Tomfoolery

Its been a good week. Penny my editor and her daughter Amy have done a wonderful job of editing and proof reading Conversations with Tom. I've formatted it and loaded it onto Amazon so it is ready to fill all those pre-orders. We are still tinkering (Well I made a mess and now Penny is clearing it up!) on Createspace and hopefully the paperback will also be ready for the 5th of February. If you haven't got your copy yet you can order it now:
Conversations with Tom

The book was inspired by my cat Clicquot and I've now given Tom/Clicquot his own Facebook page as he has plenty more to say.
Tomfoolery Facebook page of Tom the cat
There is also still time to support my Thunderclap campaign:
Thunderclap

CDI

It's been a very long time since my last blog, but if you've been to the Côte d'Azur you'd understand. When you come home from work and it is hot and sunny, you don't want to crawl behind a computer and write, but go to the beach instead. I have still been plodding on with the follow up to language in the blood, but it is a slow process.

If I can give writers one tip it is this; try and write as much in one sitting. It can be hard finding the time to dedicate a whole day to writing, but I think it is worth doing. Clear the decks, switch off the phones and just sit yourself down for the day. A lot of Litb2 was written on the train to Monaco and initialy I was pleased I made so much progress by doing a bit every day. The place was inspiring and ideas entered the book as time went on. Now both my editor and I find a lot of the story disjointed and not running smoothly. there are quite a few passages that have been rewritten a number of times. Finding time to sit a whole day just looking at the pages is a struggle, but slowly it is getting there. I'm now hoping for a spring release.

Work here on the Côte is very seasonal. You often find contracts running from March to November. They are called CDD (contrat a durée determinée) I've done these for the last 3 years, leaving the winter to do other things like writing a book and visiting family. However, the battle to find work each season is stressful, so when I got offered a CDI (contrat a durée indéterminé)I jumped at the chance. It does involve working the winter and moving to terminal 1 and a new group of colleagues, but job security is worth giving a few things up for. 

I hope to keep blogging and writing short stories but a 3rd novel is going to be put of for a few years. I'm definitely going to keep writing, but even though I like my work at the airport and it is a interesting place, I'm not finding much inspiration there just now. My cat Clicquot is giving me more ideas, so the next lot of stories will probably feature a ginger tom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H60B50x0no

battered laptop

Despite Clicquots best efforts, the laptop is still working and I'm laying the finishing touches to language in the blood two. I'm still looking for an interesting subtitle and it is far from published. First I have to see if my lovely editor has time to take this project on. Any suggestions for a subtitle are welcome!

Clicquot the cat loves the laptop; scrolling through emails fascinates him but results quickly in a two pawed pounce against the screen. If I ignore him he wanders over the keyboard or starts gnawing on the screen. It's a wonder the poor thing still works the amount of time it has been pounced flat against the table. Needless to say, you have to switch the laptop off when he comes along, so I mostly only get between 2pm and 5pm to get some writing done, when his majesty is enjoying his nap.

The good news is that spring has sprung here. The water is still too cold to brave it without a wetsuit but on a sunny day it is definitely beach weather here. I tried taking the laptop out on to the balcony yesterday and that seemed to work to an extend as Clicquot was busy sniffing and exploring around me. I'm glad he doesn't seem the type to jump over the railing chasing some beasty, but he is only 4 and half months old, so close supervision is still needed.

The start of my work is looming large and there is still so much I want to get done, but sometimes you just need to switch the computer off and enjoy what is all around you. Clicquot will only be a kitten for a short time, when he is a big cat that wants to sleep all day, I'll pick up speed again. Now where's that fluffy mouse!

Optimism

On Monday night I went to bed full of confidence and good cheer. I just had two job interviews which I thought had gone well and the Netherlands were heading the medals table in the winter Olympics. Tuesday morning I got up and after many days of rain, it was a glorious sunny day. I jumped out of bed and told my self: 'this week is going to be great!'
What an idiot I can hear you say, never assume the best, you're setting yourself up for a fall.

First I received a call from one of the jobs; they had picked someone else for the 1st of March start, but they may have something for me in April. Disappointing but no disaster, still in the running for the other job.

Then I looked at how my book promotion was going. Again no disaster but things could have gone better, to cheer my self up I went to Youtube to look at the videos of my kitten Clicquot. As I observed the number of hits I realised that my cat would probably be famous before me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVU8ZeqqJVc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VSMFERu0Uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Ddtwioj_U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IfD6H_2-YY
No problem there I still think he is adorable and I wish him well in his acting career.

Then I braved outside and enjoyed a nice walk along the beach in the sun and on the way home I stopped at a cash dispenser to get some Euro's. Transaction went as normal until the notes were due to come out. The machine made an attempt to spew out the notes but didn't succeed, it frantically dinged urging me to take my cash. It was 30€, again no disaster but the surly attitude of the bank staff who just would not believe me, really put me in a bad mood. Now I have to wait for my online transaction statement and somehow prove the BNP bank stole my money!

I just got home when a friendly neighbour informed me that some of our cellars were flooded including mine. They had done work on the heating system and now there was a layer of water in the cellars. Not too much got soaked and I wouldn't say it was a disaster, I mean, how dare I speak of disasters when Somerset  in England has been under water for 8 weeks and most of Europe had to deal with some flooding crisis or another.

Here on the mountainous côte d'Azur we had problems with the unusual weather patterns too. Rain/snow fall is 40% above normal and is creating a lot avalanches, landslides, flash floods and even a train crash;

when the rain dislodged a massive boulder which hit the train and knocked it of the rails, unfortunatly 2 people where killed and many injured.

So all in all my life is still pretty good and I have a lot to be grateful for, but I will think twice about jumping out of bed saying: 'This week is going to be great.'
This week is going to be average and that will have to do, it could be so much worse.

New reasons not to be writing

To be honest, I haven't done too badly with writing this week as I exceeded my target and now have 4 short stories for a planed co-written bundle. The follow up to Language in the blood is also progressing, but rather than adding words, I deleted large sections and rewrote them.

But the next weeks are going to bring many distractions in the form of Clicquot. Not the brand of champagne but the equally orange little tomcat we decided to adopt from the local animal shelter. He is about 4 months old and as all kittens; very lively. Most of yesterday was spend following the kitten about with a camera. We managed to capture a great video of him attacking the mirror; below the link to Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVU8ZeqqJVc#t=18

He is currently asleep on the chair next to me so I can get some time to catch up with emails and write this blog post. Next week I will have to seriously look at promoting the book, so be on the lookout for another free promotion period coming up. Meanwhile I hope you will enjoy Clicquot's antics.