Category Archives: The Last Dragon in London

And The Winner Is …

It’s a gorgeous sun-dappled afternoon here in the Widder-backyard as the entrants gather, and wait with bated breath for the BIG DRAW!

A Gathering of Entrants

A Gathering of Entrants

Each entrants name has been written on the inside of tiny cube …

(not an actual entrant)

(not an actual entrant)

… and placed in this rather elegant glass bowl …

(red lights not included)

(red lights not included)

… on a sun-dappled podium.

-oOo-

And now without ado …

Congratulations Quiall!!!

Please use the contact form on my ‘About Me & Contact Me’ page on my blog (Just scroll down a little) and leave me the postal address you want the book sent to, and anything extra you might want me to add to my signage.

That’s it folks. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Advertisement

Last Day Until The Draw

If you haven’t already entered the draw for a signed copy of The Last Dragon In London, this is your last chance. Check out the book’s own page for a description and the first two chapters, and see what you think. Leave a comment at the end of this post and into the draw you’ll go. See this post for more details.

The draw will close at midnight tonight (12th September) Pacific Daylight Time.

On the 13th, I will write everyone’s name, (the username you’ve used to make your comment) on the inside of a little cardboard box, like this …

… Which I will then fold up, thusly …

… And into a container they all will go, where Mrs Widds will pick a cube, unfold it, and reveal the winner. Simple, eh?

Good luck to all, and to all, good luck.

I’m Giving Away A Signed Copy Of The Last Dragon In London!!!

Short version – leave a comment on this post to enter the give-away.

Slightly longer version – Zon.com was taking so bloody long to get my ‘author copy’ to me, (hard to imagine the USA and Canada are next-door-neighbours sometimes) so I bought it from Zon.ca and got it a week earlier than the .com one. Now have two copies, and what better way, I thought, to celebrate such good fortune than to give one away.

The give-away will close at the stroke of midnight on 12th of September, and Mrs Widds will pull a name from a hat on the 13th of September, which I will video and post here on my blog. The winner will then use the ‘contact me’ form on my ‘About Me & Contact Me’ page, to get their postal address to me … and a short, tasteful message for me to include if they so desire … then I will sign your very own copy of The Last Dragon In London and post it to you, poste haste!

That’s it!

P.S. If you want to leave a comment but don’t want to be in the draw, just let me know in your comment.

Raindrops On Jasmine, And Novels On Desktops

After some 60-odd days we finally had a bit of rain the other day. I was so excited I rushed out and just stood in it and wallowed. Those of you who’ve been here for a while know how much I am not a fan of rain. I can remember not long ago really, enduring 60-odd days of rain and overcast skies, and expressing my displeasure in no uncertain terms.

This year, (and perhaps for all the years to come) the arrival of the rain that finally broke the drought’s back will be a most welcome sight indeed.

Every plant in the garden absorbs every drop it can

Every plant in the garden absorbs every drop it can

-oOo-

In other news to cheer me up, this arrived in the mail …

In my hands

In my hands

For all that I love the absolute brilliance of ebooks, this is what finally makes it real.

I am very happy to announce that The Last Dragon In London is now available IN PRINT!

All the info can be found on its very own page.

-oOo-

And in reference to the title of this post, I’m not going to link the Julie Andrews version of one of my favourite show-tunes, but a spectacular version by Betty Carter.

Take it away, Betty …

Have You Ever – Publishing Edition …

(Continuing my occasional series of weird and wonderful things that never, seriously, never happen to me, ever)

… slaved over a hot keyboard for seven months creating, from the five dimensions (at least) of your imagination, and then editing, a brilliant story filled with engaging characters, and drama galore …

… then formatted it for stage and screen digital and print editions …

…and then upload the digital versions and see nothing wrong them (this is important for later in the story) …

…only to discover, when you return to finish off the print formatting, that there are a few too many typos, that you’re sure you have already corrected, in the manuscript you’re working on …

… until you realise that in some unknown and probably unknowable way, you uploaded the WRONG BLOODY FILE, and didn’t even notice it?…

… so you go back to your clean copy and go through it with a paranoia-inspired fine-tooth comb, secure in the knowledge that no matter how obsessive you are, there will always be at least one typo that will escape detection …

… nah, me neither!

