January Business Update

by | Jan 30, 2021 | General, New Release, On Writing...

I threatened you with this email earlier this month, as I’ve got something big to say. Well it’s big for me, and the consequences are – let’s say – consequential for anyone who enjoys reading my books. No, I haven’t decided to become a Buddhist monk and live high up in the Nepalese Himalaya under a vow of silence – although at times last year it was tempting (darn that covid travel ban). No, it’s more about my, and my partner Maria’s, domestic and business arrangements…

Ever since I gave up my job to look after our two children, then aged 3 and 1, but with a secret plan to actually ignore them and dedicate myself instead to writing books, I’ve lived a push pull existence between writing time and family time. Sometimes I’ve had more time to work, and sometimes I’ve been dragged back to nappy changing, finger painting, and arguing that vegetables aren’t merely decorative optional extras.

Meanwhile Maria has quietly and stoically gone off to work, and dealt with the mundane details of life, like tidying up the mess when she gets home, and paying the mortgage. Well no more. Despite the twin perils of a worldwide pandemic, and season five of Brexit, she’s decided this is the moment to give it all up, and join me in the wonders of a highly precarious and uncertain income. Specifically, she’s decided to retire and translate my books into Spanish, as well as inject some order into my publishing affairs. The financial basis for this leap into the unknown is – well there isn’t one. It’s just a crazy leap into the unknown.

And of course I wholeheartedly support her in this new venture. And to prove that’s the case, I’ve chosen this very moment to discover the procrastinating wonder that is Writers Block. Earlier this month I promised you a new book was coming soon – The Slaughter House. I didn’t explicitly define ‘soon’, and it turns out that was uncharacteristically wise. I did manage to force out 80% of it over the long months of 2020, and though the plot of the story is good – or at least I think so (but then I liked Baywatch when I was kid, and not just for the bikini shots) – the last 20% continues to elude me. I’m sure it’s somewhere, like down the back of the sofa, or perhaps one of the kids put it in the washing machine. We went through a stage where every time we wanted to watch TV we had to search the house for the remote control, since Rafa would hide it in the washing machine, or up the chimney, because he didn’t think it was fair that he had to go to bed and we got to watch TV. This after he spent the entire day yelling at us because we wouldn’t feed him exclusively on cheese, or let him wear (my) underpants on his head in the supermarket. In the end I used epoxy glue to fix it permanently to the sofa, and now he only hides the batteries. I digress. The point is I’ve really struggled to write the final part of the book, even though I know what should happen. And I’m not really sure why this is.

In a way though, that’s the bad news. The good news is, with Maria already home (and even though she’s mostly home-schooling rather than translating) I’ve been freed up to actually get some work done. And though I couldn’t face another round of me versus The Slaughter House, I thought I could muster up enough writerly grits to handle another book in the Rockpools Series. I’ve had this vague idea for a while that I wanted to send Billy off to college and see what trouble he could get himself into. And I’m very pleased to see it very quickly turned into a whole heap of trouble. Which is just what you need when you’re trying to write a book!

So at this point I wouldn’t like to say whether The Slaughter House will ever see the light of day. But book four of the Rockpools Series, which is almost certainly going to be called The Island of Dragons, is now available for pre-order! There, you weren’t expecting that were you? (I do love a good twist). I even have the blurb written:

When Billy Wheatley heads off to college, he exchanges small island life for the excitement of the mainland. And while he’s able to ignore the temptations of drink, drugs, and sex which preoccupy the less able students around him, when he attracts the attention of a more sophisticated clique, he is far more at risk.
They live within the rarefied air of exclusive restaurants, members-only clubs and exquisite privacy, where they debate the politics, art, and science that Billy yearns to master. But they also harbor a dark secret which funds it all. Except that secret is about to spectacularly implode, leaving Billy perfectly positioned to take the fall.
Soon he finds himself accused of a murder which he just might, have actually committed. And with no way out of a net that is closing around him fast, it seems this might be a very premature end for a young man’s promising career, and extra-ordinary life.
Because how can you catch a killer, when the killer is you?
I’m hoping that this newfound productivity continues, and I can get this story out by around April time. Certainly, I’m surprised what a rich vein it’s been to immerse Billy into academia, and the madness of student life. (And just as a little hint of what to expect, I’ve very much enjoyed channelling my deep love of Donna Tartt’s classic novel The Secret History into this book).
So that’s my business update email. One final point I should say is that while Maria’s decision to give up work to translate, and allow me to concentrate full time on writing, may not prove to be the most financially astute we shall ever make, it is only possible at all because of the lovely people out there who have read and bought and recommended my books. People just like you. And we want to say a huge thank you for that. Even though writing can be painful (see Slaughter House, above) I absolutely love that I’m able to do it, and I adore writing silly emails like this one. So I really mean this thanks, I’m incredibly fortunate and eternally grateful to you for being a reader.
And of course, if it doesn’t work out, we can both go and gets jobs in Tesco, at least until the robots take over the world and use us all for fuel.
And really finally, as 2021 continues chucking news at us just as fast and randomly as 2020 did, I hope you’re managing to cope and adjust, and getting through what are hopefully the last of the really bad months of the pandemic. As they say in the high mountains of Nepal: Pretty blue flower of spring soon replace bare, gnarled twig of winter!

Obviously, I only assume they say that, I wasn’t able to actually go…

Thanks for reading.

 
 

 

When Billy Wheatley heads off to college, he exchanges small island life for the excitement of the mainland. And while he’s able to ignore the temptations of drink, drugs, and sex which preoccupy the less able students around him, when he attracts the attention of a more sophisticated clique, he is far more at risk. 
They live within the rarefied air of exclusive restaurants, members-only clubs and exquisite privacy, where they debate the politics, art, and science that Billy yearns to master. But they also harbor a dark secret which funds it all. Except that secret is about to spectacularly implode, leaving Billy perfectly positioned to take the fall. 

Pop your email below...

 

And check your inbox for your free copy of Killing Kind!

Success! Now check your inbox.