I Give You…All This And More!

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.

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.

Till the next time….