The weather is wet, quite mild and when you consider the time of year, it's quite unseasonal really. Rather than huddling together in front of the log fire we find ourselves taking clothes off, opening windows and turning the central heating down. All those pictures in our heads of sleigh bells gently jingling in the snow seem to have gone totally awry this year. We rarely have snow on the ground on Christmas Day in this part of the UK anyway, but it's generally a fair bit colder. Even so, that idea we've been sold through countless books, tunes and movies, of the yuletide being eternally 'white', still persists (in the mind at least!).
Actually, the weather has fallen in line very neatly with the opening chapter of my shortly to be published psychological thriller Roadrage, which opens on a motorway on Christmas Day in torrential rain. Unlike Niedermayer & Hart it doesn't have any kind of supernatural element, but I honestly think it's quite a scary story. The people who test out my work for me before I 'let it loose' and who I trust implicitly, all seem to be in agreement about this. However, I suspect there's no way of knowing exactly how readers will react to it until they actually start reading for themselves - if this kind of prophecy had ever been possible then the big publishing houses would have it all completelysewn up, there would never be any unexpected surprises and every book that ever reached publication would be a number-one bestseller! Anyway, Roadrage is ready and waiting to be finally proofed, formatted and sent off to the printers. I'll be posting more about it in the New Year.
Yesterday (25 December) we were invited to my son and his girlfriend's new house and we enjoyed Christmas lunch with quite a large group of family and friends. It was a proper festive occasion and there was a good deal of leg-pulling and good natured banter - I think we all had a really lovely time (and ate too much!). Today my wife and I have taken things quietly and this afternoon we watched a DVD of 'That's Entertainment', the film made in the 70s to celebrate the first fifty years of MGM musicals. I was eighteen or nineteen and training at RADA when it first came out, yet I am just as mesmerised by its cast of stellar performers today as I was back then - real class never looks dated!
My first book Niedermayer & Hart received its fourteenth consecutive 5* review on Amazon UK yesterday - a bonus christmas present! Reviews are of course absolutely vital to the indie/self-published author, so if you have enjoyed a book (even if it wasn't mine!), please always consider leaving a comment. I have less reviews on Amazon.com but strangely a lot more 'Likes' (comparatively speaking) - seems Americans are far more eager than their British counterparts when it comes to 'hitting' the 'Like' button. It's quite important statistically apparently, or so I am lead to believe, therefore I ask you, if you have enjoyed reading my book (or any book for that matter) to click on the 'Like' button too.
May you enjoy what remains of this festive period, and when the New Year finally arrives I hope you are able to welcome it in amongst friends and those you love. I am sure it is widely wished for that 2013 be a year characterised by hope, peace and generosity of spirit - let's all put our best foot forward and try our hardest to make it so!
Actually, the weather has fallen in line very neatly with the opening chapter of my shortly to be published psychological thriller Roadrage, which opens on a motorway on Christmas Day in torrential rain. Unlike Niedermayer & Hart it doesn't have any kind of supernatural element, but I honestly think it's quite a scary story. The people who test out my work for me before I 'let it loose' and who I trust implicitly, all seem to be in agreement about this. However, I suspect there's no way of knowing exactly how readers will react to it until they actually start reading for themselves - if this kind of prophecy had ever been possible then the big publishing houses would have it all completelysewn up, there would never be any unexpected surprises and every book that ever reached publication would be a number-one bestseller! Anyway, Roadrage is ready and waiting to be finally proofed, formatted and sent off to the printers. I'll be posting more about it in the New Year.
Yesterday (25 December) we were invited to my son and his girlfriend's new house and we enjoyed Christmas lunch with quite a large group of family and friends. It was a proper festive occasion and there was a good deal of leg-pulling and good natured banter - I think we all had a really lovely time (and ate too much!). Today my wife and I have taken things quietly and this afternoon we watched a DVD of 'That's Entertainment', the film made in the 70s to celebrate the first fifty years of MGM musicals. I was eighteen or nineteen and training at RADA when it first came out, yet I am just as mesmerised by its cast of stellar performers today as I was back then - real class never looks dated!
My first book Niedermayer & Hart received its fourteenth consecutive 5* review on Amazon UK yesterday - a bonus christmas present! Reviews are of course absolutely vital to the indie/self-published author, so if you have enjoyed a book (even if it wasn't mine!), please always consider leaving a comment. I have less reviews on Amazon.com but strangely a lot more 'Likes' (comparatively speaking) - seems Americans are far more eager than their British counterparts when it comes to 'hitting' the 'Like' button. It's quite important statistically apparently, or so I am lead to believe, therefore I ask you, if you have enjoyed reading my book (or any book for that matter) to click on the 'Like' button too.
May you enjoy what remains of this festive period, and when the New Year finally arrives I hope you are able to welcome it in amongst friends and those you love. I am sure it is widely wished for that 2013 be a year characterised by hope, peace and generosity of spirit - let's all put our best foot forward and try our hardest to make it so!
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