DO YOU THINK CHRISTMAS WILL GET CANCELLED TILL 2021 TOO?

And so a new month flies in and I'm half way through it before I realise, "My blog! I haven't done October's blog yet!" Work has kept me very busy being the front-line key worker for my place of employment.  Fortunately, things are going very well there and no problems we can't handle have materialised. Half-term is around the corner and thankfully I can breathe easy for a couple of weeks.

Sadly, like everyone else all my planned author signings and Comicon's got cancelled and shifted to 2021. Its a blow because it costs a fair amount of money to publish each book and not to have many sales except from on-line (which I receive less for) and hard copies sold by Page Turners via Facebook in Thanet and Quex Barn, Birchington. I know shameless plug, but I learnt long ago when I started this game, that selling your work also involves revising what level you consider your pride to be worth. Its taken several knocks over the years, not least from being turned down by the traditional publishing world up till now. I can tell you if you can survive that, promoting your own work is a breeze.

So, "what are you doing this month?" I hear you cry. I'm very happy because I've been asked to read for another author's book launch, via Zoom, on Saturday 24th October. Faye Beerling, is an internationally known author, who recently moved to Thanet and has had her first middle grade novel for children traditionally published.  Faye is a member of the British Society of Literature and I have been considering joining the society myself for a short while. However, in this Covid climate I'm not sure whether now is the right time. If anyone has views on this please let me know.

In addition to Faye's launch, and hosting Inspirations writers group meeting on Young Adult Writing, on the same day in the morning, I've a month packed with family birthdays, anniversaries - including my own and other assorted celebrations. Originally we were going to Yorkshire, my husband doing a sponsored walk in aid of the Army BF, with a short trip to Scotland tacked on, but Covid has seen this cancelled, like my signings, to 2021.

Writing wise, What If? is with my proof editor. I'm reviewing the draft of Quest for Courage, Book three in the Witch on the Warpath series, which is weird because I never set out to do a series. I'm also in negotiations with my printing company Printing Book UK, regards getting my new Aquasapien cover designs sorted - and that's not cheap.

I just realised, an exciting month for me, doesn't necessarily make exciting reading to you the reader.  Today, its the usual stuff we all have to do shopping, tip run - booked for 7 days time, ironing, feeding the brood and then back to writing. 

Oh, and I've more reviews to add to Trip Adviser. Wonder if I can get my readership up to 100,000 before Christmas - challenge accepted. That is if Christmas is still allowed to go ahead this year. I can see that getting cancelled until 2021 as well. Except, I have noticed lots of Christmassy things in the shops. It would be ironic if we all purchased our stuff and then Boris announced, "No Christmas in 2020!" I'm guessing we'd all answer, "Humbug, Mr Scrooge."