A surprise present from the postman

I am enjoying an almost long weekend, having three days off work before I have to do five days full time on the trot from Tuesday to Saturday. I would really rather not have to do this, but beggars can't be choosers and although my newly arrived royalty cheque for just over £200 should in theory help, in practise it will go straight into my business bank account where it will be offset against other expenses - such as the large phone bill which has also just arrived.

It could be worse were it not for the fact that we have one of those very useful unlimited call packages courtesy of Virgin - something that I would advise any self published author to do if they wish to seriously promote their book(s). It is worth paying a little extra for this privilege, as otherwise I dread to think what the size of the bill would be.

As it stands, having printed out and gone through this months bill call by call, I am surprised to find that a full 74 percent of calls that were made last month were in some way related to my publishing business. Of course I can only claim 74 percent of my half of the bill, as opposed to 74 percent of the whole lot, since Coran also works from home and makes business calls as well -not nearly as many as myself though, and a few less now that he has resigned as a trustee of our local church. It was getting to the point for both of us that we were spending a ridiculous amount of time there, and although it has its rewards, one cannot continue to give ones time away for free, especially when one is not being listened to or heard, as neither of us have been for a while. This more than anything is the reason that I decided to stop going to the healing sessions on Monday where I used to work as a volunteer receptionist.

It just became clear that something had to give, and my time would be better spent promoting my book. As it turned out, that was the right decision, as it freed up another day of the week which was put to good use, as that phone bill proves.

Apart from going through phone bills, what else have I been up to this weekend? Yesterday we met our friend Julie Ann for lunch and to go and see The Golden Compass. Most of today has been spent cleaning the house, going to the gym and writing Christmas cards. It has to be done after all, as the last posting date is fast approaching. I have some parcels to send tomorrow to my brother and sister, and then a few more cards to hand deliver to friends and book shops around the area, and then once the weekly shop is done (courtesy of Coran this week, since I will be working full time) we will be all set.