Procrastination

I know now why I haven't finished anything in a while. It's because I keep starting over with something. Bad habit, must break it. Not only am I editing Matho's story, but I've started over with Blood Feud. Some people would call "starting over" editing, and I think I shall have to in order to preserve my sanity. It's a good thing I did take a new look at BF, because I discovered that I have two versions of a scene. So I spent yesterday with the two versions isolated and on my screen so that I could view them together and amalgamate into the best version. It wasn't hard to do, but what if I hadn't been reading through in a continuous sequence, I probably wouldn't have found the fault. It's something critique partners might not notice, because they read chapters weeks apart sometimes.

To add to the procrastination, I've started sending chapters of Matho's Story to Wattpad. I wondered what kind of reaction - if any - it would receive. There are about 6,000 people registered for the Historical fiction group, so there should be plenty of readers. We shall see!

As for real life, we had a sharp frost the other morning, but today I had to take my jacket off as I walked Tim on the riverside or I would have been far too warm. Spring is here. The grass is growing, much to dh's disgust, and some of the trees and shrubs are showing tiny new leaves. Daffodils are poking through, heads still pointing down, and snowdrops - those delightful hardy little flowers - are everywhere this year. The pic is a track Tim and I walked yesterday. Still muddy, but delightful in the sunshine.

Added to this I just got a good review for Dark Whisky Road on Amazon, so things are looking good today.
 Here's the link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Whisky-Road-Jen-Black-ebook/dp/B00AT4NPTA

Cover change update

 I have now updated Victorian Beauty by changing the cover. It didn't take properly on the first attempt, so I knuckled down, read the instructions slowly instead of glancing over them, and managed it on the second attempt. I have such a bad habit of glazing over when technical terms pepper a screen - especially a screen. The printed page is not so bad, but a screen? As soon as I scroll down and the words vanish from the screen, they also vanish from my mind.

The story has not changed, but the title is now Dark Whisky Road, and the cover has changed to something much more attractive. A photograph of my own, so there are no copyright worries. I took it a couple of years ago on a trip to the Chatsworth Estate. I also took the opportunity to add a piece at the end of the book about the possibility of reviews, and listing my other titles. Threw my blog address in for good measure, and thought about including a picture of myself, but thought that might be a step too far. I didn't want to tempt the gods of Amazon Kindle.

Now I shall have to upload the new cover to the titles listed here on my blog. You did notice all my titles are listed on a separate page, didn't you? I hope so. I updated each blurb just last week. The ones I had were so stiff and formal I could hardly believe I wrote them - and yet I thought they were so good when I first uploaded them.

Talking of photographs, I won't be taking many now until the frost and snow arrive.  We still have an occasional bright day as in the pic of dh and dog in Chopwell Wood last week, but the horrendous winds of Thursday and Friday ripped the the last of the leaves off and brought down branches galore. The autumn colours have all but gone, the leaves are sodden underfoot and the trees are stark skeletons against a grey sky.