Hi all,
Gosh, it’s the middle of August already. How on earth did that happen?
August means the start of the football season, of course (smiley face). I can hear some of you groaning! I, myself, am a big Liverpool FC fan, and am hoping they win that elusive Premier League title this year!
Anyway, on to more relevant writing issues…
The end of July saw the release of Seaside Skeletons finally, so it’s been a bit of a hectic period to say the least. Most of my normal writing time has been taken up with promoting the book – penning press releases, social media posts and interaction etc. There are so many platforms these days – FB, Twitter, Instagram... I have just signed up to Instagram for the first time, actually – ‘aclongden’ – so I am trying to get my head around how it all works. My twin, teenage daughters (15 years old – both of them, funnily enough) were horrified when they got a ‘follow’ request from me. I was ignored for days – not sure what they were trying to hide from me… It’s not like I don’t know about Madeleine’s obsession with Shawn Mendes, or Emily’s penchant for cat and sunset photos!
Ideally, I would rather be writing, of course, but I don’t mind all this other stuff that comes with being a writer, especially the social media interaction. I genuinely love hearing from people. And the best bit of all, is when I get that “Wow! Just finished. I need more!” message, along with some positive feedback when someone has finished a book. This is what keeps me writing. It makes all the hours tapping away at a keyboard and anguishing over plot discrepancies etc. worthwhile!
So, on that note, if you have finished one of my books, or any other author’s book, for that matter. Let them know, and put a review or rating on Facebook, Goodreads or Amazon. It will make their day, and in this social media age, those internet reviews are so important.
Talking of reviews… A while back I got my first (thankfully) bad review of The Caterpillar Girl. The person who wrote it, let’s call him Mr. A. Nonymous was kind enough to post it on both Amazon and Goodreads. But what actually tickled me was that, amongst other things, he labelled the book ‘Enid Blyton with sex and cider!’
Now, I think this was meant to be derogatory. But personally, I think that sounds like a fab book! I absolutely love The Enchanted Wood, and The Folk of the Faraway Tree – these, along with Roald Dahl, are the books I grew up on; they fed my imagination. And as for sex and cider… I am always looking for soundbites for my books, and I think Mr. A. Nonymous might have inadvertently given me one. I picture him as maybe a failed writer, himself, and looking like the elderly gentleman, J.R. Hartley (also a writer) from the famous, classic Yellow Pages ad, for those of you who are old enough to remember it. If not, Google it! Although, from what I can recall, J.R Hartley was a lovely, good-natured old chap…
That’s it for now. I’m hoping there will be some magazine or newspaper articles coming out soon to tell you about, if all that promoting pays off. It had better do!
In the meantime, keep reading and spreading the word.
And I shall keep writing.
Adam. x