Whatzup????

Things have been crazy and my poor neglected blog and blogging friends have suffered. What have I been doing???

1. Lots of house maintenance and a new pool (!!!)
Yes, the old out of ground pool was on its last legs and the manufacturer had changed the way the pools operates, so it was going to mean that we'd have to buy almost a completely new pool. My fish soul could not fathom a life without a pool, so we cleared our bank accounts and built this beautiful thing. We stare at it as if we're in love, especially at night when the lights are on. It is indeed a thing of beauty. As you can see it is right outside my office so a bit of a distraction for working, but I'll survive.

2. Trying to learn how to sell my self published books at Amazon
As you know I've self published three of my Kate Gomolemo mysteries at Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing. I am on a seriously steep learning curve. I'm trying to find ways to promote the books. So far I've been visiting some awesome blogs. Have joined the Alliance for Independent Authors, which has a lot of resources. But it really does take a lot of time but I'm trying to think of it as a long term project. So far people have downloaded 814 books (I published on 18 May) but most of those were during the time that Murder for Profit was free. I've made $5.57 (USD) and 1.35 British pounds in royalties so far. Not so great but I'm optimistic. I've decided to use one day a week to market my books. Right now it's tending to spill over a bit, but I'm trying to keep it to one day.

3. Finishing a romance novella
I've recently finished my fifth romance novella. It is still a rough draft and in its "cooking phase". It involves dog school and boxing, as romance often do, and it is right up my street.

4. University is closed for the winter break
This means Giant Teenagers are home, actually only one right now, but still that equals more mess and cooking and eating.

So these are my excuses for neglecting my poor blog and my poor blogging friends. Sorry. I will try to improve. And here is a flower from my garden for a present. :)