My latest Sherlock Holmes short story Miss Violet Dixon (deceased)

My latest Sherlock Holmes short story Miss Violet Dixon (deceased)
The front cover created with Gimp with help from Aubrey Watt on You Tube.

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Christmas is nearly upon us, the Christmas tree has been decorated and all the presents have been carefully arranged around the base of it. It looks lovely and has already had a small Breton cat deciding that it is a great thing to climb up and our black Labrador has given all the presents a good sniff! Trying to type with a cat lying on one arm has reduced me to typing with one finger!

Keeping warm here in France is not a problem with the big wood burner but in the UK, it seems that the power companies have their own agenda. Our tiny house, our 'holiday home' in the UK, has electric heating. We are only there for about 3 weeks a year when we go over to visit family and friends. Some time during the year the electricity meter failed....completely dead! Sooooo....after a very long discussion and 2 failed attempts to replace it, we finally have a new electricity meter. Hurrah! You say...but the electricity company want to charge me as if the house had been occupied 100% of the time. Here lies the problem, trying to convince them that if they look at, say, a month's usage when the house is empty, it is a true reading of our consumption. Hmmm... I think we have some more hard bargaining and a bit of jumping up and down to do. We will see!

I'm still running on empty for ideas for the next Sherlock Holmes story but perhaps I need to read some more background material. I really would like to get some flying stuff into a story and it is just the ideal time period for someone to challenge the Wright brothers. We will have to see!

Enjoy Chistmas, I wish all my friends and my readers both new and old, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dick xx

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Here we are, mid-December and the sun is out and it is really warm! When I say really warm, it's 10ÂșC in the shade but brilliant sunshine! Strange things happening in the garden, we haven't had a frost here and the grass looks like it needs mowing. The moles are still active under one of my lawns and I have to keep scooping up the fine soil left behind in their molehills. We now have a Rhododendron in flower with more blooms to come. I think the mild weather has confused it!

Exciting times here this week. A friend of mine asked if I would go with him whilst he mended the roof on his cottage. Thankfully, it only has a ground floor and he was working at about 3m (about 12 feet) off the floor when the roof ladder he was using gave way and he slid down the roof, with the ladder and landed flat on his back! Fortunately, he landed in the neighbours vegetable patch but he lay unconscious for a minute or so. I was just dialling for the emergency services when he came round and insisted he was OK. Obviously he was slightly concussed and didn't remember what had happened. I had to drive him home in his car and he gradually came back to normal. A trip to the hospital showed no damage apart from pulled, and now stiff, muscles.

My new book, The Bulgarian Clockmaker is selling well. In the last 30 days I have sold over 180! If you haven't bought yours, please go along to Amazon or Smashwords or any of the other ebook sellers. If you have bought a copy and you enjoyed reading it, please leave me some good feedback! I have lots of fragmented ideas for another story but nothing that will link together....at present. I'll let you know. In marketing the book I have used Fiverr again to promote it to 50 or so Kindle reader groups on Facebook. For $5 it is a great way to advertise and I definitely see an increase in sales.

Have a great week, we will be on the beach this afternoon for stroll with truffle, the black Labrador and her tennis ball called Spot....Spot the ball! ;-)

Dick xx