Wednesday 27 May 2015

Last Minute Panic

Tomorrow I am going to the UK Games Expo with my boyfriend for the first time EVER and am understandably a little nervous as this will be the first time that I have a stand, pitch, stall, whatever you want to call it at such a big convention.  I've been to big conventions before now but this will be the first time that I'm a seller at such a thing so I'm not entirely sure how I will handle being in the public eye for three whole days (the Autistic part of me is beginning to get a little freaked out by the idea).

To clarify, the UK Games Expo actually starts on Friday but we are travelling to Birmingham and setting up tomorrow.

As such today is the day to go through all the lists and make sure all the jobs that need to be done before we leave at ten o'clock tomorrow morning.  My immediate reaction when I had finished drawing up the list of what needed to be done today was "HOW MUCH?"

In short I have a list of jobs to do as long as my arm and I started on them pretty much the moment I was up and dressed.  Once I had painted the names on to the packing cases we are taking so that they are less likely to be nicked I popped on to the Internet to deal with my e-mails etc. before we leave to find that I had sixty six emails in my inbox and only one of them was an advert, which is why I am still here, two hours after I started work without breakfast.  Stupid I know but unless someone can get a time turner to me asap then I am running really, really tight on time, especially as I have a committee meeting for the Norwich Writers' Circle this evening that I was only told about three days ago.  Not exactly what I need just before a big journey but the Circle needs its Membership Secretary so here I go.  It is also why I am working on the emails and everything this morning instead of this evening when I usually do it.

Still I am looking forward to the convention with the hopes of selling a load of my stuff there.  If you are in the Birmingham area come on round and have a look see, it is bound to be a blast with games for everybody and cos-play to boot.  There is nothing so funny as watching characters from Star Wars, Doctor Who and DC comics all having a very animated conversation about which army from the Manic range they prefer.

Check out my upcoming events page for the address.

Sunday 24 May 2015

Eastern German Shepherd Rescue Fund Raiser

For the first time ever, I have just been rained on in a professional capacity.

The weather this morning was fair with just a hint of grey around the edges when I was rudely poked awake by the alarm pinging in my ear.  It is a good thing that I place my alarm clock on the other side of the room to the bed as it gives me just long enough to wake up enough to remember that my alarm is also my phone and therefore I cannot afford to smash it.

Once up and in my stall holders gear I headed off to the Eastern German Shepherd Rescue (EGSR) Fund Raiser day.  Going to this event had been arranged within one week so I was rather apprehensive about it.  As it is, disaster struck from Mother Nature in the form of some very large, ugly and more importantly wet, clouds.

It has rained on my parade on and off all day and as I'm only just starting out I have not as yet been able to afford either the time or the money to invest in a gazebo, tent, awning or other such structure to kept the rain off my head at outdoor fairs and more importantly off my stock.

So today has been spent covering and uncovering my stock between rain showers while I stood there, looking up into the sky muttering 'please don't rain, please don't rain, PLEASE don't rain.'  Apparently today was not my day for God to be on my particular phone line as it rained and rained and rained.

I still managed to sell one of my hardbacks this morning to a lady who said that she collects signed copies of the first editions of books from authors in the time BEFORE they become famous, so someone thinks my story has the power to become a best seller.  However, that was this morning before the first rain shower.

I then managed to sell a paperback in one of the periods where the rain went off for a break and finally I managed to sell two more after the rain finally wandered off and the sun started coming out.  That however was just before all the stall holders gave up for the day and went home.  Trading time was until ten o'clock tonight and I would have stayed to make up for time lost but since I was down in the far corner from the gate, once everyone else had tidied up around me there was no real point in staying.  Nobody was coming down to see what was on the lone, little stall, when there was the fun of the live music to be had at the far end of the field.

Still with a total of three paperbacks sold and one hardback I count the day as successful but I'm exhausted and I can't help but curse the weather as if the sun had come out at half one after the first bout of rain I could have doubled my sales and still had plenty to take to Games Expo next week.

The joys of living in Britain.

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Stop Press!!! Extra Event!

At very short notice (less that a week) I have been invited to and have accept a pitch at the Eastern German Shepherd Rescues (EGSR) fund raiser on Sunday the 24th of May.

This is one, a total surprise. Two, rather flattering as it means that I'm already networking and building up a reputation as being worth the pitch.  Three, little panic inducing as, if I sell loads of stuff I will only have three days to restock before leaving for the UK Games Expo.  That is something of a worry but I am not about to turn down the chance to sell some of my stuff 'just in case' I'm going to need it at the Expo.

I am considering trying to order more stock before I go to the Fund Raiser on Sunday but that of course has its own risks.  At the same time it does off set some of the risks of being stock-less at the Expo. Oh decisions decisions.

Still the more important part is that I will be trading from 10.00 am to 10.00 pm at Swanton Morley Village Hall on Sunday 24th May 2015 (i.e. THIS SUNDAY).

Swanton Morley Village Hall
Mann's Lane
Swanton Morley
Dereham
 NR20 4PX

Please come along, have a look at my products, buy if you like them and support this very worthy and local charity.

