The race to the end of the year

It’s now only six weeks until Christmas day.

Does that scare you? I think I’m on track with all my Christmas shopping and everything, so I’m not too worried. Some presents have already been bought and wrapped in preparation for putting them under the Christmas tree. There are more still to buy but in most cases, I have a good idea what I’m going to get, so I feel reasonably prepared as we draw closer to the festive season.

As Once Confronted has just been released, this time of year is also phenomenally busy as I try and be everywhere at once in the lead-up to Christmas to try and sell as many copies as possible.

Unfortunately, this year has been a hectic one so far and I am feeling more than a little worn out. I’m sure that contributed to the fact that I was laid low last weekend and had to cancel a book signing, something I’d never done before. Unfortunately, it was to be my first visit to that bookstore, however, it was a multi-author event, so it wasn’t like no authors were going to be there just because I couldn’t go, which relieved me a bit, although I was still disappointed I couldn’t attend.

I had another signing yesterday at a bookstore I’ve been to a couple of times, and much to my delight, I sold 14 books altogether. It didn’t break my record of 18 at one signing, which I achieve in November 2013, but it was nonetheless satisfying. Also, as far as I could tell, most people purchased my books for themselves, rather than as gifts for someone else. Only two people asked me to sign it with ‘merry Christmas’, or to someone other than themselves, so I was grateful to have sold so many under that circumstance. Hopefully, if they enjoy the books enough when they read them, they might want to buy someone else a copy.

I’m continuing with my promotions, although most of them will be online for the next couple of weeks, so hopefully my strength will hold out as long as it needs to, and I can have a good rest over Christmas. 🙂