Saturday 15 December 2012

Happy Christmas

I am now officially on holiday.  I have achieved what I wanted to do - all five of my completed books are up and running on Amazon, after enormous difficulty with the third one, But a Dream - for some reason the formatting was a nightmare - I had to upload 19 versions before I was satisfied with the end result.  But whatever, it is done and will be ready within a couple of days.  (BTW three of my five books will be free on Kindle on Boxing Day - see www.amazon.com/author/jennygill ).

I don't know quite how Amazon works - my fifth book, Rock-a-Bye Baby, is up on Amazon.co.uk as either a paperback or an eBook but on Amazon.com only as an eBook thus far.  But they did quote 5-7 days so I need to be patient before I contact their customer service department once again.

But now I am going to relax - and get ready for our holiday.  It's a beautiful day so I am going to fit in a swim in the sea (managed yesterday and the day before in spite of a wind which has now dropped) in between wrapping and packing.

Book number six is going well - I am not allowing myself to write a lot and am not even planning to take my laptop on holiday with me but I might just put a few thing on a USB stick so that if I really need to I can write a little,  but not to the point of being unsociable - a real danger when I write, though from all I hear that's very common with writers. 

We are going to a Carols by Candlelight picnic in our church grounds this evening - we go to a beautiful little stone church set between the mountain and the sea in Kalk Bay, a popular resort with a working fishing harbour, so we should be able to look out over the sea while singing carols - it doesn't get much better than that!

This will almost certainly be my last post till I get back so I take this opportunity to wih you a Blessed Christmas and a successful and Happy 2013 (that is assuming we all survive 21st December but I read somewhere that the Mayan's accuracy with dates was questionable so it might be out by about 300 years so I'm not worrying too much).

My sister sent me this delightful clip which I must share with you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFCeJTEzNU&feature=youtu.be

Till next time :)

Sunday 9 December 2012

Keeping busy over the silly season

Such a busy time of year!  Presents to buy, parties to go to, so much going on.  And the shops are so crowded and the parking is so bad that even the most mundane shopping takes twice as long.

Added to which we are going to Singapore next week and I have a lot to prepare before we go, including making batches of dehydrated biscuits, both sweet and savoury to take with us.  Our daughter is afraid that, as raw vegans, we might otherwise starve. 

Also, just to keep ourselves out of mischief, we have been painting (not actually me - my sinuses react very badly to paint - but Colin and a painter) and preparing a very small flat which we have bought to rent out.  Timing is not great - but the sale only completed last week so everything is in a big rush.

And then I finished my fifth book, Rock-a-Bye Baby, and have been proofing it, and editing it over the weekend.   I am hoping to get it up and running on Amazon before we leave.   My internet was down last week for just over 48 hours which I found most frustrating but which actually removed the distraction eough for me to finish my book.  Unfortunately book number six has jumped into my head.  I am trying very hard not to spend time on that now but the temptation is there.  I don't know why I get these ideas - I think it's in the order of 'nature abhors a vacuum' ( just looked that up - it was Aristotle - did you know that?  I didn't).  As soon as I finish, or almost finish one story another takes its place.

Retired?  A lady who lunches?  I should be so lucky!

Till next time :)

Monday 3 December 2012

Kirstenbosch Sunset Concert

Hi

We had a great day yesterday.  Went to church early - it was Advent Sunday so Christmas is just around the corner.

 It was very hot so when we came home I fought with formatting my books for a few hours.  Fortunately in the middle of my despair (tearing my hair out over the stupid things my computer does - nothing to do with me of course!) I got an email from Jan, the lovely computer teacher my friend recommended.  She said she could see me on Monday afternoon.  Made me feel much better knowing that if I couldn't sort it out at least she could. 

Then off to Kirstenbosch for one of the first of the new season's sunset concerts.  The world renowned Kirstenbosch with the back of Table Mountain as a backdrop, and about 30 000 people picnicking, drinking local wines, and dancing to the music of Mango Groove, who have been one of South Africa's top groups since their first smash hit in 1989.  And a well deserved reputation too - their music is a mixture of rock, jazz and local rhythms - just fantastic.  Such an amazing atmosphere too!

