The West Wing - and More...

It occurred to me that I hadn't mentioned that wonderful series, The West Wing for some time. I wondered whether you might have thought I'd gone off the series, as I have mentioned it for a while.
Let me assure you that I have most certainly not gone off The West Wing.  In fact I doubt I could ever 'go off' the series. I watch it every opportunity I get and then when I have finished viewing the whole series - I simply start all over again.

How I wish they had carried on with Matt Santos as the new President (played by Jimmy Smits) especially as they brought Sam Seaborn back into the fold (Rob Lowe)  I must add here that the whole cast were brilliant. But as they didn't continue with the new President,  I guess I am just going to have to continue watching the original series over and over again.  Does anyone else have a favourite programme/series that they can't stop watching?

All else in my life is the same. My novel, The Trojan Project, now available on Kindle, is doing okay. Though a few more sales would be good. But I expect every writer/author says the same thing. It is so very difficult to get your work known. You might recall that The Trojan Project is a thriller, set in The Cheviot Hills in North East England.

At the moment I am working on the final edit of a novel called, Only Twelve Days. It is a rather tender romance set around Christmas time in the early 1980s - before computers and mobile phones had taken over the world.  Anyway I do hope you all enjoy it, when it finally reaches the kindle stage. Hopefully about the end November.

My husband's health is continuing to improve. He was so poorly just over a month ago, so it is good to see him doing so well. In fact he is doing so well, he has been helping me to sort out our garage. Now when I say sort out the garage, I don't mean there are a few unwanted things in there. No, what I mean is the place is piled high with unwanted things. I have no idea how it came to get into this state - well I suppose I do, really. If there is something we want out of the house, we usually just put it in the garage. It's an easy way of getting it out of sight. Anyway, we had come to the stage where it was difficult to get through the door, so something had to be done.

The problem is, there are also spiders lurking in there. I am terrified of spiders and I think they all know it.. Therefore, my husband was put on spider alert, while I had a crack at sorting out the rubbish. At this point, I must give three cheers to our friends and neighbours who had hired a skip to get rid of some rubbish of their own. They very generously suggested we dump some of our stuff in there, too. I had planned to make a few trips to the local refuse dump, but I think I would have been making daily trips for the next six months if they hadn't allowed us to use their lovely skip.

I haven't been to that wonderful city of Newcastle for some time. I'm not sure how the shops are coping without us, so I guess we will have to get ourselves down there very soon.

I think that is all for the moment, except to say: if you find a moment or two in your busy day, take a peek at The Trojan Project on kindle at amazon. You never know, you might just feel like reading it. But be warned, it is an edge of the seat read..... Enjoy!!

Cheers!

The Trojan Project - Now on Kindle!!

Do you remember my novel, The Trojan Project, that action packed thriller set in the Cheviot Hills in northern England. Of course you do, how could you possible forget, I ranted on about it enough at the time it was first published.

Well, sorry folks, but I am starting the ranting all over again, as The Trojan Project is now available to download onto Kindle.  It has been re-edited, as it was going to be released in the USA. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, this didn't happen and all rights were reverted back to me. 

It has taken me a little while to decide what to do next. The thought of sending out the manuscript to one publisher after another filled me with dread. So I decided that I wasn't going to go down that road again. Then I thought of an ebook, but I am not really a technically minded person.  Nevertheless I have somehow managed to get my head around uploading The Trojan Project on to Kindle. 

Yes I did it. It is up there now in all its glory. New cover and all, (pictured here) really love the cover. It was designed by a lady in the US and I think she really got it right.  

So please, head on over to Amazon and take a look. I would hate to think that I had puzzled over the ins and outs of self publishing to Kindle and no one was going to even take a look at it.   

 Simply follow the link to the new Kindle edition on  AMAZON

If you do decide to download a copy I really hope you enjoy this fast paced roller-coaster read.

Do let me know what you think,

Have a good day,

Cheers!!

Update!!!

Well I just though I would give you all an update on our new little nephew, Christopher. I am happy to say that he is doing well. He is eating, sleeping and making his presence known to his parents, just as babies should do. But he is absolutely gorgeous with it!

In the photo, you can see how much he has grown. Though I expect he will be even bigger now as the picture was taken a week or so ago.  I should also say that in this particular photo, he looks just like his father.

Christopher, his parents and gran came to visit a couple of weeks ago and it was so lovely to see them all.

Our new bed arrived a couple of weeks ago. You will recall how we had to go back to the showroom because the lift was broken and my husband can't do stairs any more. Well the order went through, the bed as made and delivered.

