Morning all


  Well its early here in chateaux 'me' the birds are still wiping the sleep from their eyes and the blasted Cockerel hasn't woken up yet. Yes a neighbour has invested in a living alarm clock. Before long the 12 bore will come into play.

 As I am up and about I thought I would share my thoughts for the day. So what has got up my nose this fine morning? Not much really, I see the sites I subscribe to are full of authors publicising their new books good luck to them all. Unfortunately if you fall foul of the people in charge you will slip through unnoticed and unread. Over the past few weeks I have seen a definite trend forming. Those that appeal are elevated to the heights of moral adjudicators while the majority simply drift away. To me this a form of rejection so today's question is how do we deal with it?

To a writer rejection comes in many guises. Our manuscript lovingly formed into the best we can possibly prepare is sent off to an agent we wait because most say they disregard multiple applications and weeks if not months later the slip arrives "dear sir we regret at this ti,me your story fails to meet our criteria... Blah Blah Blah" Like most serious authors i collected hundreds of such slips. So we then decide to get our book published ourselves Joy upon Joy finally we see our books in print.

Now begins another round of rejection but this time from those we try to sell our beloved to. Book shops are polite but undoubtedly laugh themselves silly once we leave their shops. As for my tome I was rejected by my council unable to publicise my book on grounds that it broke some rule or another. Public libraries turn us down as we are not sanctioned by the council newspapers are sympathetic but unless money changes hands they will not run an article or a review and i for one will never buy a review.

So in my case i took it upon myself to walk the streets delivering pamphlets telling the world of my story. it worked the website became known we began selling copy but its tiring and initially expensive both on printing costs an shoe leather. But you meet many nice people who stop and ask what we are doing and why. Though one woman said as I left her door "well he won't sell many when he can't even spell his name correctly." I laughed and thought moron there are numerous ways our surname can be spelt and after half a century i think i know the correct way by now. That aside my days walking the streets were fun.

Then we come to friends and family and the deepest rejection of them all. "I have written a book" I proudly stated. After the laughter died down some were interested some you could see weren't but some said something very strange "oh i never read" What a sad indictment on society. So with family and friends uninterested we approached the world of cyberspace and that was where we discovered another level of rejection.

As I said, initially people on those sites where I spoke of Dead Men Lie, appeared interested but it was all show and no substance. No that's unfair a lot did visit the web site, some even bought copies and to those I say a big Thank You but most are on those sites for one thing only their own publicity which was why i first joined and discovered that authors rarely buy other authors books. Why is that i wonder is it because we see each others errors or is it because we simply do not have the time to read much? Whatever the reason writers sites do little to further book sales but are beneficial in other ways so long as you play the game and don't upset anyone.    

So authors have to live with rejection it comes in many guises but the joy the overwhelming thrill of a great book review or a sale or a reader leaving a complimentary comment is worth all the pain and grief. I have said on more than one occasion of the billions that live on this planet i cannot please them all but if just a small percentage like my work then it has been all worth it. i aim for that small percentage and disregard the rest.


 Oh yes one last thing before i leave i have also discovered something and that is think think and think again before you kill off a wonderful character i realise my mistake and regret it every day.

Until the next time take care

Dave