I find to my surprise that it is just over a month since I posted on here. So for those of you out there who hang on my every word and have been sitting there with baited breath since 19 July, my apologies. For those of you (the overwhelming majority, I am sure) who couldn’t care less whether I say anything or not, here’s my latest annoying pontification.
Truth is, of course, that in the current situation, there’s not a huge amount to write about – time is still whizzing by – and it never ceases to amaze me how easily a day can pass doing nothing in particular. We’re still not going out much (probably the biggest event of the last few weeks has been going for a haircut). We’ve had two visits, several zoom calls with friends and that’s about it. Also, during that time, it was too hot to think for several days, much less write.
The only really notable anniversary during these weeks was about moving to this house – a year ago during these weeks, we first visited, made an offer on and had a survey of our house. The whole sale/purchase process was protracted, tortuous and expensive, so that it would be another four months before we could move in – but it’s good to report that the house has proved to be everything we hoped – compact, comfortable and easy to live in. Its location two minutes from the sea and twenty minutes from the town centre is very convenient, whilst we’re fortunate in having friendly neighbours. So that’s all good, then.
There’s still work to be done on the bedrooms and the bathroom, which has been delayed by the pandemic, and we still have a great deal of stuff – mainly books, records, CDs and DVDs – in store, but we have at least made a start on creating with bookshelves on which to put them, with the generous help of our friend Jamie.
So what else has been happening for the past four weeks? Well, though I joke about passing the time doing nothing in particular, the days have not been without their achievements. On the transport front, I have been beavering away on a consultancy project for a client, and written a couple of articles as well as helping to deliver an enhanced web and social media presence for another client.
On the fiction front, I have been working to build awareness of my work through an active social media campaign, and it’s good to report that this has been bearing some fruit. The novel I published in June, Governing Passions, has been selling steadily and this has spilled over to some extent into the other three.
Two years ago, when embarking on the self-publishing road, I was warned that promoting your existing work could take up almost as much time as actually writing new books, and this is, I think, proving to be the case. Nevertheless, it’s clear that the work I’ve been doing has paid dividends – our Amazon income this month incorporates remittances from nine different international markets.
There’s some progress to report on the writing front as well – though I must confess, that it’s not quite as much as I would have liked. I had hoped to have finished the first draft of my fifth novel by now – but it’s not quite there. I am optimistic about getting there by the end of the month, though.
On the entertainment front, one decision made which has already given us a lot of pleasure was taking out a subscription to Broadway HD, providing us with access to a wide range of plays and musicals to stream. So far, we’ve watched two shows that were new to us – the musical She Loves Me and the Sondheim piece Into the Woods – together with two old favourites – the recent West End production of the musical 42nd Street, recorded at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and an award-winning Broadway revival of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter, featuring a Tony Award-winning performance from Kevin Kline. This was a much more traditional production than the Old Vic revival last year with Andrew Scott but was none the worse for that and still hugely entertaining. There’s loads more to choose from, and I think this is going to turn out to be a great way of keeping some form of connection with live theatre over the next few months..
So there we are – that’s a brief account of the last four weeks. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and try to make some progress on the latest novel. Back soon!