Have you been watching the commonwealth games?

Hi gang,

I have, just a bit this week because I'm off work. It's been top notch. Tonight being a case in point. Men's 800m was top drawer, 200m also really good.

I've also been to Chester today to see a mate and his wife. Always good, nice lunch, few ales, wander round, can't go wrong. Went to see the play in the park earlier in the week too. Hansel and Gretel. Very well staged, well lit, great sound etc. The actual material felt a bit light to me, lot of noise but not a lot of content, but a good spectacle none the less.

Just as an aside, I was reading a review of A Streetcar Named Desire which has just opened in London. Apparently Gillian Anderson gives a career defining performance. I was reading this at 3:30 this morning and I'd had a bit to drink, shocker! Anyway, I booked tickets to see it when they do the NT Live broadcast in September. It's only £13 a ticket and an ace way to see live theatre if you can't be arsed to take time off work to trek to London. I woke the wife up to tell her. She wasn't thrilled at the time.

Mind you, I wasn't delighted when she dragged me out of bed at half 9 this morning to go to Chester. I soon rallied once we'd stopped at the services for a brew and sausage bun. Once we walked to the lunch spot in Chester I was all set for a couple of ales.

Other news - I've been shortlisted for interview for the job I'm currently doing. I have mixed feelings about it which I won't bore you with here.

So, book news? Well, the new, shiny version of The 24 Hour Jazz Café was released yesterday. The Kindle version is available now, the paperback will be out any day - just depends how fast Amazon do their bit. What's new about it? Primarily I wanted to tweak the paperback. So the cover is now matt, the pages are now cream and it's totally reformatted so it's a hundred pages shorter. But as I was doing this I rewrote bits too. It's now about 2000 words longer, plenty of scenes have more detail and some plot points are tighter and better explained than before. As a result I decided to relaunch the kindle version too.

FEAR is progressing well, I'm not killing myself to get it done though. I'm submitting the first 3000 words of it to a competition in August, along with 3000 words of the new jazz café. Can't hurt. I've also sent an extract of the new jazz café to an agent, just for kicks. In the morning I will also be submitting the new jazz café to the Guardian book of the month competition. Again, no harm in trying.

So that's about it. Lot's going on as ever. Could live without the huge pay cut coming my way shortly but such is life. On the plus side we've just bought two more houses as part of our Buy To Let project which means we have three. Safe as houses.

Right, ale, Tele, early bed since I've only had 5 hours kip.

Was that you I saw in the paper?

Afternoon groovers,

Just a quick update for the three people on the planet who either don't buy a newspaper, use Facebook or have a Twitter account.

This week I'm in both the Lancaster Guardian and the Morecambe Visitor. Least they could do since I mention both in my books.

Anyway, it's a decent sized piece in the real paper, and not a bad article online either. I've included a link to both sites for no other reason than I can. If you're local to Morecambe and Lancaster best to buy a real copy then you can keep it.

I suspect the same article might well appear in the work newsletter tomorrow too. So no downside, unless you take offence at my light hearted comment about some of the folk who live in Morecambe. In my defence, I was likely drunk when the interview took place as it was on a work day.

http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/what-s-on/book-club/crime-thriller-set-in-lancaster-1-6699385

http://www.thevisitor.co.uk/what-s-on/book-club/crime-thriller-set-in-lancaster-1-6699385

Will it lead to increased sales? Shouldn't think so, but it's nice that the local press are being so supportive.

Is it better to admit defeat?

Evening gang,

Been awhile - again. Looks like that's going to be the way of things from now, there just aren't the hours in the day.

On the plus side I've finished the new edition of The 24 Hour Jazz Café. Just the new cover to work on and then I'll launch it. Woo etc.

Struggling a bit with the editing of FEAR but only because it's quite a complex plot and I need to concentrate and I exist in a state of permanent weariness. I will, as ever, stick at it. But since I've got one eye on doing some submissions in the next month or two I might throw what time I do have at my new book, the third jazz café novel, and see how that pans out.

Side projects starting to take shape. Had a meeting with financial advisor and it turns out we have a few options regarding finance for Project Slumlord (which is the fun name we've chosen for our Buy To Let adventure). 1st step is to talk to bank on Monday and then hopefully we can crack on. One thing I have learned is that I won't be using Ratcliffe and Bibby to manage any future properties. Frig useless. It will be July on Tuesday and I am yet to receive last month's rent. I emailed them last week, no reply, rang them Thursday only to be promised someone would call me back. It's now Saturday night and nothing. So to recap - R&B estates. Crap. Feel free to show this to them, it might get them to pull their finger out. Bear in mind I am paying them for this awesome service, as well as covering the mortgagee myself since I'm not getting the rent. Good job I've got pots of cash!

