‘So’ has become an old friend. It’s one of those old friends that you never really knew you had. It’s the quiet one in the room. The one that begins at the end of some drawn-out episode and pushes you on to start afresh. ‘So’ is that needle pulling thread, followed by ‘la’. But what does ‘la’ do?
If ‘so’ is the galanizing agent, ‘la’ is the stark realisation of the road ahead. It’s coming down that steep hill on a bike, exhilerating in the air rushing past you, careful not to get too confident, not ‘pushing out too far’ because tarmac hurts; and so do trees. And when that final whoosh of descent ends, the wheels beginning to lose their impetus, and it’s just you and the world ahead, a world that frames another climb, much steeper than before, the temptation is to stop, and rest, and wait for a bus.
I’ve just reached the bottom of my incline. My latest novel is on Amazon and it is alone in that digital wilderness without even me to protect it from the harsh indifference of the elements.
I published it myself. Vanity? No, just a need to ‘get it out there’. So, now it’s out there. I thought I had prepared it well for it’s journey. I thought that I had ironed out the creases in the plot, sorted out the character arcs, untyped the typos, and put an end to my poor punctuation. I thought that I had created something new and of value. But when I went on line to view my creation, it offered up imperfections. More work, more work, and for what?
I have been writing for many, many years and I have been improving. My latest book (I shall call it that as it’s less pretentious than ‘novel’) is a great read. Even from my own subjective stand-point, I can see that it reads well. I am a teacher, have been for almost three decades, and have taught kids how to read and write. I know more than most about what makes a book tick with young readers and AWOL not only ticks, it explodes. And now the work begins…
So, the road ahead is unrelenting; the only thing that could possibly give-up is myself.
The next thing that I am going to do is to read more about marketing my work. So far, agents have turned me down with both useful and formatted rejections. Alone on the ride, I am taking in air, preparing for the task of getting up that mountain.

Good luck with your quest Mike. You deserve to succeed. I will look for your book 😊
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A nice thing to say. Thank you.
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I just found your book. Don’t know if I am in the right place as it gives no price details. Hubby looking now. Will buy it and read it . Ok hubby just found it and have bought it 😊
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First purchase. Hope you enjoy. Cheers.
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Ok Mike. I have read a bit of it, and honestly, it is brilliant. So imaginative and original. I love it. I got drawn in immedately, and I can’t wait to find out what happens to Adam. I love the concept of his Dad being brought back in the way that he was. I did laugh at some of it because particularly that bit, I found humorous. Don’t know if it was meant to be but it just struck my funny bone lol. Seriously this is good Mike. I am really looking forward to reading the rest.
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It was meant to be funny. The rest was meant to rock at pace.
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So pleased that you are enjoying it.
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I was wondering if I could use this to help market the book on this space?
Mike
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Of course you can. No problem 😊
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Thanks.
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I’ll do you a proper Review if I can, once I’ve read it completely. Though, being blind, I can be slow, depending on how much pain is in my eyes on any given day. But I’ll do my best. I truly reckon this should have been accepted by a Publisher, but I think a lot of people are going the routenyou are going. Are you doing a Follow Up book to this one? Well anyway, I’ll do my best for you simply because there is great talent there, and you have put so much work into it. Here’s to its success.
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Follow-up is in the writing and has been for a while. It is the Story of Eve, which actually precedes Adam’s tale. It is written from a female perspective, but as you may have gathered, Eve is KICKASS.
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Great stuff Mike. You have a great imagination.
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Reblogged this on .
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Cheers!
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Have also made a separate post on my blog, plugging it Mike.
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Great post 🙂
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Best of Luck! Writing books is a lonely job. The failure is all yours, and success is shared by the publishers.
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Yes, that’s right. I think that I’ve written really good little book. It’s not going to change the world, but it may entertain it a little. Thanks for liking and commenting.
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Have you written posts about your books? If not, please do that.
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Yes, I have spent some time writing about my books and my characters. I also write about books that have had an influence on my life. My blog was initially the culmination of an autobiographical piece written as and about my recovery from burnout. It was well received by those who read it.
Thanks for following and for your interest.
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I will surely read your book Mike
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That would be great. I think you’ll enjoy it.
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Hope you enjoy.
Mike
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Hey Mike. New authors should look at themselves as marathon runners and not sprinters. It takes constant effort, perseverance and dedication to be out there trying to get visibility. You just have to be relentless and keep at it. How you are getting on reading my book? Looking forward to receiving your review.
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Joanne, I have been reading your book and found it interesting. I have since lost my iPhone which means that I can’t read it again until said item is found. When it is, I will write the review.
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Mike. Noted. Hope the item 📱 will be found soon…
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Already has been.
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I am reading it and enjoying it. I like the road map through civilisation and the non-didactic manner in which you present it.
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Mike. Very happy to hear 😀 you are enjoying my book. Something I am very careful not to do when I am writing is to preach and tell people what to do and what to think. I don’t preach and I don’t tell people what to do. I have allergic reaction to GroupThink my goal is to give people food for thought and encourage them to think for themselves. When writing your review I would appreciate if you could highlight the non-dictatic manner in which the book is written.
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