Now that I am an author and stuff you would probably want to know how us literary, high brow types spend our weekends just after releasing our latest blockbuster.
Well, it has been a wild whirlwind of hoovering, peeling spuds, walking the dog, watching a bit of Netflix and moving furniture. Me and Stephen King love weekends like that.
So, as if you didn’t know already, the book…it is done! I’ve put a load of hours in over the last week, resulting in some late nights and unenthusiastic mornings, but somehow I got it to a stage where I felt it wasn’t going to get any better without starting again.
There is something very strange about finishing something you’ve been working on and thinking about for nearly four months, pressing a button to make it live, and then not being able to do anything else other than sit around and wait for folks to tell you what they think.
To each one of you that now possess it, thank you of course, and for everyone who has shared it, retweeted or told their granny about it, I am grateful. I have some lovely folks that come here to read these blogs. My last request is for you to add your glowing, positive reviews once you are done. If of course that is how you feel about it.
I shall retire now to make the tea and await the inevitable call from a publisher, and a dozen film producers who want to make into a Hollywood blockbuster. It’s bound to happen, right?
All This And More
Oh and for those awaiting the paperback, I have just approved and submitted that for creation so I shall ram that down your throat…sorry I mean let you know how to get that when it is ready.
You are now free to go and spend your evening reading a good book…I know of one if you are looking.
It will be a huge relief to everyone here that the day has finally come for me to release my first novel, All This And More.
All This And More
It will mainly be a relief, as it might stop me waffling on about it each week….as I say…it might, but I can’t guarantee that.
The physical act of actually letting it go, and allowing it to be read is akin to sending your first born to school on that fateful first day. In some ways I am sick of the sight of it and will welcome the time away from it, but on the other hand, I’m not sure I’m ready or indeed more importantly, whether it is ready either. The temptation to do just one more read through, or even rip it up and start again haunt me like a post curry guff.
Anyway, I have to let go some time, and this is as good a time as any I suppose. The alternative is hanging on to it for eternity in a doom loop of removing and adding the same comma each time I read through the thing.
Today it is released in eBook format with a paperback version coming soon. The production process for the the hard copy takes a little longer.
As ever, I will remind you that if you do not own an eReader you can get a free app for most phones, tablets and PCs with which to get it, or of course you can wait for the paperback (but that will be more pricey of course).
I thank every single one of you who will read it in advance for doing so. Your ongoing support and encouragement is just incredible. I also have to give a huge amount of thanks to the volunteers who waded through the thing when it was (more of a) right mess, at first draft stage. Your time, patience, good grace and insight have made the thing much better than it ever might have been. Thank you!
To offer some form of reassurance that it might be worth giving it a go, here are some soundbites from those that have read it already.
“I could not put the bloody thing down. I have to confess to wondering if the genre was really my taste but My God, I loved every single chapter. You have brought the book together seamlessly, each individual person’s story being weaved into the main plot flawlessly. And THAT ENDING….”
“I have laughed at the Craigisms in the book, was gripped by wondering what would happen next, and I cried at the end”
“I can honestly say that it is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. Not many books would keep me engaged for hours on end like yours has, with only the hours on the clock making me turn off my iPad to sleep”
“I want to congratulate you on your fantastic achievement – well done, I found the quality of writing very high.”
“I think it’s always a great indication of a good book when you start to think about it at work, and I did!”
“I got to the point where I wanted to keep reading and couldn’t put it down!”
“All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book.”
“I think it’s really very, very good. I found myself genuinely intrigued as to what was going to happen next and looking forward to having a bit of spare time to read a bit more!”
“My particular favourite bit was when… (edited spoiler). I thought this part was very clever, fast paced, and I certainly didn’t see it coming!”
“I really think that this is a brilliant book with an excellent and engaging story line.”
If I get no further feedback, and no bugger else ever reads it I am obviously delighted with comments such as those. These same kind folks also offered lots of constructive criticism, which has helped enormously.
Just so that nobody feels let down, I feel that I should reiterate that the book has no connection to the previous trip report books, doesn’t even mention Disney or Florida once, and is not an innuendo crammed smut fest. Apart from that, I hope you enjoy it….
Should you read it and like it to any degree, please leave a glowing review on Amazon, as that really does help.
I’m now off to rock slowly in a corner awaiting the first 1 star review.
We’ve had some awful news today, and it doesn’t feel right for me to spout the usual self-indulgent nonsense in light of someone passing away. So there won’t be a post from me here today.
We heard this morning that Louise’s brother-in-law has passed. Louise lost her sister to breast cancer many years ago, and so as you can imagine this is very upsetting as he was no age at all.
Instead of me prattling on, I will instead point you at Emily’s blog from yesterday, which is her best yet, and probably better than anything else I could produce at the moment.
Go read Emily’s blog by clicking this picture.
Hopefully normal service will be resumed next week.