When we got home I found we had to turn the TV up - literally deafened by the music.  But a great evening.

This morning, inspired by the thought that Jan was coming, I managed to sort out one of my formatting problems myself.  The pagination had gone wrong - page numbers went from 228 to 230 which meant the odd and even page headers were also in the wrong places.  So I deleted a page break and reinserted it and it worked!  Rather like turning the computer off at the wall.  In fact Jan did something similar on another manuscript where the margins had gone wrong - she deleted a blank page then reinserted it.  So I am learning - but slowly. 

I should be able to do everything myself for book number five - unfortunately I have been so busy with formatting issues I have had no time to write but all over soon, fingers crossed :)

Till next time :)

Saturday 1 December 2012

baby boomer writer!

I have just discovered that I am a baby boomer writer!  I didn't know that.  I have started a new blog www.babyboomerfictionwriter.blogspot.com

So I might not post to this one so much.

I have my first novel, Pieces of a Puzzle on a free kindle promotion this weekend.   I paid someone to advertise it on a varierty of websites and facebook pages, but very small response so far.  I realsied that almost everyone else is promoting YA fantasy and horror - they aren't interested in my type of writing.  So looking around I found I was a BB writer.  Sounds like a song: I want to be a BB writer, no I actually think that was the Beatles and it was paperback writer.   So I am now looking for ways to promote my books on websites for and by others who are also labelled baby boomers.  Whatever happened to fiction or non fiction?  Much simpler!

We have had gale force winds the last couple of days.  My sister phoned yesterday and told me that she had heard on the radio that the SPCA were advising owners of dogs under 10kg (ours is about 4 and a half) not to take them out as they could get blown away!  Fortunately for Phoebe she had already had two wlalks and was still around to tell the tale.

Till next time :)


www.amazon.com/author/jennygill

Monday 26 November 2012

And for my next trick?

Well the big promo has been and gone.  I think on the whole it was very successful.  As a complete unknown I had nearly 4000 copies of my books downloaded.  OK I don't get any money from that but it does mean there are 4000 copies of my work floating around, presumably most being read or will be read.  I have to wait and see how many sales this generates - so far only a very small trickle in the US.  However it's all a learning curve.  I gather I shouldn't have used up my free days all at once and shouldn't have done my books at the same time.  But I'm not really sorry - as I said I am a newcomer to all this.  And I don't think I'd have had even the same number proportionately if I had run the promos on one book at a time.  But I'm learning.  I have scheduled a 2 day free promo on Pieces of a Puzzle for this weekend, the 1st and 2nd of December.  And I am trying to get notices put on various websites announcing this.  Funnily enough I have sold more copies of Puzzle than any of the others - presumably people thought if the others were free they would just buy that one.  So let's see if it works the other way around.   I still need some reviews of course.  There are websites you can use but I'd far rather have genuine unsolicited ones.

I am also working away trying to get my books ready as paperbacks on Amazon.   I thought that would be a good idea especially with Christmas coming.  I am doing it the slow laborious way.  Perhaps by the time I get to my 10th book I'll know how to do it and it will take me less than half a day to format one book, even using Create Space's preformatted template.  One thing I have done is put in the author's bio of each book that my fifth book Rock-a-bye Baby will be out by the end of the year.  So now that I have set myself a deadline I'd better get cracking and finish it!  I should have lots of time over the next couple of weeks (three weeks and one day till we go to Singapore).  My volunteering at the school finishes this week and my bridge partner has gone to Sydney for a barmitzvah and only gets back as we leave.   So no excuses.

