The Intrepid Traveller (my July blog post)
I usually write my monthly blog post early in the month, but on July 1st, I will be travelling to Atlanta in Georgia, USA. I’m going over to stay with my Grandson, Sam, and his wife, Taryn, to help celebrate their son, Elliott’s, first birthday on July 5th. Sam’s brother, Jamie, will be flying down from Vancouver with his girlfriend, Lexi, and Sam’s Mum and Dad will be over from Australia. Taryn’s family will be coming down from Michigan, so it will be quite a gathering, and I’m looking forward to it very much. I’m flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class — something else to look forward to.
This won’t be the first time I’ve been to the States. I’ve been a few times, but my first visit was as an eighteen-year-old in 1958. I was in the Merchant Navy working as a waiter with P&O. We did a world cruise, which incorporated a Pacific cruise before sailing through the Panama Canal for home. As a consequence of that, I got to visit Hawaii twice (not an American State at the time), Vancouver twice, plus a short stop and a five-day layover in San Fransico. There were lots of highlights, of course, and I’ll never forget being driven along a Freeway in a pink Cadillac thinking what a blast it was; here in the land of Bill Haley, Elvis Presley (he had a pink Cadillac), Buddy Holly and the Everley Brothers — the list goes on. I was a bit of a dreamer then (still am, I think).
My highlights for this trip that I know of in advance include a visit to a Writers’ group, a fireworks display to celebrate July 4th, Elliott’s christening on the morning of his birthday, and, of course, the birthday party. I’m also scheduled to go to a baseball game, something I asked my grandson to arrange. Any game will do, I said, so long as it’s not English football. Anything after all that will be a bonus. Oh, and I’ve been promised a Hummingbird T-shirt. That’s the name of the Running Club my Grandson, Jamie, set up in Vancouver along with a couple of his mates.
So what about my world of books? Well, my current WW2 story,
Shadow Over
Paris, is doing very well. It sells every day and is holding
it’s own in the top 20 of Historical French fiction, so I’m well pleased. But
I’m struggling to come up with a worthwhile sequel, which some readers have
asked me to do. I’m just past the 40,000-word mark, which means about halfway,
but I need to keep the excitement level up if it’s to emulate the success of my
current book. But I am picking up sales and page reads on some of my other
books, which is always good to see. It means people are noticing me and are
getting curious. Being in Kindle Unlimited helps as well, and I have about
eight of my books in KU. I may take the plunge and put all my books there.
Away from all the glitz and glamour of International travel and the world of books, my domestic routines haven’t changed. I’m sure most of you are in the same place as me. The weather has been good, but not for the garden, except the weeds! The grass is brown, but my pots and hanging baskets are surviving. Life goes on despite the best practices of the international warmongers and the mendacious politicians who think we’re all senile and don’t have a clue. So, don’t worry about things over which you have no control, take life as it comes, and spread a little of your own sunshine. I hope I’m doing that with my books. Wish me luck!
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