Big Oak Trees From Little Acorns Grow

May 21^st. 2016

A mixed but busy week for me; I’m still writing and have reached about 18000 words. I keep getting writer’s block though which doesn’t help. I search around in my head for situations that leave a question mark over the end of a chapter or scene, and then find myself writing in my head and forgetting where I was going with the story. I have a character who is pushing for a bigger part. Sounds daft? Ask most writers if their characters do this for them, and I’m sure they’ll agree. This guy is called Blazer. He’s black, tall, good looking and likes to use ethnic slang when he’s talking to Vereen, the female ‘lead’. She’s black too. But I’ve got to keep Blazer in the background. I can’t say why because it would be a spoiler, but he will come good in the end. Meanwhile I have my other main man, Marcus, up to his neck in bodies and police and needs to find a way out. Unfortunately his other lady friend, Bunty (Vereen is his secretary), has muddied the water by involving someone who is distinctly unfriendly. The other creep in this story is Toby Abelard, a Haitian nightclub owner. Needless to say, he will figure big in the outcome, but I’m still light years away from filling in all the gaps.

My book sales have steadied, and my rankings are not plummeting. They are going down, but I get small lifts in the graph. And I was pleasantly surprised to see half a dozen sales with CreateSpace, which means readers are buying my paperbacks. Not many, but it’s a start. I also had a tiny credit from Ingram Spark. And this month my Amazon royalties are coming from six different countries.

Meanwhile my book, The Devil’s Trinity, is being heavily promoted by BooksGoSocial. The url they are tweeting (smarturl.it/tdet ) puts the inquiry straight to the Amazon page of that country. It’s a neat idea: saves a lot of clicking. I also had a small promotion yesterday with them for A Dangerous Game. I have no idea yet how effective that was, but no doubt the next day or so will tell me.

On the home front it has been more about the puppy. She had her 2^nd. Jab on Monday. On Wednesday we took her to puppy training (more for the owners than the dogs), and today she went out for her first walk. Not far, though — across to the shop. But for a little dog, the traffic and the people was all a bit confusing. We had to pick her up for a while. Naturally she’ll get used to all that and it won’t be long before she’s demanding to be taken out.

Today is our sister-in-law, Carole’s 60^th. birthday bash at a gastro pub. She’s paying! And today I had a pre-assessment at the eye hospital for an op. in two weeks’ time. So all in all, a lot done and more to look forward to. Wish me luck!