Colin has gone to our council offices for the eighth time.  We are trying to put in a very small splash pool in the corner of our very small garden and need planning permission.  Each time we take them all the forms they come up with a new requirement, which they hadn't mentioned before.   Our pool man is getting throughly fed up - although Cape Town is one city there are several different municipal offices each of which has different requirements.  He says if he had to do all this running around he's have to charge twice as much for the pool.  We had hoped to have it before Christmas but it is looking less like it by the second.  As I write Colin has just got in - having successfully handed in the plans!  There were 6 different people to see at 6 different desks with 6 different queues - over two hours.  No wonder Jan, the pool man won't do it! 

Our lagoon has a flock of flamingos on it!  First time ever that we have seen flamingoes here, although they are at several lakes and lagoons a few miles away.  There were lots of pelicans a few months back but there was a reason for that - something to do with an algae bloom which was killing the fish so that wasn't really desirable.  The only large birds there normally are the Egyptian geese and the Hadeda ibises (so called because that's the noise they make).    In our little garden we have a sunbird feeder so attract beautiful sunbirds in wintertime - but not at this time of year as there are too many nectar bearing flowers out. 

Time for Phoebe's walk.  Till next time :)


















H

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Kindle Freebies and chameleons in the garden

This is the first time I have experienced offering ebooks free as a Kindle promotion.  I had no idea if it would work or how anybody would find the books.  I sent out emails to everyone I could think of who might be interested (or would do it as a favour) and also put it on my virtually unused Facebook page.  My daughter also put it on her Facebook page.   Then I waited. 

And boom people started finding the books.  Far more people than we had contacted.  It's most exciting - as I write this after two and half days of the promotion there have been nearly 1500 downloads - over 1000 in America, or from the American site anyway.   I'm obsessed - I've drawn up a spreadsheet of the books and the countries and keep checking and updating.  I'm even getting some sales of Pieces of a Puzzle, which is not a freebie.  And Amazon screwed up - Fisherman's Dream is not yet available on the US site, although it is up and running as a freebie on Amazon.co.uk.  They are looking into it but say it might take till next Tuesday to find what has gone wrong.  I have asked for my freebie promotion then but they are also looking into that. 

Of course once the freebie is over comes the crunch.  I hope enough people will have read the books, and liked them, for the real sales to get going.  I really need some people to click like and to write reviews but don't quite know how to go about it.  I can't really go back to all my friends and ask them for another favour - I'm a writer not a marketer - not thick skinned enough for that.  So if you are reading this please go and click like and if you would be so kind please write a review - doesn't have to be long. :)

I'm now exploring trying to put the books up on Amazon in print, starting with Puzzle, my first.  I am trying to do it myself, as it's quite expensive to get them to do it.  I downloaded a template and have been laboriously copying in chapter after chapter, and checking and removing spaces and checking to see that there aren't half sentences on new pages.  My old computer (or probably the version of Word)had a function to avoid widows and orphans but I can't find it so I'm doing it manually.  But the template only allowed for 10 chapters - I had 14.  So I copied in another 4 from the blank format.  Then the page numbers went nuts, 1 - 201, then started again at 1.  So I had to change them manually as well.  Now I am having trouble changing the header, which is different on odd and even pages.  Ho- hum!  Maybe eventually I'll make enough from my ebook sales to be able to pay someone else to do this next time!  Maybe I should just stick to ebooks but there is something about holding the printed book in your hand, especially one with your name on as author!

Now that summer is here we see the chameleons in our garden.  The endangered cape dwarf chameleon so we feel very privileged.   There aren't that many and they hide very well both in the ivy on the fence and in the oleander trees but we do see them occasionally much to our excitement. 

We also have the endangered western leopard toad in our garden.  Our previous cat used to catch them with great regularity,  She didn't harm them - just caught each one, let it jump then caught it again. We spent hours chasing her and rescuing them, Smudge having no respect for the endangered status of her playthings.  Actually it's amazing they didn't die of fright!   So we have two creatures in our garden that are high on the endangered list which is quite amazing considering our garden is only pocket handerchief size! 

