Yes indeed, Gaby Ontario has soared all the way to number one in the youth sport category on Kindle thanks to you lot! No mean feat in a popular category dominated by horse and soccer stories. For a cycling story to break this grip is very positive and will hopefully engender a few more non TG readers!
So a great big thank you to you all and remember that if you bought through BC the site gets a kickback which goes towards continuing this great asset.
We'll start with the new book, The full fat version of Book 23, Ontario is now published! 300 plus pages of typical Gaby adventure and angst, excitement all the way to the last paragraph!
So in case you got impatient checking I can advise that the book has, finally made its Kindle appearance a mere 3 days after being submitted. Just search Gaby Ontario and it'll bring up all 4 parts. Do so through a BC link and you'll be adding to this site's coffers too.
For the more patient of you, i've got the full volume ready to launch tomorrow. Yup, the whole exciting kit and kaboodle all in one 300+ page volume. The tension runs all the way to the last paragraph with more going on in young Bonds life than ever!
Its been a busy day here in Bell Acres but i'm pleased to announce that I finished writing Ontario Book 4 this morning and after a mega editing session this afternoon its now up on Lulu and Amazon!
So Hurricane Callum has reached even GOC this weekend, not nice even with just the fringe, best wishes go to everyone suffering more acute symptoms than a stiff breeze and a few puddles.
Firstly I should apologise for another whiney post - I'm not in a good place in my head this week.
I guess it's largely my own fault, decisions i've made that have maybe not been the best choices. Every time I think i've got my head and life together another spanner falls into the works and i'm not even back to where I started. Effectively i'm bankrupt - no regular income and bills that need paying has become a repeating cycle of worry.
So, here we are 3/4's of 2018 has passed and my life has changed even from six months ago. Some things like my fitness and the new grand child have been very positive but it's not all been a bed of roses. Some ancient debts caught up with me which has meant having to borrow a significant amount which in turn has meant that i've been living on beans for much of the year! Then there was all the upheaval with the new kitchen....
Well, here I am, back in the land of my birth and a few of my forefathers. After a week of predominantly warm sunshine, no sooner had we landed did the rain start to fall, the temperature definitely 10c cooler than when we left Germany! If you go here there are a few pictures which give a flavour of the trip.
So here I am - sat outside a restaurant in Nordlingen eating Gnochi Gorgonzola and drinking beer, wearing shorts and sandals as it's into the 20's c!
My stint as Nena, tour guide is 80% over as we fly home tomorrow. We've had a day doing the Roman Limes (think Hadrian's Wall but longer) around Aalen, yesterday we went down to the Donau for a Keltische visit and today has been the hillfort of Ipf before an afternoon here in the Ries crater at Nordlingen.
So i've just finished writing chapter 23.29, the second of an 8 hour writing session!
Tomorrow then will see the arc completed, a full day it will be, a longish ride in the morning/afternoon then into writing mode in the evening - I already have a fair idea of what's going to be included in the chapter so it will hopefully go quickly! Then it's into assembly and editing so that I can release to you lot on Sunday.
That I wasn't able to post a new chapter today - my day trip was something i'd pretty much forgotten about but I really wanted to do.
What was it I hear you ask? Well for those who do history, specifically English history, I spent the day doing Richard III, Bosworth Battlefield, the Greyfriars excavation site and visitor centre and his last resting place, Leicester Cathedral. Just because it was there I visited the medieval Guildhall too - quite a full day!
Okay - well I had to get online for another issue that was unforeseen so I've taken the opportunity to fix the Gaby chapter stuff before I go home to write more. Seems that I posted the wrong chapter for 13, 23 is correct so if you go to Commitment you can read the real chapter 13 which might make 14 etc more sense! Sorry everyone, back to the grindstone!
I've now got my head a bit sorted and the time to post more than a couple of sentences.
Where to start? I've given little snippets about my recent trip to Germania but not much real insight. The more nerdy readers may recall that the main focus of the road trip was to ride the Eddy Merckx Classic event in the Salzkammergut east of Salzburg. It was a significant step on my recovery from last year's medical issues and on that score it was certainly revealing.
that isn't the half of it, the Hotel tonight has a free wifi connection through Vodafone which is, to put it bluntly, crap. What should have taken a few minutes has taken best bit of an hour but you can at least read Instant Parent tonight! I guess its not helped by the control pad on my lap top working in reverse, one day i'll have computers that actually work properly.
Well maybe there is but No Escape is the new Gaby chapter.
Well we made it to Osterreich for the bike ride which I completed in glorious sunshine yesterday. I may not be the quickest but I was far from slowest so I was quite pleased. So now we are spending the week drifting back up through Bavaria to catch our return ferry on Friday.
So there might be a Wednesday post depending on wifi availability Rothenburg!
So, we're having a bit of a weather resurgence in GOC, temperatures were back in the high 20's earlier today, which has made the last couple of rides quite pleasant and has eased the arthritic pain in my less good leg that just a few degrees cooler was complaining!
So, here we are, almost at the end of August and I must admit that the heat has been on a couple of times the last week - not so much against the cold but to make sure its working before it does get cold.
Further to yesterday's missive i've had a busy time today. I spent the morning getting the meds I forgot i needed to collect on Saturday before shopping for some new bib shorts and other bits I need before I go to Austria in a fortnight.
Back home a lot lighter of purse I got down to the writing I should have done Saturday. It went okay, I got the chapter finished mid evening which gave me enough time to put together and format the second arc ready for Wednesday publication.
Well everyone that attended seems to have arrived home in one piece. It might have been a little bijou in the numbers and the format was a little mucked about by the weather or as it turns out, non weather but first reports are all positive.
We had a nice meal on Friday evening, a chance to renew acquaintances and catch up on things in each others worlds.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
