Art, Craft, and Graft

Whew! The book is launched and I am wrecked.... Partly from standing all evening in much higher heels than I'm used to, in the effort to look nice, and partly through major cooking and preparation for the event. I overestimated the numbers, so I've lots of crisps over(not a problem, I've a birthday coming up) and a good deal of the wine. Most of the other food, some brought by my daughter Rachel and my friend Jane, was gobbled up by a wonderful crowd of friends and acquaintances.
The book was launched by Victoria Mary Clarke and John Joyce, both introduced by my husband (no problem to him, a life in amateur drama and toastmasters helped out!) The talks were about as different as two talks could be - Victoria, who has written about contacting her own angels, 'channelled' them for us and we were given warm messages of encouragement; then John gave a very clear run-down of what is required to get a book out there - art,craft and graft. Goodness, is he right!
Then I gave a short speech of thanks to everyone who ever helped, read a piece from my book and then a description of the meaning of the plaster angels in the Unitarian Church, and then we played the 'book trailer' video. That was when the roving microphone's batteries died, so as I hadn't thought to bring speakers, we were holding the laptop as near to the fixed mic as we could! There were a few laughs, so someone must have been able to hear!
Sales were brisk, my great son Andrew (watch this space for his forthcoming zombie novel...) was salesman, and each book was given to its new owner in a bag printed "authl.it/h8", so friends can easily find it online; and most exciting, one guest works in Sweny's Chemist, of James Joyce fame, and he will be stocking the book. So Dubliners: hurry down to Lincoln Place to secure your signed copy!
Pictures were taken by my 'official photographer' best friend Jane.

 With fellow authors Grace Wynne-Jones and John Joyce

 My son Andrew Gordon acting as book salesman

 John Joyce and Victoria Mary Clarke, who both spoke to launch the book

 Me, reading from Despite the Angels, and below, with fellow members of the Dalkey Writers' Workshop

Change of Date!!!

Sorry, I was told a few days ago that Saturday is double-booked in the Unitarian Church, so I have had to re-arrange my book launch party to FRIDAY 27th SEPTEMBER.
It will start from 7pm, in the Unitarian Church, 112 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, and will go on till all the wine is drunk and the finger foods are eaten....

Nothing is easy about self-publishing, as about life itself. Fate seems to walk backwards in front of me, scattering drawing-pins on the path. But here I am, with sprained ankles from trying to avoid them, and soles with more metal in them than a football boot....
Grilling sausages and pouring wine will be easy in comparison!! (shhh....the Fates are still listening...)
See you there?

The Book Launch Party

The date is fixed, we all get together to celebrate the launch of "Despite the Angels" on Saturday 28th September in the Unitarian Church, St.Stephen's Green, Dublin, at 7pm. Lots of drinks and nibbles, some short speeches, I hope a showing of "A Frustrated Angel", lots of chat and fun, maybe even some music. And of course, paperbacks on sale for €10, with some discounts for bulk purchases. If you are in Dublin, come along and introduce yourself!
I know there are loads of people out there who would love to read this book, and I am doing all I can to let them hear of it. If you know of anyone who would like to be 'in the loop', please spread the word!!

Back from Holidays and Am A Bookshop!!

I haven't managed to post anything for a month as I was on holiday, and first it was too cold so we went camping further south, then it was too hot...
I had planned to finish the first draft of my third book during my 4 weeks off, but I only managed a few chapters. Turns out I'm not one of those compulsive writers who has to be dragged from their keyboard kicking and screaming...
And I so want to be able to write in my bio "she divides her time between Dublin and the Dordogne" but that only fair if she actually writes in the Dordogne - do you think?
Of course another reason my third book is slow is that I am still dealing with selling the first one. 300 printed copies arrived at my house today, with a book launch planned for sometime in September. They are taking up a lot of my living room!

My Mum, who has just finished reading a proof copy, could find nothing in Despite the Angels to criticise except the things that I had already fixed - which is some sort of record, as she has a fault seeking missile installed in her brain- so I am feeling encouraged!  It is almost equivalent to a five-star review!

'Despite the Angels' FREE this weekend!

This weekend, 25th -27th May inclusive, the exact starting time to be chosen by Amazon in USA, my book "Despite the Angels" is free to download to Kindle. If you don't have a Kindle, download the free 'Kindle App' from Amazon onto your pc/ipad etc, and then you can download the book.
If you like the book, please go onto amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and leave a glowing review!! Ebooks depend on good reviews to become visible to the casual browser, and strangely, Amazon only consider 4 or 5 stars out of 5 to be good. A three-star review can help a book to sink further into obscurity, even if the accompanying words are fulsome in their praise! Weird, but that's how it is, so please give 4 or 5 stars unless you think it deserves a bad mark.
For those of who who prefer to read off paper, a little more patience only, it is nearly available in print!

