave enough. Might have to give that some thought though.

I received an e-mail today from a young woman Pat and I met while we were on our Alaskan cruise. Her name is Julia, and she was with her friend, Mary Beth. They sat at our table and we talked for about an hour and a half. Pat and I were really pleased to get Julia’s e-mail. Naturally we will stay in contact through Facebook and perhaps the occasional e-mail.

I had a bit of a lift this morning with my KDP sales report. I usually average about one sale a day, but because I e-mailed my subscribers and told them of a forthcoming promotion for A Covert War ($0.99), I sold nine books yesterday. Small numbers indeed compared to a lot of Amazon authors, but it brought a big smile to my face.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we are off to Bath to see our grandson, Sam. He is in UK on a short internship from his university in America. He lives in Australia, and we haven’t seen him for about six years, so this is a great opportunity to catch up with him, take him out to lunch and learn more about his hopes, his plans and his ambitions. We are really looking forward to that. Should be fun. See you next week.