Murder Served Cold. Exciting Times.

Who stole July?

My grandchildren used to love a story about the Grinch who stole Christmas but what I want to know is: who stole July?

One of the pieces of advice I read when I started this blog was write regularly and I really meant to.  Honestly.  But sometimes, life – and families – get in the way.  And the best laid plans…  well, you probably know the rest.

But I have been writing.  Just not blog posts.  And I have really, really exciting news. (Spoiler alert!  The picture at the top of the post is a bit of a give away!)

Murder Served Cold.  Cover reveal.

Yes indeed!  I have a cover as you can see above.  And I’m thrilled and scared in equal measures.  In fact, I’m beginning to feel like I did when my eldest started school.  School uniform, shoes, bag and books all bought and looking smart. Photograph taken of him looking neat and proud.  (I could be really mean here and post the photograph of him in his first ever he’ll-grow-into-it blazer but he’d never forgive me)

But that’s when the reality hits.  The moment you realise it’s not a dressing up game any more but it’s real.  My baby is about to go out into the big bad world all on his own.  And he’s not ready.  I’m not ready.

(Actually, he was ready and loved it! But that didn’t stop me worrying about him.  He’s all grown up and (reasonably) sensible now but guess what?  I still worry about him and his brother.  The only difference now is that neither of them take a blind bit of notice of what I say.)

So, will I still be worrying about my book when it’s all grown up and sensible?  Of course I will.  I’ll be worrying that no one likes it, no one buys it and if they do, they’ll hate it and want their money back or leave nasty reviews on Amazon.

The cover reveal was the easy bit.  The buying the school uniform bit, if you like.  But now, I am on the final, final read through of the pdf that’s going to be turned into the actual pages of my actual book.  So I am at the moment re-reading it for a final check.  The last time I looked at it was several weeks ago at the end of the editing stage.  (I was going to keep up the ‘starting school’ analogy here and compare the editing stage to nit-hunting but thought better of it!)

Much Winchmoor 2 and an unexpected bonus

I’ve discovered an unexpected bonus to this final, final read through.  I am now on chapter 5 of the second book in the Much Winchmoor Series and it is really helpful to go through Murder Served Cold and realise that Will had blue eyes (and not brown as I’d thought) and that Gerald Crabshaw favoured tweed jackets and a regimental tie.

Of course, I should have made these notes at the time.  That’s what organised people do.  But when I started writing Murder Served Cold, I wasn’t sure I would ever finish it, least of all go on and write another in the series.

Murder Served Cold is now available to pre-order at mybook.to/murderservedcold .  Publication date: October 19^th.

I’m now 15,000 words into Much Winchmoor 2 (working title) and yes, I know I said that I was at 15,000 words when I last posted but I had a bit of a crisis and cut 7,000 words which was painful.  But well worth doing.

And finally,

Daily Prompts for August 1st – 15th

(Check out Writers’ Prompts.  A limitless supply of story inspiration For hints on how to use these.)

1. write about a secret you wish you hadn’t been told.
2. the best (or worst) holiday you’ve ever had.
3. write about a ‘meeter and greeter’ at an airport.  What would happen if they collected the wrong Mr Smith? (or whatever name)
4. write about an old man (or woman) coming back to the farm where he worked as a boy.  Only it’s not a farm anymore.  It’s a ….
5. When life hands you a lemon ….. (you fill in the rest)
6. Once when nobody was watching.
7. All animals are equal.  But some are more equal than others.
8. Think about a time when, as a child, you were really frightened. Then transfer that fear to an adult situation.
9. write about a mirror
10. At 5 in the afternoon
11. write about someone who’s left
12. write about masks
13. a secret revealed… but too late
14. “The truth is rarely pure… and never simple.” Oscar Wilde.
15. Packing a suitcase.