Waxing and Waning

Falling in and out of love

Hello and welcome!

Thanks for allowing me into your inbox and for your continued support if you have been on this journey with me for some time. I couldn’t have done it without you. You are all amazing and I can’t thank you enough for sticking with me. I feel as though we are friends.

Recently, my husband changed his car and only this morning, as we drove to play our Sunday morning round of golf, he said how much he was in love with it. However, the honeymoon period was soon over. As we entered the golf club, a cacophony of beeping sounds suddenly alerted us to messages flashing on the virtual cockpit. Then the car refused to budge and shut down. A bit like a petulant child having a tantrum. It was going nowhere. The old trick of turning it off and on again failed to cajole it back into life. We were stuck. Parked at an awkward angle in the middle of the car park. He was confused and anxious, as you would be. It wasn’t a cheap purchase.

Things were good out on the course with some wintry sunshine cheering my mood but alas, not his. I could see that he was vexed. I told him that I thought it was a technical issue rather than a mechanical problem. Cars are so intelligent these days that they hardly need drivers. Oh, yes, I forgot. Not for me though; I love driving and couldn’t think of anything worse.

We had driven quite quickly over a particularly bothersome speed bump on the way in and that’s when all the beeping and flashing started. I know if it had been my car, I would have been equally concerned.

After our very enjoyable round of golf, we hopped in and I held my breath. The car started on the button and thankfully we had an uneventful drive home. Needless to say, my husband has now fallen out of love with his new car.

It got me thinking. The same happens in relationships. Somebody says something or their behaviour starts to bother you in some way and we fall out of love. This could be temporary but it could be catastrophic, marking the end of the relationship. I guess we all wax and wane to some degree in our relationships, our careers and so on, falling in and out of love with them at various stages.

I sometimes feel this way about writing. I love the crafting of stories and putting words onto the page, editing and honing the plot line. Even though with a novel of 75,000 words, this can sometimes feel like a mammoth task. But, having gone through the process of writing one novel and having an editor guide me through the structural, development and other stages of editing, I was proud of the result. The Mysterious Disappearance of Marsha Boden continues to receive five-star reviews and friends and colleagues keep telling me how much they enjoyed it. That’s when I love what I do. However, what comes with having had a novel published is all the promotional work. Talking of which, if you happen to be in the Oswestry and Shrewsbury areas next Friday and Saturday, 15th and 16th November, please come along and say hello. I am extremely nervous about the two book signing events and have already woken up in a cold sweat in the dead of night because I think nobody is going to turn up! If that happens, I will fall out of love with the process of being a published author.

But I will never fall out of love with writing. I love watching the words appear on the screen of my laptop as my fingers dance over the keyboard. I just wish that marketing and promoting the book was as enjoyable but, like most things in life, there are the good bits and the not-so-good bits. For my book to be successful, even though so many people are telling me how much they enjoyed it, I need to get it out into the world. Market, promote, market promote.

For some reason, I cannot upload the poster advertising my book signing event in Shrewsbury. It is exactly the same as the one above, but it refuses, point blank, to download. I have tried every which way so, instead, I will tell you that it is in Shrewsbury Library from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday, 16th November and is free to drop in. Everybody is welcome, so do come along and say hello if you can.

I had problems uploading the posters on my website. After two failed attempts and hours wasted, I gave up. There are only so many tasks that I can accomplish on my non-working days. Ha! I meant non-paying working days. A writer’s work is never done.

There are days when I would happily pack it all in. Stop writing. Shut down my laptop and stick to my nine-to-five job. When I see no image available on Amazon where the beautiful cover of my book is replaced by a bland logo, it breaks my heart. My publisher tells me there is nothing she can do about it. Nobody is going to buy a book without a cover. The biggest online bookshop in the world and my book is being sold without a cover. I am guessing that all sales generated so far have been by family and friends. I am hardly likely to hit the bestseller list while it looks like a blurry brown paper bag.

Despondency sets in fairly regularly these days. Perhaps it’s because I am impatient. The book has only been out for about six weeks. I am ever hopeful that good things come to those who wait.

I will try to remain upbeat. If you have bought my book, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will keep plodding on with editing my second novel and working my day job. It’s all I can do.

Have a fabulous week and if you do come along to either of my book signings, please introduce yourself. I will report back next week on how they both went.

Take care,