MY WRITING LIFE
JANUARY 2023
A New Year
Linda has spent all of January in Plympton with her father who went down with Covid and is recovering quite slowly. So I invited quite a lot of people around for food and drink, starting with three neighbours for a New Year lunch, others to the other Sunday lunches, a small Epiphany party for friends from church, and a Burns night supper with my Greek neighbour. I also visited both sets of great-nieces and great-nephew on two Saturdays and helped with a Zoom Bible discussion group. And I did my tax!
Haggis, neeps & tatties © User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons
Health
My most exciting news is that, egged on by my brother and wife, I have put myself under the knife for a left knee replacement, hopefully later this year. More annoying has been an infected thumb that’s slowly getting better (I think). Linda is well despite staying in a covid house all month.
Writing
My major project this month was writing a 2-part blog ‘Death etc.’. I was so lucky (luck?) to have picked up ‘At Heaven’s Door’ at the local library – all about Shared Death Experiences and published only in 2021. When I had done the blog I asked my brother for comments. He provided some really good critical comments and I made several significant changes as a result. My favourite bit is the ghost of the battle of Edgehill. Do look it up in Wikipedia, it’s fascinating!
Equally fascinating has been my meeting people for their advice on ‘Daily Prayers from the World’s Faiths’: Rabbi Helen from the West London synagogue, a Muslim professor at SOAS, the Hindu director of the Bhavan cultural centre, and, almost, a Buddhist abbot in Harrow; but that was stymied by TFL’s bus replacement service. I want to have a brief description of each religion at the end of the book, and as an example I produced the entire history of Western Christianity in 499 words!
An editor at Premier Christianity suggested that I write an article for their website, 600 – 800 words, ideally about Ash Wednesday, which I did, entitled ‘The Next Temptation’. (Jesus’ final temptation came in the Garden of Gethsemane). I have also been thinking of doing other articles, e.g. on Palm Sunday and sending them somewhere. Next month!
Marketing
In mid-January I signed up for a telephone consultation with Facebook/Meta to help with marketing. It was very helpful. He said that I was succeeding, or rather Wishpond was succeeding, in getting people to look at my website, but failing completely in converting that interest into book sales. The problem is that Facebook has axed any type of target interests which mention religion or spirituality. As Alastair Campbell famously said, “We don’t do God.”
Talking this over with my new Wishpond account manager, Nelisa from South Africa, we agreed that I should transfer our energies to Amazon, trying to increase my rankings there. At the moment I am about 2,500 in the list of Jesus and the Gospels. Six reviews for ‘Jesus the Troublemaker’, all good. So if you have read the book, or indeed any of my books, can you please submit a review? You don’t need to have bought it from Amazon, just to have an account there.
Art Fair
My most unusual activity this year has been entering for an art fair! I had an email on 6th January inviting me to have a stand at the Parallax Art Fair in Kensington Town Hall. The manager had seen my name in the Christian Creative Directory. My first thought was, this isn’t me. My second was, well, I have all these excellent drawings in ‘Jesus the Troublemaker’; maybe I can do something with them. So I am going to be an exhibitor with 60 copies of the drawings, signed by Dan Gould, the illustrator. I may even sell some books! If you are near Kensington on Saturday or Sunday afternoons 18th-19th February, or if you would like to come to the private view on Friday evening 17th, drop me a line!
Time out
The new year saw the blossoming of musical life in London, so I have restarted going to lunchtime recitals, mostly piano solos and sonatas. The last Sunday of the month was a feast, with the wonderful Bach Vespers followed by a great evening of folk music in Wimbledon.
Martin invited me to a private show of an emigre Russian artist Pavel Otdelnov, all of the large paintings quietly depressing, like the one here showing a red carpet in a Russian landscape.
I saw two films, ‘Tár’ and ‘the Menu’. Tar was good not as great as some of the hype. ‘The Menu’ was accomplished, but I found it smart, nasty and trivial.
The best things I saw were on BBC4: “The Beginning and End of the Universe’ absolutely fascinating.; and Prokofiev’s ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’ danced like a proper film in an old town in Hungary. See photo! So glad I recorded it.
That’s all, folks.