I’ve just received the ‘final files’ for my next book, which means I have a couple of jobs to do this morning. Checking the files, and unless I notice any obvious errors, uploading them to Amazon so the book will ‘go live’ as soon as it filters through its process. This can take anywhere up to 72 hours, they say, but I’ve never known it take longer than a couple—a little longer for the paperback version. To check if it’s available, you can look at the series page on Amazon. The book is titled ‘A Fall from Grace’, and the series is called The Delamere Files.
Book one, ‘Finding a Way’ is there already, and the second one should be there in a day or so. Meanwhile, I can continue writing book three, currently called ‘Follow the Van.’ It’s another mystery, of course, and set in the same world of London in 1892, but book three takes the music halls as its background. Book one was the work of a London cabman, book two, an incident at a public school in 1880, and all feature the main man, Jack Merrit, a young hansom cab driver who accidentally becomes a private investigator along with his brother who has a condition they call ‘preciseness’ who is really the main sleuth.
I doubt I shall be doing much writing of book three today, though. I have some other typing that has to be done first, and then a short story to write for a magazine, followed by watering the plants in the courtyard, some washing and housework, and those other mundane things which fill the time before you know you’ve spent it. Meanwhile, Neil is off to Rhodes for an appointment and will be out from 5.15 this morning until this evening, so he also has a busy day ahead.
I can’t remember the number of times I’ve had a list titled ‘Things to do in Rhodes on Wednesday.’ You head off on the ferry with seemingly, 101 things to achieve in the limited time between arrival and when the shops/businesses close, usually around 2 p.m., and you spend the morning rushing from A to B as if your tail was on fire, only to discover you get everything done within two hours. This leaves you the rest of the day to mooch about, take a walk in the Old Town which doesn’t take as long as you thought it would, have another cup of coffee, look at another shop (or the same ones for a second time, it’s optional), sit in the Plaza bar watching the world go by, walk around the peninsular, always watching the time so you’re not late for your boat, and then, two hours ahead of schedule, taking a very slow walk back around the coast towards the ferry, only to arrive with an hour to spare. There, having waited until you’re about to board, you realise you forgot to do something and now it’s too late and you’ll have to come back.
Ah well, on with my day.
