Did Anyone Notice?

For years now I have almost religiously blogged each Monday first thing in the morning. I do have a lot of guest authors on my blog so I feel I owe it to my visitors to be consistent, but this week I lapsed and here I am blogging on a Wednesday! 😱

It so happened that this week I had reserved a slot for myself to blog and the time I should have been posting coincided with an intense period of publisher edits for my new book out shortly. I don’t have an actual date as yet or even a completely confirmed title, but it is exciting to be publishing my seventh book in The Secrets of Borteen Bay series seven years after the first book The Girl on the Beach was signed.

November is also the month that I normally complete the annual NaNoWriMo challenge to write 50,000 words in November. I had completed 34,441 words and was on track to achieve the challenge when my edits arrived and I had to abandon the project. Still, I have a good portion of the book written and know where the story is going so all is not lost and I can now carry on writing it.

Earlier in November, I went on a writing retreat in Wales with members of the RNA Cariad group. This was great fun, the house we stayed in was amazing, we ate far too much, but I wrote many words. All in all, a lovely time.

My cousin emailed me this week to say she had spotted one of my books Christmas at the Little Beach Café in a library Christmas book display at Ecclesall library in Sheffield. It is always a thrill to see my books out in the world 😄

It’s at this time of year that I often find myself transported back to the days when I worked in the training and development department of Midlands Electricity. We kept a quote book to record things of note that people in the office said. A colleague was made fun of for making an excuse on the telephone for not having got something ready in time. He was immortalised in the quote book for saying – “What with December being such a short month and Christmas coming early.” It’s strange how these days it actually feels like that and I think he was very wise. It feels as if Christmas is bearing down on me at a rapid rate and I’m not ready yet, lol.

Having said that, I have made my Christmas gonk, a pig in a blanket and a snowman is underway. I often think that crochet keeps me sane.

I still have Ali Sinclair and Georgia Hill on my blog this year. You can look forward to their posts shortly and I am hoping I can share a cover, title and release date for my new book very soon.

Until next Monday …

Thank you for visiting Morton S. Gray’s blog. For those of you who haven’t yet read any of my books yet, the good news is that all of the six published titles are currently only 99p as eBooks or available free on Kindle Unlimited.

I also hope to have news of a new addition to The Secrets of Borteen Bay series shortly.