Speaking of which, had tidy Birthday. Pressies from wife on way, spent the day shopping in Manchester where we did some damage. Wife got a Mulberry bag though so it's all smiles. Also got a couple of cards from work which I always find a bit odd, as well as a pressie.

Dog's driving me mental, wildly time consuming. But of course that could be fixed by working less hours - hence my drive to get Project Slumlord off the ground.

Finally, how awesome is the World Cup? One of best ones in my lifetime. Wimbledon also shaping up nicely with Federer playing great so far.

Tomorrow's plan - get a Rug Doctor to clean carpets. Dog related grime. Then wife related mooching.
It's her birthday on Monday so we're going to empty a flash bottle of champagne tomorrow night and try not to be grumpy.

Did I mention I was invited to go talk to a local writing group? I went a few weeks ago. They were all essentially concerned with how they could get their work published. I was very patient but the simple answer is to look on the internet and put in vast amounts of hours like I do. Can't see many of them putting in 18 hour days every day just to get a book out though. Bless.

Which leads me to the title of this blog. I have been pondering making these books my last ones, at least for the foreseeable future. I struggle to find time to write and when I do I'm rarely happy with the results and that's before I promote it, do this blog etc. Since plan A (quit work) isn't feasible, then the only way to have more free time is not to write. I can become another one of the millions of retired folk who then decide to be writers. Then again, I could shoot myself.

Still, Old Ma Sinclair didn't raise quitters. She raised over confident, mouthy alcoholics so we shall see. I've got two finished books to play with which will see me to the end of this year. After that....* shrugs and finishes brew*

Until next time...

Bigger, better and stronger

Morning folks,

First off, apologies for the lack of activity over the last few weeks. But I've been busy.

I abandoned all promo aside from three book events I did locally which were a nice distraction and have led to other things.

So, what have I been doing?

Well, writing. In the last six weeks, almost to the day, I have written the first draft of the third jazz café novel. 86,000 words, six weeks, done. I've surprised myself but this story just wanted to be told. It's been a bit of a blur, lots of late nights, hazy days but constant typing.

Somehow, in that time, I managed to get my contract at work extended and still sell a few books. The book events went well though by Friday last week I felt pretty ill. 7 hour meting Thursday, straight out to book event, take away tea and then bed. Then meetings all day Friday, straight out to another book event, take away tea, bed. Felt like death.

But I've been asked to go and talk to the writing group at Heysham library this month, as well as a weekend event with Frion Farrell in Morecambe and also I'm in talks with the Dukes in Lancaster about an event there. So busy busy.

Meanwhile, I have another book finished. I'm going to let it sit for a while, it needs work of course but the words are there to play with now and the plot is strong.

So no plans to do anything but promo for now, then reformat some existing paperbacks, finish editing FEAR and then after that return to the draft of the new book with a view to submitting it to the Northern Crime Competition in August.

But for now, since I'm knackered and I have a meeting in Blackpool in seven hours, I'd best take an ale to bed and read for while, and then grab a few hours kip so I can drive in a straight line.

It's going well. But you have to work for it!

Is it worth investing in yourself?

Evening gang,

Regulars will know I've spent a few quid on myself this year so far in the interests of promotion and selling more books. Some have worked quite well, some have ben utter crap. But I'll be sticking at it.

I'm just having a discussion with a musician mate of mine who invests hundreds, maybe even thousands of pounds in himself in terms of mastering his music, PR etc. Compared to the few pounds I've spent it's a big deal so I'm left wondering if I should really throw money at my books, invest in some proper promo etc and see what happens. As ever my big concern is that working full time will get in the way and I won't be able to take full advantage of it.

In other news the latest book is pouring out of me. Cleared the 17,000 word mark earlier. I imagine I'll get beyond 20,000 before work on Monday and then I suspect things will slow right down again. Can't be helped. The good thing is it's taken me less than two weeks to write all that and it's pretty good. I haven't done any promo or any editing of my other book, but it's been worth it to get the new material out. I've got a pretty clear idea where the various plot threads are going, although there are always random tangents which make it fun, so hopefully I can keep plodding even while at work.

Mind you, if I'm not successful in applying for the upcoming job, or I just don't apply, I'll be back in my old job by the end of June, so I'll have all the time I need to finish the book. Silver lining to the harsh reality of the pay cut.