-oOo-

IMPORTANT NOTE: The clean files have been uploaded, and Amazon and Smashwords should clear them within the next 24 hours, so that those of you who have already bought your books can download the updated versions if you so desire. (it was mostly punctuation gaffes)

(For Amazon you need to make sure your device has ‘Automatic Book Update’ turned on – ‘Manage your Content and Devices’ in your Amazon account. Click the ‘Preferences’ tab. Scroll to ‘Automatic Book Update’. Choose ‘on’)

IMPORTANT LESSON: Be able to laugh at yourself, and have a back up plan!

We. Are. Live!!!

The Last Dragon In London (ebook version) is now live!

-oOo-

In the second decade of the Twentieth Century, Mildred Norman, Mildy to her friends, not many of whom are left alive, is broken in body and spirit after a long hard war.
An old friend suggests that she might like, as a bit of a distraction, to spend some time doing a bit of a ‘grand tour’ of all the places named ‘London’ throughout the world.
What begins as a whim, ends with a discovery that challenges everything she believes is possible.
Arriving in the last ‘London’, on her list, a tiny village tucked away in a remote valley, she meets up with a few of the locals and shenanigans ensue.
With the help of a child hunting mythical beasts, the child’s grandmother, and a cast of quirky villagers, Mildy shows how dangerous a stout woman with a lethal arsenal in her pockets can be.
She uncovers a plot to alter the course of history, begun so long ago that no records of the conspirators remain, except for one place, the place she now calls home.
To protect those she has come to love from certain destruction at the hands of a cruel and loathsome cabal, she must battle threats both near and far, and confront the mysterious force guiding it all.
And then, of course, there’s the question of dragons …

-oOo-

I’m still having a bit of a joust with the print version but that just means I can party again when that goes live too!

Herewith be the all important links:

SMASHWORDS: The last Dragon In London (in these formats: epub, mobi, (for Kindles) pdf, Irf, pdp, txt, and html)

AMAZON:

Canada – The last Dragon In London

USA – The last Dragon In London

UK – The last Dragon In London

Australia – The last Dragon In London

(and all the Amazon’s’ everywhere else too)

(it’ll take a couple of days but it should show up the catalogues for Apple, Kobo, Overdrive, Scribd, etc. Again, when I know you’ll know)

Tell your friends… tell their friends … tell random people on the street … erm … maybe not that last one. it might be going a bit too far.

Seriously though, if you like it, let me know, write a review, that sort of thing … if you don’t like it, well, constructive criticism is always welcome.

And just because it’s an awesome piece of art …

On With The Show!

Editing: Finished!

Only stage 3 of the whole process to go – the FORMATTING! (stage 1 – writing, stage 2 – editing)

If there was one thing I could tell someone to do if they’re completely bonkers enough to fall in love with this writing of tall tales business, it’s to not stop writing until they’ve reached ‘the end’. Then they can edit, judge, expand, and otherwise eviscerate, the end result.

It’s … exhilarating!

I’ve had a couple of days of feeling like I’m a lost sock in the washing machine of life, (normal after six months of concentrated concentration) now it’s …

On With The Show!

 

-oOo-

On a more prosaic note, I’ve had a fine joust with my new diabetes medication. The dosage was waaaay too high, and seeing as how some of the nastier side-effects were vomiting and diarrhea, I will leave it to your imagination as to what I’ve been going through from a digestive point-of-view – suffice it to say, not fun … but all digitalia crossed, my keel should be even from now on.