For more information about Eastern German Shepherd Rescue, please visit:

Saturday 16 May 2015

Base Building

Right, having returned from my holiday, I'm back at work and the first day has gone very well, with managing to do not only some more work on my book but also succeeding in digging up the painting and starting to harden out some of the details of what the central pair are standing on.  Not an easy task as I had heck and all trouble making the perception right when I drew it, so much so that I actually abandoned my original idea for the back ground and drawing something else in its place.

As it is I am now trying something new with the back ground and it appears to be working so far.  Normally I draw in every detail and then paint the colours in.  With this back ground I roughed out a very basic outline of the bottom half and I am now gradually building up layers of details, which is leading my painting back towards what I originally envisioned.  Well, they tell me that as an Autistic I have a duty, for want of a better word, to challenge myself to do new things, to build up a resistance for dealing with things that I cannot fully control, so I'm having a sling at it.  Seems to be working so far.  Now I just need to remember the ratios of pigment that went into the colour that I was using at the end of the day.

Now I just have to hope that I can hold the work-work balance between the two projects of writing and painting as I do not want to lose momentum on either of them, especially as I managed to write another eleven pages when I was away.  I know that doesn't sound like much but seeing that I normally write by hand with pen and paper for the first draft and average a page a day, that is actually pretty impressive, even if I do say so myself.  It certainly made up for a number of days when I didn't do any work on the writing at all because other jobs kept getting in the way.  I know that a writer should work as hard at their craft as a bricklayer works at theirs but I'm also the major care giver for an invalid Mother here.  Until last year my writing was pretty much relegated to being my anti-depression drug, taken as and when I could squeeze it in around keeping the sky together.

Hey, I think I've just come up with a new slogan - 'A page a day keeps depression away'.  Sounds catchy?

So the working holiday was a success and now I just have to try and keep the pace going.  If the work is never done, why do we start?

That being said I'm thinking of doing so overviews of the various planets in my book over the next few weeks as my blog posts.  Do people like that idea?

Thursday 7 May 2015

Working Break

O.K personally I've always thought that the idea of a working holiday is an oxymoron but I have begun to realise that it is possible.

The reason for this revelation is that in the weeks running up to and the week after Diceni I have in actual fact managed to do very little work on the fourth book of my series.  It was thanks once again to my Mother's on going illnesses and the fact that the quail we rescued before Christmas desperately need an aviary built now that the weather is warm enough.  They never explain to you when you go for cancer treatment just what they mean by 'damage'.  They say 'the treatment will damage your kidneys', you say 'can it be treated', they say 'yes' so you agree to the treatment.  What they don't explain is that what they mean by 'damage' is not a down turn in how well your kidneys do their job but that you are going to be stuck with reoccurring kidney infections for the rest of your life.

As for the aviary building, well it's very nearly done but I am definitely feeling withdrawal symptoms.  Keep a writer away from their writing long enough and they start developing this really witchy-twitchy case of the grouches.

So seeing as I have a friend who needs to visit Yorkshire for a week (bad side of the whole thing is she's going to arrange her moving back up there) I am going to be house sitting for a week.  Other than walking her little dog, eating, sleeping and occasionally talking with my boyfriend, I plan to do nothing but write and draw for the whole week.

I might take a break to visit my Great Ellingham Pretender friends, there again I might not.  I probably will, if nothing else they might be interested to have a look at the new book.

Either way, I am going to be off the radar for a week so don't expect any blog posts until Saturday week.  Hopefully I'll have huge progress to report. See you on the other side.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

Diceni 2015 Book Launch

Alright, as advertised Diceni at the Forum in Norwich (www.theforumnorwich.co.uk) was the stage I chose for the launch of my book 'The Return of a Nagus' and as a book launch I think it went very well.

Following a very early start for a Sunday and a rather rushed breakfast we headed out to catch the bus from Dereham to Norwich.  I have to admit I had misgivings walking through Norwich at nine o'clock in the morning... in the rain.  The place was just about dead and I half expected the moaning and shuffling to start up (probably comes from working on a zombie story in my spare five minutes).  Failing that I was wondering if any of the hard working public was going to turn up willing to part with their hard earned cash.

As it is I worried for nothing as the public did turn up from the moment the doors opened and they were still arriving during the packing up stage.

Nattered with loads of people, answered dozens of questions about my book, gave out every single business card I had on me and managed to sell six copies of my book!  Though that didn't quite cover the cost of the stand, once you take out the printing cost, it came darn close and more than anything else I was happy as, technically, I wasn't really in the 'genre' of the event so I was, if you like, the odd duck out.

When you take that into account, selling six copies is pretty impressive.  And if nothing else it has start the flood as in the days since I have sold another three to people who have asked how Diceni went.  From such small things mighty trees do grow.

So a massive THANK YOU to everyone who have bought my book.  I hope that you thoroughly enjoy your time with Vicereine Raquel, Andrew Farsight and Narkre Victor.  I am working on editing the second one as we speak and writing the fourth one as well (the third is sitting on a shelf waiting its turn with the editor).

Also I had the best complement ever at Diceni.  One of my fellow traders (Steph Morris) informed me that she witness one of the young gentlemen who purchased my book walking out of the Forum reading it as he went.


That, dear people, is the best compliment you can ever give a writer.