and a return of the muse!

After the winds cometh the cold, so it is writ, well thats the tale of this week. Cold enough that on Thursday i dug out the bib longs for my ride which, apart from the definate chill was otherwise clear and even sunny. It wasn't a long ride, a loop to the north which ran to all of 76km and even with a stop for a cuppa, barely filled four hours.

I was determined to shake my muse into action on Friday, there's been stuff i've been itching to get down for over a week! I set too after breakfast and finally rested the fingers at tea time, breaking only for snax and tea. The segment doesn't follow on directly from where i'd got to in the new tome, but rather its close to the conclusion of the book - all i need to do now is fill in the gap between! I don't like doing it this way as it tends to restrict storylines somewhat but in this case i really needed to get the contents down whilst things were fresh in my mind. Its up on my Patreon page for those who support me there.

Whilst we're on the subject of availability, given that some people are Amazon averse, i thought i'd give Smashwords a shot in the hope of reaching a wider marketplace. To that end i've started by releasing the Trixiebell Heartswoon trilogy in digital format, if all the emails are to be believed, all three titles are now available through a miriad of outlets including through a public library scheme! For example here is B&N https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Trixiebell+Heartswoon%22...)

Should i do print versions too? I know my friends and family still buy dead tree books but by my sales of print books through Amazon & Lulu, well its a ratio of perhaps 1:100 in favour of digital. We'll see, its an ongoing project, i've been far too lax in promoting my works, even if the returns aren't great, every little helps!

We woke, that is a broad swathe of the UK, on Saturday to a fairly heavy frost, very light winds and a clear sky kept temperatures hovering around 0c pretty much all day. It was too cold for the long ride i had planned, i moved up to Defcon 2 with riding gear and instead did a 45km loop down to Bath and back, all of two hours which was long enough for my ice blocks of feet! It was mostly on main roads which isn't so pleasant but at least i avoided any frost which tends to linger on the quieter lanes.

And so to today. Its still bone cold, even 2c warmer than yesterday only takes it to, yep 2c! After baking cinnamon buns for breakfast, then a quick trip for baking supplies this morning, i've been busy 'baking', a rye loaf and a still in progress stollen. Later in the week i'll do gingerbread biscuits and mince pies, i may well do a meat and tater pie too whilst the oven is on, yes i think that would be good.

Away from the cooking i have posted Holiday Isle, chapter 13 of On The Edge which i know you've been impatiently waiting for! Sorry for the unscheduled posting break but real life events got in the way.

I'll be pushing on with the writing tomorrow, Patreons should look out for a new posting in the evening, Tuesday i'll hopefully get in a bit of a ride, subject to the weather.

For now, that's all folks!
Madeline Anafrid