SELLING BOOKS
As usual, I was late in getting my books out there. ‘Journey through Lent with Jesus’ appeared a week after all the reviews of Lent books. Ah well. So I did my best to sell books in person, with some success.
On Tuesday/Wednesday 8th and 9th I successfully put the book on Kindle, collected 50 copies from the Filament office and ordered advertising leaflets. By the end of the week I had put copies in two Christian bookshops in Streatham and Wallington, together with leaflets and the following week I took them round churches local to Earls Court. By the end of the month I had sold 18 copies and a further five at the beginning of March. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick but not really viable as I have to pay for the publishing.
CHRISTIAN RESOURCES EXHIBITION (CRE)
On Thursday 23rd I went on a day return train journey to the South West CRE in Exeter. Travel cost me £105, including taxi either end, but a lot less that the £700 taking a stall over two days would have done. It was good talking to folk. At lunch I did sell a copy of my ‘Book of Job for Public Performance’ to a Methodist lay preacher who was preaching about that on Sunday. I had acquired an electronic card reader, Sumup, and discovered I did not know how to connect it. I hope to have solved that in a day or two.
The best bit of the day was meeting the Christian Creatives Directory people, which could be useful in gaining access to a load of different opportunities and skills. I also booked myself into the October CRE at Sandown Park, Surrey, and have booked myself a slot to give a talk. Perhaps my fifteen minutes of fame?
HOME AND FAMILY
Linda and I spent the first weekend in Eastbourne, in the Hydro Hotel where Mum and Dad stayed regularly. It was lovely, despite the rain on Sunday. But Monday was glorious and we had a wonderful walk to Beachy Head and back. At the end of the month we made another expedition, this time to our old stamping grounds of Wallington, where we bought a Zanussi washing machine, to be installed some time in April. So after that no more of me lugging bags of dirty clothes to the local laundrette!
CHURCH
I continue to patronise St Cuthbert’s – our parish church, HTB Queens Gate – my favourite, Holy Trinity Prince Consort Road – where I take a BCP service once a month, and St Mary Abbot’s, Kensington – whose vicar Emma Smith is particularly welcoming and supportive. I was at Queens Gate/St Augustine’s on 13th when they stopped the Covid restrictions. I even shook someone’s hand at the Peace! It felt like freedom. In Lent I am taking my own medicine by reading ‘Journey through Lent with Jesus’ each day. I am quite impressed!
I wish you a really positive Lent. And don’t forget, if you are giving up wine or chocolate, Sundays are not fast days because they celebrate the Resurrection. On Sundays you are COMMANDED to indulge yourselves!