So I ran into Ian Rankin the other night...

Evening troops,

The wife's watching the Girls Aloud programme on ITV so I thought I'd knock off a quick blog post.

It was our second wedding anniversary on Thursday and we went to Preston where Ian Rankin was doing an appearance to promote his new book Standing in another man's grave.

We hadn't planned it to be our anniversary night out obviously but I'm glad it worked out that way.

We've seen him before in Lancaster and he's a pretty effortless speaker, very laid back as if you're listening to someone in a pub over a pint.

Afterwards we dutifully joined the queue, bought a book and had it signed by the man himself. I've attached a pic. He wrote Happy Anniversary in it too, which the wife liked.

For anyone interested, there's a programme on Boxing Day called Doors Open. It's an Ian Rankin story and Stephen Fry is in it. Probably worth a look.

Right, that's all for now. I've got a few projects on tonight and then, at about 2AM, it's the Rolling Stones pay per view live from New York on Sky. It's gonna be a late one.

By the way, sales are slow this month in America so if you're reading this over there feel free to dive in and make a purchase.

Book editing and The Rolling Stones

Evening gang,

How's things? It seems that where I live is about the only place in the country not to be flooded. The down side of that is I have no excuse not to go to work. But I am counting the days now, and todays number is 23.

Anyway, regular readers will know that I was aiming to have two new books out for Christmas. Tonight's announcement is...that's not going to happen. I know, I know, you're all upset. But fear not. It's something to look forward to in the new year.

Both books are written it's the editing that's taking the time. I'm about half way through the second draft of what is currently called The Trust. It's one from the back catalogue but it's better than I remembered and as I've started playing with it the story has developed further and I've started tweaking character relationships and moving scenes to - hopefully - make it all better. Anyway, the word count currently stands at 83,500. I reckon it might end up around 85,000 by the time I'm done which is a bit more than I usually average but there's a lot going on in this book.

I'm planning on taking a couple of days away from the editing to launch a revised version of my short story The Storyteller in time for Christmas. It's a little bit of money for old rope but I'd be daft not to promote my festive book at this time of year.

I'll also be taking a couple of days off to dash down to London to see The Rolling Stones at the O2 on Thusday night. Unless you've been on the moon you'll be aware that they did a triumphant show last weekend at the O2 featuring original member Bill Wyman and later member Mick Taylor. The reviews have been superb, especially for Mick Jagger. Yes, the ticker prices are ludicrous (we paid £250 a ticket plus hotel plus travel!!) but sometimes, just sometimes, you have to worry about the money another day. I'll be having a quiet Christmas as a result of this concert but it'll be worth it.

Anyway, I'm currently battling some sort of cold so I'm going to edit another few pages then slump on the couch with a brew and watch tele.

PS Sales are slow this month because I'lve not done any promo so if you could spread the word for me. Thanks

How do you measure success?

Evening folks,

It's been a week since my last post which isn't like me. That's how busy I've been this week.

The day job has been a bit lively this week which is always frustrating but I should finally be leaving to begin my new role within the next two-three weeks. It can't come soon enough.

On the plus side I finished the read through of the manuscript and have done initial edits of more than sixty pages. The weekend plan is to plough on with it. Certainly the plot is good, better than I realised at the time and still very, very topical given that one of the main plot lines was featured on the news just this week. I'm being a bit cryptic but I'll start telling you all about it when it's ready to publish.

I've done less than expected, partly because of work but also because I went to see Crossfire Hurricane, the new Rolling Stones film, on Thursday evening. To be honest I didn't learn anything I didn't already know but the music was great. I also managed to get tickets for one of their upcoming shows at the O2 in London. Very expensive but we're very excited. The wife has never seen the Stones before so she has no idea what to expect.

I've just seen tonight that there was trouble at the Leeds - Sheffield Weds match. Fans chanting, fans on the pitch, goalkeeper punched. On the back of the Olympics the nation came together. It's taken football mere weeks to undo a lot of that with the racism rows and now this latest mess. In the 80's British clubs were banned from European competition for years because of fan trouble. So why not hit offenders, anywhere in the world, where is hurts? Fines don't work with the very rich. Stopping then participating hurts a lot.

But the title of this post is about success. Footballers are paid fortunes. Are they successful whether they win or lose? Does a higher salary make you more successful? I used to think so. What about having a happy marriage and healthy kids?

Hard to say. But lately I've come to believe that if you can wake up each day and do the thing you love then that must make you pretty successful. My goal, as you all know, is to be a successful writer. So how do I define that? Well, I used to want the massive advance, to be Stephen King etc.

Now that's changed. I want to sell enough books to make a living, so that I can get up each day and write more stories. Easy thing to say and write down, very hard to make it happen. But that's where ambition comes in. Success comes from drive, talent, ambition etc. You don't get anything in any field without trying and trying. Whether it's sport, music, writing. So I keep going, keep writing, squeezing in a bit of promo where I can and I'm grateful for every sale and every review. Each sale is a success. The trick now is to increase the success to achieve the goal.

Right, I'm going to have a late Friday night ale, a pizza and who knows what else.

Until next time, thanks for reading this blog, the traffic is pretty impressive. Hopefully I'll have more books for you enjoy very soon.