A good week for the written word

I began my self-publishing adventure in 2012, first uploading a 20k science fiction masterpiece (Like Minded), then a 40k kids' book that only adults like (Linus Bailey) and then Dudley Chalk, my main man at 120k.  I toyed with Amazon Kindle, then Smashwords, then both together and all other permutations you can think of.  Then I made the print versions.  I even made an audiobook.  The magic and mystery of self-publishing is that payments in dollars sit in a dollar pile until you reach 100, and then you get paid.  The same happens with pounds.  If a random European stumbles across my literary marvels and buys a book I get some Euros, which will sit in a dusty corner, solitary, wondering when or if they will ever reach the magic 100.  All my book sales are spread across several vendors and across several currencies, waiting, forever waiting...

Until now!  This week the dollar pile for Kindle e-books tipped over the magic 100 and they sent me my very first cheque, to the value of $105.  The process doth grind exceeding slow (well, in my case), but it does work.  I'm chuffed, as we Brits say.

And on that very day, the day that Kindle bestowed upon me great fortune (I seem to have turned into Jane Austen), I was invited to a writing group, consisting of a multitude of ex-pat women who serve cakes and scones.  This could account for me turning into Jane Austen.  I was the only man at the table and because Kindle had so recently showered me with gifts, I did not have to pour my own coffee.

It was a good introduction to the local writers and I'll go again, not just for the excellent cake.  I don't know if any of you out there like to write (I know some of you do) but writing is a living thing and it needs company.  Without lively conversation and lashings of jam it can easily become a Gollum-like creature that lurks in the dark and comes out all wrong.  If not jam, I had lashings of lively with Cassandra, Mitchell and Bill in America -- we didn't write much during our meetings but the pleasure of their company made the subsequent writing better.  It was good to find other writers here, and hopefully they will keep me on my toes.  They are keen.  They produce things to read out loud.  I need to dash off another novel fast or they will think me a fraud.

---