Getting closer.

I met with my printer yesterday, she is such a nice person, really friendly and bubbly.
We went through the proof of my book which sent sent to me last week and I had marked a few mistakes that i had made and a few things that I wanted to change. I thought I was making too many changes and was a little worried but she said I had done good and the changes wouldn't take her many minutes to make when she got back to the printery.
We sat and talked after with a cup of coffee and I asked when I had to pay the rest of her fee (so far only a deposit had been asked for) she told me that I needed to pay the remaining when she delivered, I asked how long that would be, and she said 'about a week'. I was over joyed. A week! So soon it will be in my hot little hands. How great is that?
My web master is already preparing a site for the book on my web page. We have discussed wording and presention I just have to work on the final bits and pieces and then get ready to launch it.
It is so exciting.

Facebook.

At my granddaughter Julie Anne's encouragement, I have re-actified my face book account. I had joined ages ago but got fed up with the trash that kept dropping into my page so closed it down
With her help, I have got it all sorted now and have been learning my way around. One good thing is that I have linked up with another granddaughter. I am not sure if she knows I am her grandmother so I shall go very careful.
It is a shame when families are parted. My son was in a relationship and they had a little girl but the mother was the youngest in a large family and very much dominated by her own mother who persuaded her daughter to leave my son when she was pregnant again.
The up shot is that we were forbidden to see our granddaughter again although from time to time we did get little bits of news.
She is grown up now and has a daughter of her own, my great granddaughter, and she is a beautiful little one.
I asked her to be my 'friend' and she replied 'yes' so I shall take it easy, I don't want to frighten her away, I don't know what she has been told by her parents.
Such is modern life.

Poor Robert.

I had an e-mail from my brother Robert in London "I can't phone you Val, my phone is not operating for some reason"
I tried phoning him but was taken to his message bank so I waited.
Two days later he phoned me, really stressed. He had worked at finding out why he was phone less. It turned out he had changed servers. Unknown to him they had put in another phone socket in a completely different place, hadn't told him nor had they plugged in the phone line. By the time he was able to call me he was stressed out with spending time on his mobile phone to his new server and then finding where the socket had been placed and then to find his phone line wouldn't reach it. After linking a couple of extension cords together, he made it but said he will have to go and find a cord long enough to reach.
A lesson for Rob. Sit and watch the technician work so you know where they are placing things. Poor Robert.

Devastation continues.

The devastation continues in Japan.
Our Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) arrived there yesterday to give what help they can.
These people must be exhausted. First they help with the floods in Queensland then the horror of Lockyer Valley where the were so many deaths. Just as they had finished there they were sent to north Queensland after the cyclone Yasi hit. Home for a couple of days when the earthquake in Christchurch happened and they were there within hours. They have been home from there for less than a week and now they are in Japan. It is not a job I would like to do.

I had a fight with my little chihuahua this morning.
For those of you that don't know, I have two little dogs. Trixie is a 13 year old Tenterfield Terrier and Cariad a 2 year old tiny chihuahua who I often call a fur ball tornado and is really a bundle of fun.
This morning I was up early, I had to take some pain killers. After a cup of coffee I decided it would be best to go back to bed for a while. Cariad was still on the bed but in the place where I normally lay. I told her to move. She just looked at me so I moved her and she nipped me. Well I can tell you, she had a Sharp slap on her rear end and I gave her a right royal rousing. She slunk down to the end of the bed but as I settled down she crept back up and cuddled into me. I think she is sorry.

Devastion.

I have been watching, with horror, the devastion of Japan. The destruction is terrible and I am afraid there will be massive lives lost.
I believe that every country in the world will be affected as Japan is a popular country for work and holiday, I know that many Austalians are over there, some on holidays in the snow fields and others working, mainly as english teachers in many schools.
My sympathies are with the people.

I have the cover for my book.
I googled images and found a perfect picture. I contacted the photographer and asked his permission to use it. He was such a nice young man and for a small fee, he gave me the right to use it.

It is an oak tree in the morning sun. The oak was a sacred tree to the Celts, to them it was strength and hope.
I think it will look good. It is a wrap around cover with the tree on the front then the spine and the sunshine section will be the back.
I can't wait to see it on my book.

So sad.

Again, North and Central Queensland are flooded.
How much longer does our state have to endure such terrible weather.
Cardwell, after being hit by cyclone Yasi is now under water.
My sympathies are with them all.

Its on its way.

This morning, I e-mailed my manuscript over to the printer. Now the waiting starts.
I shall recieve a copy of the first print to read to find any mistakes and then it will be ready for full printing.
This is becoming very exciting. Wish me luck.

News.

The last couple of days have been busy for me.
As some of you may know, I write. Novels that is.
Normally I just write and give the stories to my granddaughter to read and then put them away but I became friends with another very successful author and she read my last novel and said it should be published and with her encouragement I went through it again, did a rewrite and then edited it. Another friend who is an eetymologist went through it again and checked my grammar and spelling, gave me alternative words to use in a couple of places and it was all ready.
I tried to find an agent to handle things for me but no luck. Mostly, they will only handle authors who are already published and publishers will only accept manuscripts from agents so it was a catch 22 situation.
Well I have got sick of this. After a lot of thought, I have decided to publish it myself. A local printer has given me a good offer and I tried my hand at some art work for the cover, and to my surprise, it turned out very well. So soon, everything will be on "GO" and I shall have my book in my hot little hands. I shall add it to my web page and here and sell it myself and would you believe, I already have an order for one. How good is that?
If this is successful then I shall use any money I make from the sales to print up some of my other stories, I have a load sitting on my shelf just waiting to be edited and cleaned up.
I shall be writing under a slightly different name 'Valerie Stewart Lewis' There are so many Valerie Lewis's out there I was afraid I would get lost in the crowd so I have added my maiden name.
Wish me luck my friends.