Slight whinge, deflected

I haven't left the house today. Very unusual and relates to admin work for the business. I was going to write about it, but nothing will be served by whinging about bureaucracy and how it feeds unemployment and business closures. Let them learn for themselves.

The most annoying thing about having stayed inside all day is that I seem to have missed out on the lovely weather that we are being treated to. No wind. Fluffy clouds. Sunny skies. I'm cooking curry tonight, having lived on boiled skinless chicken, rice and green vegetables for some weeks now. Still boiled chicken, rice and green veg, but the curry part will lift it to gourmet level! Looking forward to it.

The day was enhanced by a rave review of my book, An Invitation to Think, available on Amazon (punt, punt) and a call from someone wanting to come and look at my paintings. All good news. Re the book, I was told that social media is the way to go to market anything you do, and it is obvious that everybody who does anything is taking this route. But I don't know how successful it is for them. For myself, I find it a little wimpy to have to keep referring to your achievements, but this is apparently how you attract readers on the web, by continually posting reminders so that newcomers can hear about you.

Having had a public studio, I think I must be pretty immune by now to unfavourable criticism and take it from whence it comes - a lack of self-esteem does not feature on my resume. The irksome part is false promises. There was always the: "I'll buy it when I win the Lotto", "I'm just going to fetch my husband" or "I'm just going to draw money at the ATM"! You eventually just smile and wave goodbye. The right person will always turn up eventually.

There is an author who I follow on Twitter who constantly exhorts his followers to buy his books from Amazon and seems to have some success with it, as he frequently retweets favourable reviews. Note the word favourable. He has tried without success to have his books published the traditional route, but has always been turned down despite excellent writing, reviews and winning a major book prize. He, too, is at the mercy of someone behind a desk. The thing to remember is that they often make a major error of judgment and some of the world's greatest literary talents were turned down up to twenty times before someone 'took a chance' on them. I hope his day will come.

And now my curry is calling...!