I'm really looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks of my story....

Back from a holiday

So I survived the A to Z challenge - congratulations to all who did! It was a hectic month, as I also published "Despite the Angels", and formatted it for a paperback version. My first proof copy arrived, and I found I had the 'gutters' too wide, numbers on the blank and 'front matter' pages, and had forgotten to right-justify! So back to the drawing board, and as I write this I am expecting the new proof to arrive. The photo is of me ordering it from Createspace. We have no Wifi where we stay in France, so I 'have to' go either to a friend's, or as here, to the local bar/restaurant. They do a very good rosé wine which pays for my use of their facilities without causing me any distress at all! (They also do very good food, and best of all, they know us and greet us with kisses.) The weather was cold, I think all of Europe is having an extra autumn this year.
I'm back now, and getting back to my third book, as yet un-named.

T is for...

1) Time fills itself up! I have many things I could do with every second, but writing is Top Dog at the moment! So all my other activities, except those that make money, are on a back burner, until ‘Despite the Angels’ and ‘Revisited Sins’ are up and running. ‘Angels’ is available for kindle download, but so far is not moving, please help change that! The paperback will be out soon, just as soon as I find that elusive Time to go on Createspace (Amazon) and click “go” !

2)Teacher. My mother was a secondary school teacher, so I decided that I certainly did not want to be a teacher ‘when I grew up’. Unfortunately this was probably a bad decision, as there is a lot of the teacher in me (I think you can probably see that by reading these posts, I have an instinct to inform!) and although I would have hated to be a class teacher, especially for small children, I think I could have been some type of teacher on a one-to-one basis. I enjoy medical consultations most if there is an education aspect to them, as my inner teacher gets some time in public.

3) Thuja This will help the body to clear itself of warts. It works for about 50% of people, and the other 50% need a different remedy, perhaps ‘Ant Crud’. To try Thuja, suck one tablet of either 30C or 6C potency 3 times a day for 3 consecutive days weekly, for 4 weeks. If the warts have not gone 3 weeks after you stop, repeat the process. If they still don’t clear, you are in the unlucky 50%!

P is for....

1) Paperback Proof copy. This came yesterday, and is SO exciting! It looks okay, except for having page numbers on the ‘front matter’. But I already worked my hardest to get rid of these, with no success. So the book will be up for purchase very soon.

2) Puffin Club. I was a founder-member of the Puffin Club which was set up in 1967 (at least the magazine started then, I could have sworn I was younger when the club began...!)by Kaye Webb who was the Editor of Puffin books(Penguin’s children’s label). I received the magazine, Puffin Post, I think it was quarterly, and a badge which I wore proudly -and so I should, I had read every Puffin book, my mother had a standing order with Hodges-Figgis (Dublin’s biggest and wonderful bookshop) to keep her the new releases. When they arrived she would bring them home, there were usually two at a time, and hand me one. Then we would sit at either end of the couch and read, swapping when we were finished, although I suspect she finished first and read something else until I was ready! Mum got her “M.Ed.” degree based on a thesis on children’s literature, and I am very grateful to her for exposing me to good writing. (When I first read an Enid Blyton, brought to me as a gift by a birthday party guest, I recognised it as inferior and never bothered with another!)

Back to the Puffin Club. My claim to fame was that I came second in one of the competitions. We had to finish a story, they had provided one page, and I think I wrote another one or two. I have no idea if I got a prize, but the warm feeling has stayed with me ever since.

3) Phytolacca. This is another sore throat remedy. When alternated with Hepar (see H) they will fix most sore-to-swallow throats.

E is for....

1) Effort. Writing is addictive, but getting a book published is work, and requires a lot of Effort. I have used most of my book-Energy, and so far I'm ‘only’ on-line. The trouble is, I and my friends are of the age when books are paper, not kindles (though I love my kindle too), and I don’t really believe I’m published because I can’t riffle through the pages! So another bunch of effort must be dredged up from somewhere...

2) Elegant. This is what I want to be ‘in my next life’. I want to be someone who gets out of a car without a) showing my undies, b) getting entangled in the seat belt, c) dropping my bag so its contents go all over the road. There are many other situations where a spot of elegance would come in handy too.

3) Euphrasia. This is ‘eyebright’ and is good in liquid form, as drops for sore eyes.

If this is still saying it was published on Thursday, I'm sorry, my phone said 1 minute past midnight!

An Easter present!

So, suddenly, I'm published! I never thought it would be so simple at the end, but there it is, my book is on my Kindle, and it looks great! It went live at about midnight, so is the first time I've been given a non-chocolate Easter present. Now I can do the A to Z challenge without interruptions, unless of course I manage to get the book into print too....