February
1st. 2022
Getting
back on the horse.
One
month down, eleven to go. Soon be Christmas! Doesn’t time fly? Some people say
it’s when you’re having fun. That’s not exactly my world at the moment, but I’m
exposed to the brutality and reality of life, as those of you who know my
recent history will understand. But I have actually upped my reading and
writing game. Not substantially, I must admit. And I do have a couple of things
to look forward to.
I
picked up my latest work: my fourth in the Marcus Blake series, which finds my
character in Wyoming. I mentioned in my last blog that I had learned something
about State Grand Juries in America, and a lovely lady from the Wild Rose Press
(publishers of my novel, Past Imperfect) contacted me. She was a
paralegal and gave me some really helpful information; she also offered to
answer any questions I might have later. My continuing search into what is and
isn’t legal in Wyoming taught me something about how the FBI will or will not
get involved in a crime. And it also opened up the world of North American
Indians, Reservations, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I’ll come back to this
later.
Looking
ahead, I have booked a hotel in London for the Self-Publishing Show at the
South Bank Centre at the end of June. The last event, one week before the first
lockdown, had one thousand visitors. This year the event will be over two days.
As I’m due in Ireland for seven days before that, I have decided to travel back
to London from Galway, which will mean a day or so before the SPF Show starts.
Although I won’t know anyone there, I have two people who I hope will be at the
event. If they are, I’ll try to meet up with them over a coffee. Could be good.
Something
else for me to look forward to is a full-blown TikTok course. Within the SPF
group, we have been fortunate enough to have two American authors who have used
the platform brilliantly and have managed eye-watering book sales on Amazon
with it. They have provided the SPF group with a short, five day introductory
course (free), and will be running the ‘big mama’ in February. Because I am
already a paid up alumni of Mark Dawson’s group, the course will be free to me.
A
couple of weeks ago, I went to the funeral of an old work colleague in Kings
Lynn. I met about four of my old workmates (old being the operative word), and
after that I travelled round to Lincolnshire to spend a weekend with our
long-term friend, Pauline. Pauline’s husband died a couple of months after my
lovely Pat. That evening we celebrated Pat’s birthday and drank a bottle of
Prosecco (pricey). The weekend involved a walk round the shops, a trip to
Skegness (I love that place), and then home again on the Monday. But curiously,
the whole trip left me feeling flat because it was done without Pat; and it
wasn’t until I got Tuppence back and was into my routines, that I was able to,
once again, come to terms with my loss and push on with my life. Oh, and it was
our 62nd wedding anniversary a few days later.
And
that brings me back to my book. I probably manage about 500 words a sitting. I
spend a little more time on research for the moment, but that’s something most
authors would be familiar with, I’m sure. And I have passed the 11,000 word
point. I know I need to up my game on this and get the words flowing, but
because I don’t have a plot, my story does tend to take some unexpected
detours, which inevitably means more research. I’m fairly confident I will have
the book finished within the next six months. Ideally, I would like to have the
first draft finished before I go to Ireland. Fingers crossed. Wish me luck!
