Sunday 30 November 2014

ALMOST THERE ....

Hi gang.  As usual here is my grovelling apology for not being in touch for a while.  Sorry.  I seem to fit 48 hours into every 24 and I still seem to be forever running out of time!  Don't get it.  Mind you - lots going on (as ever).  I am still getting Superjack orders!  Have decided to wait till the new year before I send my donation for Jeans For Genes - but suffice it to say I will be sending a slightly larger cheque than I originally anticipated!  Also - I have now worked my way through three My Writer proofs and think it is now as perfect as I can get it.  The first time I held that delicious little book in my hand I loved it - warts and all.  Now the warts are all gone and I just need to confirm the final proof and - voila - I will be able to announce an actual publishing date  . SOOOOO excited; I cannot wait for people to see it!  Am planning a proper launch hopefully in February so watch this space.

On top if all that - the Young Writers continue to thrive.  I had twelve children at the most recent session.  We have had to commandeer another table and four more chairs!  And there's only two more sessions this side of Christmas! OMG!  Went out yesterday and bought twenty selection packs to give them for Christmas.  I didn't know what else to give them!  It used to be a notebook and pen but they get one of those now when they actually join - should've thought of that sooner, I suppose.

As far as Christmas is concerned - well - hubby & I are almost done.  We have just two more family gifts to get then we can finish each other's.  To be honest we are both struggling because we have been together for over three decades, living together for two and married for one and a half.  There isn't much we need these days really.  Apart from a bigger house!  And we can't afford one of them just yet.

I will get back before Christmas but I am going to bid you goodnight for now.  So much for my early night!!!!!

Wednesday 5 November 2014

QUICK (and terribly exciting) APPENDIX ...

You will NEVER guess what?  I received a Tweet from my cousin Steve today (remember him?  He's the one I lost St Paul's Cathedral with back in the day) with some truly awesome news.    Did I know, he asked, that a copy of the second Yucketypoo book (Yucketypoo Slimes Again) was selling in Maryland, USA for £60.00!  Yes - you read that right £60.00 !  My first - and probably somewhat blunt response was Are you joking?  But indeed he was not.  He sent me a link and there it was!  I could not believe it!  I still can't.    It isn't just that it is selling at such an amazing price.  It is the fact it is selling for such an amazing price in Maryland, USA!  Naturally husband Steve's first mercenary question was "So when do you get your cut?"  He was quite gutted when I pointed out I wouldn't.  But he also saw my point when I said that I am sure this turn-about would come in exceedingly handy when I start my Yucketypoo project in the New Year -  when the plan is to find another publisher who will pick the the trilogy up and give it a new lease of life.  For £60.00 it has to.

And in keeping with yesterday's theme - that, to me, is Success!

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Superjack On The Fly ...

Okay - so the charity story Superjack At The Edge Of The World did not make the top bestseller list or get a look in with Richard and Judy - but it has been a huge success!  I have received orders for another four today which I shall put together tonight.  That means a cheque will be winging its way to Jeans for Genes within the next few days. That to me is Success!

The really great thing for me is that the whole Superjack story came to me the second I suggested a fund-raising story to my colleague Claire at the Day Job - whose own little boy succumbed at age just three - to some rare and little known syndrome for which there is currently no cure.  When I wrote the first draft, I did so sitting in my favourite coffee shop the following morning, before starting the Day Job.  I just knew what to say, who the characters were, how the story would develop and even how it would end.  And - because I cannot draw to save my life - I had to make sure it would read well aloud, so I had to give it page-turn-ability in order to keep its target audience interested without the aid of brightly coloured illustrations.  And I did it!  Feedback has been great.  That to me is Success!

Last week I had two more poems published and tomorrow - yes tomorrow I will finally be signing off My Writer.  It has taken a bit longer than I had anticipated but hey - on the penultimate leg now so Watch This Space.  So you see Success is Out There in whatever way, shape or form it is in.  This is the message I try to instill in my Young Writers - and indeed in every student who has ever attended one of my courses or workshops.  Being a Writer isn't about being a millionaire superstar (not that I'd complain if it happened to me - but who would?), it is about getting words on paper, getting it out there so people can see it and touch it and become part of it.  Nobody can write like you can.

That to me is Success.