I need to lodge a formal complaint somewhere. The speed at which these meagre two-day weekends are passing me by is simply not acceptable. No sooner am I leaving the office on a Friday evening than I’m once again sat here at tea time on Sunday wondering what on earth I can write about here.
Yet, the passing of time from when I get in my car on a Monday morning to when I can get back in it again later that day to drive all the way home is glacial, tortoise like and annoyingly slow. This, I suppose is the theory of relativity.
That same theory of course means that I blinked and both of my children became adults. Rebecca started her new job today at a local pub called The Brewhouse.
She was quite nervous beforehand, but it seems to have gone well. She’s doing waitress stuff, and the first lesson she learned today was that she doesn’t know how to spell the names of the “strange beers” they serve. The bar staff are having to decipher her phonetic spellings, but she’ll get there I’m sure.
She’s next working on Saturday, so if anyone locally wants to go and give her a huge tip then do feel free.
Emily completed her Disney CRP application this week, and having helped a little bit, we feel it is much stronger than her last one. It is enormously competitive, so it is a bit of a lottery. She has relevant experience, an immeasurable love for Disney and a steely determination I have never seen in her for anything else. So, we can do no more at this stage.
She also got a lot of help from kind folks who read this blog, or we’re connected to on Facebook. I can’t thank all of you enough for taking the time to help Emily. Should she be fortunate enough to go any further, we may be back for more of the same!
For those reading Emily’s blog from yesterday you will know that she went to the cinema to watch the Frozen sign a long. She didn’t post this, but I have stolen it from her friend Meg’s Tumblr. Apparently they were the only ones singing. Have a click of the image below if you feel brave enough to listen!
Louise is going through one of those tough times of her course when she is on placement and still has a load of coursework to do, so he has been locked away for most of the weekend, toiling away at the computer. If you listen closely you can hear her continually muttering to herself “It will be worth it in the end” nonstop.
Speaking of toiling away at a computer, and I know you were desperate for a book update, I have been fine tuning as and when time has allowed, and despite STILL WAITING FOR TWO FOLKS TO FEEDBACK I think I’m nearly there. I think I’m looking at a February release on Kindle and maybe a week or so later in actual paper.
Oh and I shall leave you with this. Yesterday, for the first time since we got back from our last holiday, Louise confessed she wants to go back to Florida. She told me not to tell anyone that though, and it makes bugger all difference, as unless we win the lottery or I sell three million copies of the new book, then our wishes don’t matter. Sigh. I am away to weep for a while.
There’s something quite odd about reading something you wrote in actual print, in your hand. Mainly as with each minor typo, grammar aberration or sentence I wish I’d written better, I die a little inside.
If any of you did actually buy the thing in hard copy this week then thank you, and I hope you won’t be too disappointed with the quality of the pictures. It has been a decent learning experience for when I do All This And More shortly.
How shortly? Well, I am still awaiting two slow coaches to feedback on the first draft so it is all their fault. No pressure. Having seen Going Limp in print the act of committing a final draft to print forever, with it unchangeable, is a nerve tester, and I don’t know how I’ll resist “just one last check”.
This week also saw something else what I wrote being published, but this was in the more familiar format of a blog, and a guest one at that for FloridaTix on the subject of 10 Insider Tips for Walt Disney World First-Timers. I pimped it all over Twitter and Facebook so I’m sure you don’t need prompting about it, but if for some reason you do not hang on my every word throughout the week do click the link and have a read.
There is some debate over one of my Top Ten Tips (the immigration queue one) no longer being valid. It appears to be a recent change as a traveler from November confirmed it to be there then, but others are now saying it is not. Hey ho, it just goes to show that I don’t go often enough. Either way I hope the rest of it is some use to someone.
In none me news this week, Rebecca has secured herself a new part-time job, at the local foody pub place and she starts next Sunday. I’m really pleased for her. There’s a lot to be said for having your own money and independence and I’d like to try it someday too.
On that same note, Rebecca is on a journey at the moment. Not an X Factor one where she sings a Journey cover, cries twice and talks about her dead budgie. This journey is a physical one. If you’ve read the trip reports over the years Rebecca has varied in size from one time to another, and has been known to be fed up about her shape and size, much like any teenager I guess.
With the help of her boyfriend, Tom, who is a personal trainer, she has been looking after herself a lot more, exercising and since January, going to the gym. The transformation is impressive and one that she should be very proud of.
Rebecca…yes, really.
The levels of dedication she is showing are incredible, and she is getting her just rewards. Likewise for Tom, and if he keeps going he’ll be something like me soon.
I used to be fat like that…
So that’s one more thing to add to the list which documents why I am proud of the girls. That brings me back nicely to saying that printing Going Limp, whether anyone else reads it or not, is absolutely worth it. What a wonderful way to capture special times, and precious moments from the girl’s lightning speed dash to adulthood.
Now, pass me the biscuits. I need to do some arm curls!
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