Good Health Good Health - Wherefore Art Thou?

I have been ridiculously poorly again the past few days.  Woke up with a real hum-dinger of a cold the other day but fortunately it had faded to a vast degree by this morning just leaving me with the sneezies and a slightly sore throat.  And on top of that (all being well) I have a small operation coming up in hospital next Tuesday (as long as the cold has completely abated )!  I mean what a carry-on.  I am falling apart at the seams!  Keep telling Steve I plan to trade myself in for a new model but he won't hear of it.   Ah well - such is life.  Especially as you enter the more - shall we say mature - phases!  And there was me thinking it was all about taking things easy!

Had a good writing session last Saturday with my Young Writers.  It is kind of weird but I have always been the same - even going back to when I ran courses for adults many a moon ago - I always start out each session anxious something will go wrong.  But then everything goes really well.  I had twelve children in last weekend including a new member so the group continues to maintain its momentum!  I am just so proud of these kids.  They just work so hard and really apply themselves - yet they seem to enjoy every session more than the last!  I am so lucky really!  I am pretty much living my dream.

Met new grandson the other Saturday.  He is so totally gorgeous!  Then last Saturday, Steve and I traveled down to Basildon to see our extraordinarily talented eldest granddaughter in a show put on by her stage school.  She played Luisa in the Sound Of Music sequence and she did it brilliantly.  And I am not one bit biased (!).  Just need to get down and see our grandsons play football now.  But it's already the end of January and we are fast running out of weekends!  Lord what crazy lives we lead.

That is it for now but I will leave you with this thought - If You Want To You Will, If You Don't Want To - You Won't.

Good writing everyone.

It's Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just thought I would let everyone know that The Book - aka My Writer - is finally available to buy in e-format from Kindle and Amazon and will be available from the end of this month in paperback.  I am planning a book launch for March and hoping to line up some signings so keep a look out for further announcements!  And wish me luck!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all had an awesome Festive season?  Mine was amazing!  Spent Christmas Day & Boxing Day quietly with Steve but then on 27th the Merry-Go-Round gathered speed and I felt like one of the kids in Mary Poppins where the wooden carousel horse comes off its pivot and gallops across the countryside!  Had lunch at Niece's and presented Great Nephew with a build-a-bear teddy which he immediately began to chew on!  After Lunch, Niece and Nephew-In-Law plus Great Nephew joined us on a trip to visit ailing mum for her 84th birthday do, where we met with a dozen other assorted family members and virtually took the Care Home over.  On 28th, Steve & I raced down to Southend to visit Youngest Daughter & family for the Long family Christmas do, spent the night at an hotel, raced home on 29th in order to pack for 30th when we were heading off on a New Year break to Morecambe.  Reached Hotel on 30th around 4.30 - what a treat - bowl of fruit and chocolates in our room and two bottles of wine!  Brilliant food served up over the next four days including a Gala Dinner on 31st, loads of entertainment laid on - can't remember the last time New Year was so much fun! Finally got back from Morecambe on 2nd and began to get back into Normal Mode in preparation for returning to work.  So didn't stop really!  Had a horrible chest infection all over New Year mind, but refused to let it spoil my fun!   Still have it and think I might have to get some antibiotics because it isn't shifting!

And then yesterday - our new grandson arrived - all 8lbs,15ozs of him!  Going back to Southend this Saturday coming for a visit and can't wait!

So now it is a case of trying to get back into some kind of routine.  The paperback edition of My Writer is available from the end of January and I need to arrange a launch and some book signings. Have also pledged to actually write more this year and find a new publisher to take on the Yucketypoo books.  Maybe then the third one will finally get published.  Plus I have the Young Writers to think about and I need to ensure that continues to gain momentum having brought it this far!  So looks like it will be another busy year!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas !

Just a quick entry to conclude the run-up to Christmas 2014 (I may get back before New Year if I can find five minutes) and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. 

I have always loved this time of year; in fact I have never outgrown the wonder of the season or the magic of Christmas Eve when the air just feels so charged up (especially after dark) and so different to a normal day.  As children, Christmas was always a family time for us.  Even when the purse-strings were tight, we still managed to make the most of every second - making cards and gifts for one another, playing board games after dinner with the tree sparkling in the background.  When our two girls were young, that excitement - though never entirely absent - was reawakened and, now that we have grandchildren and great nephews, there it is again as strong as ever.

I finish at the Day Job at lunch time today and that is it until 5th January when I will be back.  It sounds like a long holiday but Steve and I are here, there and everywhere during that time, including a New Year break in Morecambe - but that's okay.  It's how we like it.

It has been a phenomenal year for me as a writer and poet and I am so pleased that the Young Writer group is doing so well after its shaky re-launch in March.  It has been a year of personal and professional growth for me.  I am very grateful and never stop counting my blessings.

So have a Good One each - enjoy the food, indulge yourself, have a good rest and wallow in the love of your family and friends because it is very precious - and if I don't get back before New Year - well - all the best for that as well!

SOOOOOO Close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When 2014 started all I knew was that come hell or high water my book "My Writer" would be published by the end of the year.  The book itself was written in complete frenzy in 2010.  By the end of 2011 the third draft was complete.  During its creation I began to make tentative enquiries with agents and publishers alike  and once the third draft was finished, I stepped up the search and began approaching various agents and publishers.  I met with brick walls left right and centre.  So I had an editor take a look at it.  She absolutely loved it and got almost as excited about it as me.  She loved the originality of it, the twist in the tail, the whole kit and kaboodle and said to me  "This will get published!" Yet more and more brick walls greeted it and sent it crashing.

Around a year ago, I began to think about self-publishing it.  I had published a number of poetry books myself and also the Young Writers' book "Word Magic" .  A few years before when a traditional publisher took the Yucketypoo book and commissioned two more, I had to do a lot of the promotion myself so I already had an idea of what was entailed.  I looked at at least a dozen sites on the internet that catered for Indie-Authors; some offered an excellent service but charged a lot. Others did a basic package that could be free, but I was new to this game with a book this size and really did not know where to start.  I considered other options.  Should I set up a new blog and just publish it bit by bit on that?  No.  I wanted the book to go out to as wide an audience as possible as a proper book because that is what its very nature demands.  Wattpad seemed a good idea - but they don't really cater for children's books and again - I wanted children to see it, feel it, smell it and treasure it as a book that would hopefully both inspire and entertain them.

I decided on Publish Nation.  I thoroughly researched it first and I was impressed with their range of services and their attention to detail.  I bought a couple of other children's books they'd published and, although one could see that the authors had limited knowledge about proof reading and editing, the books themselves were of good quality, printed on good paper with nice glossy covers.  I also thought they offered much better value for money than some of the other self-publishing companies so that was that.

Publish Nation has been amazing.  I am currently reading my second actual proof copy (having read through three copies on the laptop); so far so good. Each time I have spotted an error, it has been rectified and its excellent presentation is thanks largely to them and in particular to David Morrison who has been my advisor all along.  I will be signing it off very shortly as long as no errors present themselves to me and it should be available both in paperback and e-version before the end of the year, which has been my plan all along.

So I am almost there with it.  I'd have liked to get it out in time for Christmas so it has taken me slightly longer than I anticipated.  But I am going to arrange a proper launch (either February or March) and some book-signings and then ... well ... we'll just have to see.

This is what happens when one truly believes .   Wish us luck - the book and me.  And have a great Christmas.

Hang onto that dream!

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!!!!!

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!