At this time of year gekkos are also plentiful around - there were two beauties in the spareroom yesterday.  Colin caught them very carefully using a plastic container and price of stiff paper and took them outside.  Inside they would have had no chance with Miss Mollie, our tabby.

We also have the almost obligatory worm farm.  The worms are multiplying frantically and escaping into the garden so we have regular visits from a opportunistic hadeda ibis.  It's bigger than either our dog or our cat so while they are both interested they stand and gawp rather than assert their territorial rights.

So our tiny patch, where we attempt to grow most of our vegetables, is a veritable hive of wildlife , though mostly of the small variety!

I need to go and update my spreadsheet.  No one from Italy or Japan yet, though 2 from Spain, 1 from France, about 35 from Germany, the rest from the US and the UK.    

Till next time :)




Monday 19 November 2012

Egyptian geese family

We usually walk our dog around the lagoon near our house (when we aren't walking on the beach or the mountain - there are a lot of choices in Cape Town).  Over recent months we have been watching some families of Egyptian geese (apparently now called African geese) with their babies.  You can tell the young parents - they don't really know how to protect their young from predators and their families get smaller and smaller, dwindling each time we see then until there is sometimes only one (if that) left.  However one family with obviously experienced parents has been a joy to watch.  Eight young, tiny little things following behind their mommy.  Then still eight getting bigger and bigger until they are nearly the size of the adults.  So we were a bit distressed to see a total of nine familiar shapes on Saturday.  All the young were there and a stressed looking mommy but no sign of daddy.  I was feeling really sad about it - we are always told geese mate for life.  So today when we went there again the first thing I did was check the family - still only nine.   Then as we walked a bit further we heard a loud familiar cry and there was daddy goose on his way back.  All ten were swimming in a group when we saw them on our way home.   I know it's not that important - there are horrible incidents going on all over the world not least in South Africa but in our little Zandvlei lagoon everything is going well!

We were disappointed to hear that the jungle lodge we were hoping to go to between Christmas and New Year is closed at that time so it's back to the drawing board.  But it looks such an amazing country that I'm sure we'll find something equally good.

We have been living on the most amazing avocados recently.  Our season is about to end and it always goes out with a bang - huge delicious creamy avos.  It takes me about 2 minutes to prepare a dish fit for a king.  Here goes (this is for two people)

1 large avo, cut in half, remove pip, and carefully peel, (with fingers), pur lemon juice over
1 cup cocktail tomatoes
1 small onion
1 small slice ginger  (optional)
1/2 red or yellow pepper
fresh herbs (basil, oregano, whatever)
lemon juice
sea salt
pinch cayenne pepper (optional but gives it a nice little bite)

Combine everything, except avo, in food processor.  Process till finely chopped but not mush

Serve on chopped lettuce with sprouts.   Nestle half avo in the lettuce, pour on the stuffing which may overflow.

Easy peasy!  Unfortunately our avos are always out of season by Christmas - you can still buy them - from Spain - at an exorbitant cost and massive carbon footprint so I try (not always successfully) to avoid them.

Till next time :)




Saturday 17 November 2012

I've just uploaded two books to Amazon, Tightrope and But A Dream (OK with the help of my daughter but only because my internet's a bit slow).  And I have a link to my author page  http://amazon.com/author/jennygill.  Quite exciting to see my name next to the word author - makes it seems official!

And the big news is that we have booked Phoebe's little sister.   We went to see the person we know slightly who is breeding toy poodles and were horrified to find that her poodles are quite snappy - they even tried to bite Phoebe, who is the friendliest dog in the world.   In any case her pups are brown and Colin is quite adamant that we want another black one, so we defintely decided against those.

I looked on the internet and found a breeder in George, some four hours drive from Cape Town.  I contacted her and she sent me photos of two tiny little pups, with their eyes still closed.  So I have booked the liveliest one, though she'll only be able to tell their personalities in a few weeks.   We've paid a deposit and the pup, who we will be calling Lola, will be flown down when we return from Singapore early January.  There I've managed to include a picture.  Is that not the cutest thing ever?

