Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Gone to Wordpress

Have transferred all author blogging activity to my Wordpress blog. I'm leaving this blog up purely as an archive.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Spring cleaning

Have revisited the blog for the first time since June last year. Plenty of water under the bridge since then.

Item one; first visit to the UK since I left in 2007. Amazed by the plethora of health and safety inspired signs all over the UK. Amusing and disappointing visits with old friends. I do miss them sometimes, but not so much as to want to return to the UK. Some walked past me without recognising my face. Have I really changed that much?

Item two; have got my permanent residency, so no more work permits.

Item three; novel length MSS completed. Second in series almost so. First readers are already asking when the second will be ready. Another month if all goes well.

Item four; new job. Part time, which suits my current lifestyle.

Item five; am thinking about self publication more and more, and the possibility of using social media to draw attention to my work. Facebook might not be the best way forward, but Twitter sounds like a worthwhile even money bet. See if I can put together my own Audio versions, and donate some eBook copies and sound files to VIRL. I've been told I have a pleasant reading voice, and my dulcet tones can be heard booming out from the Coal Mine exhibit at Nanaimo District Museum. Feels rather spooky to hear my own voice sometimes when passing by the entrance and someone is listening to one of the brief passages I'm narrating. It's nice to think my drama training finally found a venue.

Item six; planning another visit to the UK in July 2011. Laura and Joanna will be graduating from their respective Universities, and Angie and I will be there to celebrate their success. Side trips to France are in the mix, as is a possible stop off in Dublin, one of the few European capitals I've yet to visit.

Item seven; Completed new Tampions for our two Cannon at the Museum, also the display stand for the Sculling outboard. Looking forward to seeing them in place. The Nanaimo Bastion reopens this May after a significant refurbishment. Displays have to be reorganised and put in situ, or as David the curator says with one of his gamine little grins, that will be another little job I can help them with.

Have done a little spring cleaning on the blog, and am debating whether to begin afresh for the novel marketing, or use this one.