The new bed is wonderful, well I think it is. My husband is still getting used to climbing into it, as it is so much higher than the old one and the mattress is also very much deeper, but I think it is great. Mind you, we are still stuck with the old one until I organize the council to take it away. If anyone who knows me personally and would like the old double bed as a spare, 4ft 6ins,  then let me know. But you would have to collect as we don't have any means of delivering,

Apart from that, everything has been much the same here. Except, I have been to Newcastle a couple of times with my friend. How exciting is that!! As you know, we always end up in the Deli Bar at M&S for a glass of wine and something to eat. The staff have come to know us now and we look forward to seeing them and having a little chat when they aren't rushed off their feet. If you have never tried this wonderful style of eating, then you must do so without delay. But, please, don't all go there all at once, as there won't be room for my friend and I and I have to say it is the highlight of our week!!

Okay, I can hear some of you say how sad it is that the highlight of someone's week is a visit to the Deli Bar at M&S and you could be right, if your life is full of wonderful happenings. But we don't have that sort of life any more, (though we used to and I must admit it was fun while it lasted - whoopee!!!) so it is lovely to have one little thing to look forward to.  :-)

Divorcees.Biz is doing okay at the moment. Just in case you haven't noticed it is is at a super low price to download from AMAZON at the moment. I'm not sure how long this will last, so download your copy before you miss out.

I hope you have all been enjoying the summer. Here in the UK it has been drier than it has been for the last few years, so we have been making the most of it. Goodness knows what the winter will have in store for us.

Well I think that's all for the moment. No doubt I will have forgotten to mention soe rivetting piece of news, but is can wait until another time.

Have a great time wherever you are.

Cheers!!

Really Exciting News!!

Yes, I have some really exciting news I am a Great Aunt. How about that?



Our niece and her husband became the proud parents of a gorgeous baby boy on 20th June. And I do really mean gorgeous. His name is Christopher Ian and he is absolutely  beautiful. Phil and I are so happy for them all.

The photo shows all three of them at home shortly after my niece was released from the hospital in Newcastle.

Phil & I only managed to get to see them all last Monday as Phil had so many hospital appointments the week before, but it was worth the wait. The little boy is just wonderful. I even got to hold him, though I have to say I was terrified I might break something.

There is only one teeny weeny little snag...  I am not too sure sure about my new title - Great Aunt!  Don't you think that it sounds like someone has leaped from the pages of Great Expectations?

One person put forward the suggestion that I be called Grand Aunt, but truthfully, can you put your hand on your heart and tell me that it sounds any better? So I have decided Christopher shall call me Auntie Eileen or even better, Eileen. At least that sounds like I am his friend and not some crusty old aunt from the world of Dickens.

So now we are looking forward to our next visit. Perhaps I will feel more comfortable at holding him. However, it won't be this week as are diaries are filled with visits to doctor, hospital and dentist. I have to say that this growing old business is no fun.

I think that is all for today except to add that I hope all is well in your world,

Cheers!!

(c)Photo: by kind permission of Helen Dobson Whitwell

Sunny Days ... and worms!

Well the Borders Book Festival is over and everything is packed away until next year. The weather stayed dry and sunny, which is rather nice because one year when I was there the heaven's opened and it poured with rain all day.

You will recall I had six copies of Divorcees.Biz on sale in the Festival Bookshop. They were simply on the counter with hundreds of other books. I really didn't think anyone would buy a copy as all the big named authors were speaking at the event and were all doing book signings.  Nevertheless three copies were sold, so I was really quite delighted about that.

Tomorrow, with a bit of luck, I am going to Newcastle with my friend. We are going to spend a few hours looking at the shops and then finishing up in the M&S Deli Bar in the food hall. Okay, I know I have told you this before, it is really wonderful chilling out in there with a glass of wine and a light lunch, before we both rush back to the bus stop for the bus home to Kelso.  We can't miss it, because it is the only one going all the way back up to Jedburgh where we have left the car.....  On the other hand - I have just had a lovely thought here - if we missed the bus we could spend the night in one of the motels on the Quayside and then do the whole thing all over again the next day.  Note to myself - must speak to Helen about that!!

Meanwhile all else is much the same here in Kelso. Except for the streets, which have been in an uproar for the last few months, and are still in an uproar. Traffic lights, cones and lots of red barriers are all over the place. To tell you the truth I have no idea why it is taking so long. Okay the pavements are being relaid and no doubt they are looking better, but did they really have to have every streetin turmoil at the same time?

But there must be more going on than new paving slabs being laid. Outside the Town Hall, right in the very heart of this lovely town, there is now a deep trench and, what looks like, new, green, concertina pipes are being laid. Or else there is one enormous green worm down there.

oh my goodness, now there's a thought! I don't know whether any of you have heard about the Lambton Worm, which, as legend has it, lived in a deep hole in Northumberland. The little worm was thrown there by someone who caught it while fishing believing that was the end of it. But unfortunately, the worm grew and grew to enormous proportions and terrorized the local people. So, what if this is the same sort of thing. A worm waiting to take it's revenge out on the locals... No! Leave it! Best not go down that road...

Well everyone, now that I have frightened the lives out of you, I am going to close and try to pick up the threads of the sequel to Divorcees.Biz.

