Coming to you from 'Carton Town'

I've been very busy these past few weeks with packing to move house, having recently taken the big step to move out of the rental market and sink my funds into something I can call my own. I've been living out of cartons for the past few weeks as I prepare for the big move, but I've moved so often over the past 7-8 years that I don't find the process too stressful. I'm an organised mover and have everything down to a fine art now.

As I'm down-sizing, it's also meant that I'm planning a garage sale for this weekend so I can get rid of some surplus items. This is something I haven't done before so the nerves are a little on edge hoping it goes well. I've read almost everything out there written by the experts and have picked out some tips that I like the sound of, including having some heating out in the garage (it's now winter here), having some background music on, and one I've invented myself. I'm going to have a slow cooker simmering with some wonderfully enticing aromatic concoction, like spiced tea, or this recipe I found yesterday for dried fruit compote on Robin Ellis's website.

I'll probably have to have another sale when I've moved to fit everything in because it's so hard to part with some things. I'm hanging on tenaciously to little knick - knacks that most people would pass over, but I'm hanging on to them because my sons gave them to me as birthday presents, Mothers Day presents and so on, when they were very young.

My busy-ness has meant that lots of things have been left behind for a while - reading, my work in progress, studying basic travel French for my trip at the end of the year, and also this blog. Apologies to my regular readers.

I have also put aside Mine to Avenge promotion - though that was deliberate in some regard. I'm trying to see how well it stands alone now, as I want to put more of my time and energy into the work in progress. In just having a brief check though, I've been pleasantly surprised to find that the book is still doing fine and readers are still interested, with slow but steady sales. I have two promotional opportunities coming up that I had forgotten about. I organised these some time ago, and the dates are almost upon me. I've been also pleasantly surprised to see that Mine to Avenge is climbing steadily in the AUTHORSdB cover contest, and so is my listing in their directory. Thank you to those who have been visiting and tweeting and liking.

Anyway, this note is just to let you know that I haven't forgotten you all. I will be back on deck more regularly in the social media sphere once I've moved and settled in, but it will be sporadic until then. Meanwhile, thank you all for your wonderful support and faith in Mine to Avenge. Don't forget to pass on the word to any of your reader friends who love a good suspense/part historical fiction combination.