I am so excited.  We are going, assuming we can get in, to stay at Kura Kura in the rainforest of Borneo.  We are hoping to spend four days there from Boxing Day.   It looks just amazing  - check it out  http://www.kurakura.asia/.  it seems to have everything, a river, the forest, a waterfall, an organic garden even amazing exotic snakes to keep Colin happy. Sounds jsut perfect!

Till next time :)





Tuesday 13 November 2012

Another beautiful day.  We had some rain on Monday - even a huge thunderstorm which was unusual for Cape Town, especially at this time of the year.  But it has cleared the air and it's again summer at its best.  Colin is on the golf course - Wednesdays and Fridays are his days.

Having finished Fisherman's Dream, I have gone back to Rock-a-bye Baby, which I started about 18 months ago and didn't finish.  I didn't remember the details of the characters so have read through it and am now determined to finish it.  However last time I stopped because while I had the ending (whenever I write I need the name of the book, the characters, the basic storyline and the ending - that's just me) I wasn't quite sure how to get from where I left off to the ending.   I still feel like that but this time I will get there!  I have written about 42,000 words so well over half - shouldn't prove that difficult - just waiting for inspiration.

Today is my busy day - I volunteer with the literacy programme at a very poor school.  Lovely children but from very underprivileged backgrounds.  They try so hard but it must be difficult - most of them live in tin shacks; very unlikely that their parents can help them at all.   When I think of our children, read to and exposed to books from birth, my heart just goes out to these kids.  They are so far behind other children of the same age.   I have a lovely child called Brian - unfortunately he's been labelled 'difficult' by his teachers so I seems to live up to this expectation in class.  But with me he tries so hard.   He's 11 and can barely read - still hasn't got the concept of the magic e.  He's a very keen soccer player and tells me he wants to be a lawyer when he grows up - I gather based on a television advert for Legalwise, one of those companies that offers legal insurance. 
Then straight from the school to the bridge club.  I used to come home in between but it's quicker to go straight.  The only thing is last time Phoebe was very cross that I didn't come home to see her - which she showed in that she punished me afterwards - wouldn't sit on my lap as she always does, treated me like a casual acquantance.  Even though Colin comes home from golf at lunchtime and spends all afternoon with her.  Her mommy should be there too, she thinks!  A very complicated little dog - she's only been like this since Maya died.   I'm sure she will be better when we get another dog.  What I should probably do is try to take her for a nice walk before I go to the school - which means I won't be able to work on my book but my dog has to take precedence or am I just procrastinating?

What I do need to do first is my yoga and breathing exercises - we did an Art of Living course in May - I had just had a nasty cough and thought that it would help my lung capacity.  We both do the excercises but Colin only does them a couple of times a week - I try to do them most days though don't always manage.  But they are good and end with a short meditation which is lovely.  I remember when I went to yoga classes I always loved the last part where one would lie in the mat and drift off - I suppose all lazy people like that part!

Had better get on, time and a little dog wait for no woman! 

Till next time :)

Saturday 10 November 2012

Saturday 10th November

Yahoo!  I have just finished Fisherman's Dream!  I feel quite exhausted but elated at the same time.
It will still need checking and possibly tweaking but it's basically finished,

I generally try to write 1000 words a day but sometimes when I want to push on I write quite a bit more.  Today with the end in sight I wrote just under 2000.  I have read several times that Graham Greene used to write 500 words a day then stop, even if mid sentence but I am sure that's just an urban myth.  Besides he almost certainly wrote by hand so would have had to physically count his words.  More likely he knew how many pages in 500 words and stopped at the end of a page - but it's a good story. 

I have got back the completed ebook covers for my other two books, Tightrope and But a Dream, so as soon as I get the manuscripts back from the formatter I can put those on Amazon too. 