Don't forget, Divorcees.Biz can be found on Amazon UK and Amazon.com.  It's a light-hearted, fun book to read while you are enjoying the sun, sand, sea and....... ice-cream. :-) Now what did you think I was going to say??

Cheers!

Borders Book Festival 2013

Today I called at the Borders Book Festival to take a photo of my novel Divorcees.Biz which is on sale in the Festival Bookshop. (My publisher suggested it might be a good idea.)  I had thought it might be quiet today as the events were starting late in the afternoon..

However it was not to be, the town was packed and parking in Melrose was horrendous.  I was moved on once by some guy with one of those little bug-like phones glued to his ear. He told me that coaches wouldn't be able to pass my little Ka. I pointed out that there were two enormous rubbish bins in front of me, but he simply shrugged and turned away.

Not wanting to cause a fuss, I went back to my car and drove around the town in the direction of the car park.  However, a large coach was parked across the entrance. Now if that was not causing an obstruction...  Best not go down that road.

Anyway, once I got parked, I walked back down to the Festival grounds. The place was packed with school children. I guess the schools had taken them to see the Marquees with the off chance they might meet someone famous.  But they had to make do with me :-)   I took a couple of photos of the bookshop and my books on the table before coming away.  I hope you like them and will pass the word around that my little novel, Divorcees.Biz is on sale alongside books whose authors are giving talks at the four day festival.

Cheers everyone!!

Some Good News!

Well I have a bit of good news today. Two pieces of good news, actually. No, I haven't won the lottery, which reminds me, I need to buy another ticket. Winning the lottery would be more than good news - it would be an absolute miracle.

No! Unfortunately, my good news is much more down to earth than that.  Nevertheless, I want to share it with you.

Firstly, The Borders Book Festival, which is held in Melrose a few miles west of us, agreed to add a few copies of Divorcees.Biz to the shelves of the Book Festival Shop. Now before you all sit back and have a groan, saying 'the people will only go for the big names,' can I just add that I know that already. But I will still have a presence. Signed copies of Divorcees.Biz will be up there with the big names.  So if you know of anyone who is going to the Book Festival, ask them to at least lift my book from the shelves.  You never know, they might like the feel of it and buy a copy.  The Book Festival begins on Thursday 13th June and runs for four days.

My second piece of news is that my publisher tells me Divorcees.Biz is going to be free to download on Kindle for the next few days. Therefore if you want to take advantage of the offer, then head over to Amazon UK  and Amazon.com right now before you miss out.

But there is also a little something else.  If you would like your copy on kindle to be signed, then follow this link to Authorgraph and then follow the instructions.  I have no idea how this works, but somehow it does as I have been asked to sign a couple of copies recently.

That's all for the moment,

Enjoy the sun while it lasts,

Cheers!!

The Sun is Shining and All is Well

Well the good news this week is that I went shopping in Newcastle with my friend. It has been weeks since I was last there as my husband has been so poorly, so as you can imagine, I spent some money. Well I say 'spent' some money, but actually no cash exchanged hands. No! That part will come when my credit card company send me the bill.

It is so easy when you use a credit card. Because no money changes hands, it doesn't feel as though you have actually parted with the cash. The notes in your wallet are still there, yet you have a bag full of shopping. It is only when the bill comes at the end of the month that you realise that now comes the crunch and you have to pay up.  On the other hand, I never feel quite so bad about paying up because it means I have a clear card and I can do the whole thing again next time.

Okay, I realise that is a crazy way at looking at it, but it works for me. I am happy, the stores are happy and the credit card company is happy, so I guess it has worked for everyone else, too. That's my theory, anyway.

After a great deal of discussion, my husband and I decided that we needed a new bed. So after several days of putting off the moment, we set out on Wednesday to the store in Selkirk as they have lots of beds to choose from and I really wanted to bounce around on them all just like they do in the adverts on TV.  However, when we got there, the one and only lift was broken. Therefore, as the beds were all upstairs and my husband can't do stairs anymore, we couldn't look at the beds after all and my moment of leaping about was lost.  It seems the lift has been out of order for about three weeks. I wonder how many customers have been lost due to the lift repair men not being able to repair it. Ah well, that's life I guess. I suppose it could have been worse, the thing might have broken down with us in it. If that had happened we could have still been stuck in it to this day!!  It doesn't bear thinking about  :-(

Today, we are waiting for the Gas man to call as it is time for the boiler to be serviced. I have to say that this boiler has served us well for the last fourteen years and long may it continue. Anyway, we shall see what the guy has to say today. Hopefully the service will keep it going for a while longer.

So that has been the excitement for this week - a trip to Newcastle, then to Selkirk and the disappointment of broken lift and today the Gas man.  Except of course for the weather. It has been glorious all week and I gather from the forecasters it is going to continue over the weekend. So at least I end on a high note - well almost. I donated three copies of my latest novel to the libraries in this area. However it seems two have been lost in the system... how disappointing is that??

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Cheers!!