Birthday Boy

It’s a special day today because it’s my birthday: 72 years old and (hopefully) still going strong. Birthdays are special to youngsters but the wonder disappears as you get older. Then as you reach the autumn of your years they become important again. Perhaps it means I’m like a kid because it’s my day today. We have some friends coming round this afternoon for a chat, a drink and to bring me a little gift. When we were younger our friends would probably have met me down the pub and we would have had a blast. Yes, I must be getting older. I can look back on some of my birthdays with a smile on my face. My 21^st. was celebrated at a friend’s home in Carterton in Oxfordshire. We were both twenty one that day. My 40^th? Can’t remember that one. I probably had a ‘Life begins at Forty’ party. My 50^th. was the day I planned to play a song on my keyboard. My son had given me his old keyboard and I set about learning how to play it. I was geared up for a song, but no-body wanted to listen. Perhaps they knew something about my musical ability that I didn’t. It was a good party; held in our house at West Winch in Norfolk. My 60^th. found me in Spain and what I can remember about that is that we celebrated in a restaurant and them went next door to a bar where St. Patrick’s Day was being celebrated. I remember wearing a funny, green hat. My 70^th (slowing down now) was a meal with friends, paid for by me at a restaurant, which was actually next door to the pub where I’d had my 60^th. Sedate affair that one, but enjoyable none-the-less. But let’s face it: birthdays are special, and it’s nice when people put a smile on their face for your benefit and mean it when they say “Happy Birthday!”.

And now for an update about my book titles. I have replaced the book jacket for HELL’S GATE, and modified the Kindle file slightly. I couldn’t figure out why the book wasn’t selling as well as I had expected, but the more I saw the jacket on Amazon, the more I wondered if a change was needed. Time will tell of course. My latest offering, SHADOW OF THE WOLF, seems to be refusing all attempts as persuading reviewers to look at it. I have advertised (unpaid) in several places asking for reviewers, but no-one seems interested. Perhaps it’s because it’s a war story. I’m trying slipstream marketing with this book. I have slipstreamed THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY (Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows) together with RACHEL’S SHOE by Peter Lihou. Any readers of my blog who would be interested in reviewing it for me can contact me through this blog or through my website. I will send a .mobi or PDF file to the first, five people who request it. Why not have a look? Go on; it’s my birthday!