I only really started writing novels a bit more than two years ago - I have always written a bit, much of it poetry - but had never thought of a novel.  The first idea just came to me then all the characters arrived, fully formed and I just wrote it down.   The third one, But a Dream, came to me in my sleep - that is I woke up one Saturday morning with the whole story.   Quite weird really.  But quite fun.

I tried sending my books to literary agents but, in common with almost everyone else I have heard of, got nowhere. So now I'm making them into ebooks. Don't know how well they'll go down but hey!  Better than just keeping them on my computer!

We are now off to a gift fair, at the Riding for the Disabled grounds in Constantia.  Should be fun, might even find something to buy and hopefully Phoebe will find some other dogs to play with,  Besides it's all for charity and it's a beautiful day.

Till next time :)

Thursday 8 November 2012

Friday 10th November

No wind today - glorious.  Colin was thrilled as he's playing golf.  He went off really early to practice beforehand.  Last week he shot his best ever score of 81 so is hoping to equal or beat that today. 

I had so much fun setting up and starting my blog yesterday that I completely forgot I was supposed to call Joyce, Colin's 91 year old aunt.  Affectionately referred to in the family as AJ (Auntie Joyce) she is an amazing person - one of that tough breed of Englishwomen who lived through the war.  She lives alone and looks after herself, except for a cleaner who comes once a fortnight (only in recent years) to help with the heavy stuff.  I attribute her remarkable health (no cane, no hearing aid, all her faculties) to two things - firstly she has never had a car, doesn't even drive, so has had to walk everywhere, and secondly she has only one loo in her house and that's upstairs - so she has no choice but to use the stairs.   I call her once a week and chat for at least 20 minutes - about trivialities.  Nothing much happens in her life so I tell her all the details of ours.   Because of the time difference (2 hours in English winter, since the clocks went back) I have to plan quite carefully when to call - I don't want to disturb her meal times or her afternoon nap - then next thing it's our supper time and before I know it it's too late.  As happened last night.   I'll call this evening and apologise, though my call times are not cast in stone.  I'll tell her about the blog - she won't really understand, any more than she does about the ebooks but she'll be interested - that's the sort of person she is, and why she is still such a lively 91 year old.

I have the whole morning to myself - though need to do a few normal chores like laundry,  take Phoebe for a walk - though that's not a chore, then before Colin gets home from golf I go to bridge.  The club I play at on Friday afternoons is in Fish Hoek, the seaside resort where I was born.  It would in normal circumstances be 10 minutes away but circumstances are not normal.  They are doing the most full scale roadworks ever - replacing all water and sewerage systems at the same time.  This is a job that has not been done since the 1880s!  On a narrow stretch of road between the sea and the mountain so there is no possible deviation.  So stop and go traffic, often backing up several miles in both directions.   The roadworks have been underway for over 2 years now  and at least another 2 to come.   The sad thing is that it is killing Fish Hoek.   All along the Main Road are shops to let.  There used to be two thriving hotels in the centre - one is now an old age home, the other is to let.   For my bridge I have a great solution - I now catch the train, which runs between the road and the sea - a beautiful train trip - around August/September you can see whales if you're lucky.   The station is only 5 minutes walk from here so easy peasy, not that much further at the other end.   Saves time and money (with petrol going up every month) and good for the environment - a win win situation!

Will go and soak some cashews now to make vanilla cream for a strawberry parfait tonight - one of Colin's favourites.  Easy to make, dramatic looking and quite yummy.   I didn't invent the recipe - just adapted it a little.

Ingredients
Vanilla Cream
1 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked at least a couple of hours
1 dessertspoon raw honey
1 piece of vanilla pod, say 1 inch long

Blend together in high speed blender (like Vitamix) - till a sheen forms on the top of the cream.   You might need to add a little water.  Chill in fridge.

Fruit
1 punnet strawberries
1 banana
1 piece, say banana sized, pineapple
1 teasooon raw honey
I tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or less to taste)
In food processor process half the strawberries, with the honey, lemon and banana,  till consistency of jam.
Chop remaining strawberries and the pineapple into bite sized pieces.   Keeping a few bits for decoration, mix the rest with the jammy mixture.