Anyway, if you could spread the word that my other books are still available that would be super. It's also worth mentioning that I'll be doing 3 appearances in Morecambe at the end of this month. I'll be sending the posters out shortly, so I'll post one on here when it's done. If you want a book signed, or just want to talk to me about writing, or anything else, come along.  I'll post times and venues nearer the time .

Right, quick brew break and then perhaps another hour on the novel before we start the evening session.

What do you do with time off work?

Afternoon folks,

I'm having a few days off work. Why? No reason other than I now have 10 years service in the NHS. Never imagined that would happen. As a reward they give you 4 extra days holiday so I thought why not?

So what have I done? Well I've written 2000 words of my new novel today so that's good. Other than that, stayed in bed until lunchtime, had a fried egg sandwich (epic), listened to The Stone Roses album three times and played with the dog. All better than working.

I've been avoiding the promo lately as you'll have noticed. It's just so bloody time consuming. My books are still selling, lower numbers but still selling. I'll get back on the horse over the weekend, maybe. But it's lovely to be writing again, all pretty effortless so far too.

Did everyone have a good Bank Holiday? Non UK readers don't need to answer. I did. A mate came to stay so we headed into town for the first time in forever. Much drink was taken, burritos eaten, buskers talked to, their dogs stroked, pizzas and kebabs purchased. The wife was on entertaining form and my mate and I stayed up until 4AM listening to vinyl and pondering life.

Then, the next night, we did it again. Good times. Unfortunately I have spent all but £90 of this month's wages and it's three weeks until pay day. Ho hum. As an example of how I live, the wife and I went into town for lunch. It started to rain and I was only wearing a polo shirt. So instead of turning back I simply bought a jacket. This is why I don't haver any money. Those who know me will not be surprised.

I'm not going to mention Liverpool, or what happened at Crystal Palace other than to say, we've over performed and come up short right at the very end. Hope and expectation can be very cruel but it's been a stunning season. It's a strange feeling to be top of the table with just one game to go and feel dejected and disappointed, but there we are. That's enough of that.

On the job front the firm has finally found some funds to employ me permanently. As ever there's a hurdle. The job will be advertised, I'll have to apply etc etc. The twist being if they don't pick me I'll have no choice but to sod off back to my old job because the new person will be sitting in my chair. Swine. There is also a question over how much the salary will be. I suspect not as much as I get now which might end up being a factor. Either way, I'm told that when I return to work next week the ole will be advertised. We shall see.

Right, that's all for now. All books still available so spread the word.

Why does vinyl feel different?

Evening groovers,

Big news. I have finally pulled out my finger and replaced the belt on my record player. Best money I've spent in a year, easily. The belt arrived today, I fitted it tonight and since then have spent the evening listening to utterly fabulous music on vinyl.

I started with some Van Morrison (Astral Weeks), The Band, Exile on Main Street. If you're not familiar with vinyl, or you're just young and never heard of it do yourself a favour. Save up, buy the best speakers you can afford, an amp, a turntable and some records. Then let me know what you think of Mp3 afterwards.

Don't get me wrong, I've got a networked drive filled with Mp3, wireless headphones, an SD card in my car and I download most of my music off Amazon and long since sold all my compact discs (aside from the ones with sentimental value). But tonight I've listened to records and it's inspired me, moved me, made me feel something. I actually did some writing tonight because of it. I could happily stay up all night listening to music. I might yet. It's Friday tomorrow. I'll be tired. So what?

I don't know why vinyl is different, it's been debated for decades. But it is different. Somehow more immediate. You feel more connected to the band, the song, the music. I don't know. But it's bloody powerful.

Anyway, how's things? I've not done much promo this month because I've been trying to write. The new book will hopefully be done, a draft anyway, by mid May. I've even booked a few days off week after next. Glad I did now. Days of vinyl and writing. That'll do.

I've sold 130 books this month so far which I can't grumble at since I've done sod all to push them and I've been busy as all hell with work. Plus I've got viewings booked this weekend for another property to expand the empire. God knows how I'm gonna fund that.

Busy weekend in prospect too. Out to the theatre Saturday night then drinks. Lunch out Sunday and record shopping but must, must, must be back for the football to watch Liverpool beat Chelsea and place one hand firmly on the league title for the first time in 24 years. Tears might well be shed at the end of the season. I'm big enough and happy enough to admit to it.,

I've also written a handful of pages on the third jazz café novel and I have 3 events booked at the end of May which I'll Tel you about nearer the time.

Finally, I might have mentioned this. The wife and I bought two new cars. Aside from being full of kit and super to drive, they are very, very fuel efficient. Mine is delivering almost 700 miles on a tank of fuel. For no road tax! Ace.

Right, I've got to turn the record over and get another ale.

Night.