-oOo-

And now, the real reason I’ve asked you all here this evening. (cue dramatic music …)

 

Phew! That certainly was dramatic.

When I mentioned in my last post that I was still looking for the right cover art, (I had some very specific imagery in mind) Olga Godim offered to see what she might be able to create for me.

And create something for me, she most assuredly did!

Behold, the cover reveal and title reveal of my book …

Cover, revealed!

Cover, revealed!

Speaking of fantasies, if this series, yes it’s going to be a series, ever makes it to the ‘big screen’ or smaller ones, I want that piece of music as the theme music.

Still Editing

Still here.

Still too hot.

Still very thankful for our portable A/C.

Still … oh look at that. Final bloodtest results. Now I’m a diabetic.

Still think the universe isn’t out to get me.

Still looking for the right cover art for my book.

…

Thankfully it’s not the sort of diabeticals where I have to give myself injections. I’m not, erm, very comfortable with that concept.

Anyway … where would we be without Monty P …

 

6 Things I Learned Writing And Editing A Novel In Six Months

I’m pretty sure I’ve never done a ‘list-cicle’, so here we go my first and last … list!

Heh, the bastards are never really ‘DONE’ though, are they?

Mrs Widds and I will do a basic line edit/read-through, and then … depending on whether we find any clangers, it’s FORMAT TIME.

Here’s my list …

1 – I can write 2000+ words a day, (in a couple of hours sometimes!!!) and still have a life, and a relationship.

2 – I can write when I don’t have a clue what’s going to happen next, but trust that it will all make sense by the end. (and it did!)

3 – I can write when I have a migraine, vertigo, a migraine, sciatica, a migraine, an allergic reaction to the Covid vaccine, a migraine, emergency dental work, arthritic joints, (looking at you, knees) a migraine …

4 – I can write during a 42°C soul-crushing heatwave

5 – I can write when I’m So. Fucking. Exhausted. From #2 that I can barely focus.

6 – I am a Writing Titan!

Bonus – Always, always, keep a print copy. Always.

Always

Always

Extra Bonus – and apropos of nothing in particular, I found Lawrence of Arabia on YouTube.

Mrs Widds Eviscerates, Too

Mrs Widds is known far and wide, at least to long-term readers of this blog, as a baker of extraordinarily tasty sweet and savoury dishes.

However, on one memorable day towards the end of 2019 our heater broke and Mrs Widds put her culinary skills to a darker, more nefarious pastime – evisceration!

She eviscerated, she repaired, she reconstructed, until the heater worked again, and continues to do so to this very day.

In 2018 Mrs Widds acquired a dashing scooter to pootle around the highways, byways, and backroads, of our tiny corner of the world.

And pootle she did!

The thing about vehicles, of any sort, is that after a certain age, things start to deteriorate. (as it does with all of us) And so it was with the shiny little scooter.

The battery died, the carburetor had a hissy fit and turned up its toes, other assorted ills came to the fore, until Mrs Widds was forced to do this …

The Eviscerated

The Eviscerated

The Eviscera

The Eviscera

Mrs Widds assures me patient will recover in the fullness of time.

-oOo-

In other news …

The editing continues, slower that I, perhaps unrealistically, hoped, but none-the-less moving along happily.

Editing starts with a print copy

Editing starts with a print copy

I have recovered fully from my interesting week, but it’s taken me another week to get back on my feet. Mrs Widds even had to take over my lawn-mowing/weed-whacking job the other day.

Summer has arrived. The temperature yesterday was a tolerable 25°C but by this afternoon my poor antique thermometer had a fit of the vapours when its mercury topped 33°C  …and presumably got hotter. I don’t know how much hotter because the thermometer refused to countenance any further indignities. I don’t blame it one bit. It always takes me a few days to adjust to these sudden shifts from one season to the next. Which is how they’ve turned for the last five-or-so years now.

Well, the sun is now well under the yardarm and it’s time I put on my editing hat and get to it!