Assemble in parfait glasses (if you have them, otherwise something like a wine glass will work fine), starting with cream then fruit mix, repeat and decorate with the extra fruit.

Serve well chilled.  Enjoy!

Till next time :)






Thursday 8th November

My daughter says I should write a blog - she says I'll enjoy it.  I've never written a blog before - not quite sure how to go about it.  However for our year on the boat in France I did keep a journal so I imagine it's pretty much the same sort of thing.

Last night we were disturbed, or I was anyway, half the night with a gale force south easter blowing through the trees outside our bedroom window.  Means summer is really here - the Cape Doctor and all!  Actually I don't mind the wind, stops it getting too hot.

Thia morning Phoebe, our toy poodle was due to have her haircut.  Our regular dog groomer moved back to Johannesburg at the start of the year.  We weren't at all happy with the people he sold the business too so were thrilled to hear that he has come back and opened a new salon.  When Colin (my husband - you'll hear more about him) dropped Phoebe at the salon he asked Eugene (the groomer) what had happened in Joburg.  He told him it was terrible - the area where he grew up has been taken over by Nigerians wieldingAK47s (all of them?)  The mall where he was planning his salon was overrun by an armed gang, a security guard shot, and all the businesses held up.  That sort of thing doesn't even make the national news any more.   So Joburg's loss is our gain - Phoebe looks beautiful and while she was pleased to see us when we picked her up she didn't want to leave Eugene.   

Phoebe is terribly lonely since her companion, our beloved Maya, died last month.  We will definitely be getting her another little sister but not till after Christmas, which we are spending in Singapore - can't wait!

I went to my aqua aerobics this morning - a great class as always.  Anita must be the best aqua teacher in the world - I've been going for nearly two years now and every class is different.   Find them quite exhausting - so am happy to collapse onto my bed afterwards to write.

I have just put my first novel, Pieces of a Puzzle, up on Amazon and plan to get my next two up as soon as they come back from the formatter and the person who is designing (after thousands of back and forth emails) my covers.    I am within spitting distance of finishing my fourth one then have another one about two thirds through.  Not that I've written these overnight - it's been two and a half years now! I do find that I need a deadline otherwise I'll never get finished so I create artificial deadlines for myself.  The current one, Fisherman's Dream (named after the shop we had in Hermanus over 30 years ago),  has to be finished, proof read, checked etc then formatted and be up and running by the end of November.  Quite what happens if I miss this deadline I don't know but obviously it's too dreadful to contemplate.

Need to go and make some of my flat seed bread now.   Quite delicious and very easy.   (Tastes very whole wheaty - which is odd as it has no wheat whatsoever).
With guacamole (or mashed avo, or a sunflower seed pate or hummus), and a basic salad makes a great meal.  Raw vegan cuisine at it's easiest.

Ingredients
I cup flaxseed, ground in blender or coffee grinder
1 cup sesame seed, also ground
1 cup seawater (or pure water with say 1/2 t salt)
1 cup tomatoes - I prefer the taste of the little cocktail tomatoes
1 cup baby marrows/patty pans or a combination
3 - 4 large onions, or equivalent in small onions

Method
Process all except the seeds in the food processor till fine, add the seeds.  If your food processor is too small, just combine the seeds with the rest in a large mixing bowl.
Roll into large balls - I use a serving spoon then wet hands - this quantity makes 12.  Press flat onto teflex sheets on the dehyrator tray.  Flatten as much as desired with a potato masher - wet it first to prevent sticking.

Dehydrate at 40 degrees C for about four hours (depends on thickness of the bread rolls) then turn over, removing the teflex sheets.  Dehydrate about another four hours - depends how thick and how dry you want them - for a picnic quite dry like biscuits otherwise more of a bread consistency.

Now that took a lot longer to write than to do!

Till next  time :)