Settling into village life

At last the house is pretty much sorted out.  New furniture has arrived and now we can invite friends and family to our new home.  We have a bit of decorating to do but most of the rooms are to our taste.
Last evening I actually took up my red pen and manuscript and worked on my next novel.  I must admit that I have not looked at it for a while, there has been far too much to do over the last few weeks, but now I feel I have the capacity to work on it again.  I'm well behind schedule for an Easter release, currently I have only about 25,000 words, so need to write about another 100,000.
If I can get back into the plot and get going again I guess it will take about six months to complete then the editing and proof reading can begin.  Maybe a November release would be just the job to attract sales at Christmas.  That sounds like a good marketing plan so I had better get on with it.
At lease my publisher will like the idea of that!

The aftermath!

We moved last week from a house we have lived in for 28 years. Our children grew up there and the place was shrouded in memories. We now have another house to make into a home.

Last week has to be one of the busiest I have known for a long time. Packing and moving then unpacking boxes, trying to find where we had put things and taking care of the cats who were not best pleased with the arrangements.

Now things are becoming straighter, much to the relief of my mild OCD! The house feels like ours  now our stuff has been arranged and calm has settled over the cats who are waiting to be introduced to the lovely gardens and surrounding fields. That will be an adventure for them this weekend as they would have stayed in for the required amount of days as recommended by the vets.

My writing appetite is returning.  My head has been so full of organising and moving of late that writing the next chapter of my book has been impossible.  The Easter deadline is no longer a possibility, so the publisher will have to make do with a revised date for the completed final part of The Torc Trilogy.

In the aftermath of uprooting everything I can honestly say that we have made the right choice.  Our house if great, snuggled between the folds of green fields and now village life for us has become a reality.

 

Moving house

Don't panic!!!

Today we received our moving date of January 21st.  Next Wednesday!!!  Such short notice, so now we are in overdrive trying to sort out removal lorries, buy white goods, as our kitchen if fully fitted so we can't take it with us, new furniture for delivery next week and also pack up the rest of the house.  Oh yes and do all those little jobs that I have kept putting off!  We have a dinner party at our house too this weekend.
We sure didn't see that coming, we thought that we would be moving in February.
Keep Calm and Carry On!

Looking for that unusual stocking filler!

My books and probably your last chance to pick up a copy from Amazon before Christmas.

The first two books in The Torc Trilogy.  Action adventure based on historical fact.

 

England 50 BC - A Celtic symbol of power and wealth, a Torc wrought from white gold, a trophy for a king. Luain Mac Lanis, warrior turned metal smith, is commissioned to make a magnificent Torc, but he knows nothing of the curse surrounding the strange metal. The only way to lift the curse is to offer the Torc to the Gods in a sacrificial ceremony. Two thousand years later the Torc is listed on the inventory of a sunken ship. Dr Orlagh Gairne, a leading archaeologist, is sent to work with Jack Harrington and his crew of salvage experts. It's Orlagh's job to identify the Torc and ensure its safe delivery to the National Museum, but the operation is not as straightforward as expected. Aided by his team of mercenaries and an historical expert, Jack unearths a wave of hatred spreading across Europe. With the past weaving tightly with the present, they must infiltrate the terrorists' lair in order to prevent a worldwide catastrophe.

Twelve months has passed since the traumatic events that almost claimed her life and Dr Orlagh Gairne is looking forward to a well-earned holiday. With her partner, Jerry, they jet off for the Aegean coast where they plan to make the most of the Mediterranean sun and visit the ancient sites of Anatolia.

The Phoenix Legion, still reeling from a humiliating defeat, have re-grouped and are now planning the next phase of their quest. They are in possession of the Belgae Torc, but this is not enough to ensure total power so they must rely on the druids and their connection with the spirit world.

Whilst searching for treasure in the Sea of Azov, Jack Harrington and his team make an unexpected discovery and with the past merging with the present are unable to avoid being drawn in to another deadly battle.

The Belgae Torc, Jack Harrington and The Phoenix Legion are far from her thoughts, but as Orlagh enjoys her holiday with the man she loves, these forces come together. Will she manage to avoid another conflict or will she become a victim of circumstances that are beyond her control?



The Witness is a psychological thriller, a stand alone novel, but the first of a set having characters and plots that overlap.

 

Landscape artist Josie MacDonald is coming to the end of her stay in Scotland. Whilst out on a painting trip early one morning she witnesses a horrific murder. Mr Mac, the deranged killer, is aware that she has seen him at work and sets out to kill her but Josie manages to escape by plunging desperately into the North Sea. Mr Mac, convinced that she has perished, discovers a few days later that she has survived and sets out to track her down. He follows her to London where he subjects her to terrible psychological torment as one by one her friends are drawn into the nightmare. Josie returns to Scotland in order to discover the truth where her worst fears are realised. With time running out and a killer on the loose she must survive long enough to bring their horrifying ordeal to an end.


Happy reading.

Update for December

I was talking to a friend at the weekend who reminded me that I have not updated my blog for some time and we began to discuss the importance of regular updates. I questioned the wisdom of this, blogging when there was nothing important to blog about. His reply was although I might think that I have nothing interesting to say, he as a follower often looked forward to catching up on the ordinary things that are going on in my life. The art of writing is of course making the ordinary sound extraordinary. Not always an easy thing to do.

Anyway, this is a potted review on things going on at the moment.

We have sold our house and are hopefully moving in January. We were looking to relocate in the Wessex, but have now discarded that idea and have found a lovely little house in a quiet village in Kent, our home county. We have been in our current house for 28 years and therefore have loads of stuff to sort though, memories of children growing up, things that we have not seen for over 20 years stored in boxes in the loft etc, etc, so as a consequence my writing has taken a downward spiral. I have a deadline of next Easter in which to produce my next book, the third part of the Torc Trilogy, but as I have only written 25,000 words that deadline seems unlikely. I need to have about 120,000 words and even with time off work over the Christmas period I probably will be unable to catch up. By this time I should have at least 50,000 words. It is difficult keeping all the balls in the air at once, beginning to pack up the house, dealing with lawyers’ enquiries, writing a novel.

Once over this little molehill and things are back to normal, the book will be completed and I will wonder what all the fuss was about.

To everyone reading this, my latest blog, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

 

Amazon reviews

Hello to everyone who have bought my books from Amazon. Thank you so much for showing an interest in my work and I hope you enjoyed reading my novels. Please could I ask you to leave a review on Amazon as I understand that reviews are highly regarded in the world of book promotion. The other thing of course is that it would be very nice to hear from you and indeed what you think of my work.

A short post about Royalties.

Wow, I have just received my annual sales payment from my publisher. It's nothing to get excited about, certainly not enough to retire on, but never mind. I get great satisfaction out of being paid for doing something that I really enjoy doing, (writing novels), and being paid for something that I did many months ago. I intend to market and promote my novels more in future, but the most important thing is to write the next one.