This afternoon, the heady sum of 44 pence (of our fine English Pound) landed in our PayPal account courtesy of Lulu. Not Lulu, the wee Scottish redhead singer of ‘SHOUT!’ fame (sssshhhhhh....Mrs Blackbird is still nesting. And Mrs Swallow) but Lulu, the self-publishing company we used several years ago in order to publish this...
...and this...
...and this...
We used Lulu because the traditional publishing houses refused to acknowledge either my writing talents or Andy’s illustration talents, so we thought, ‘Sod it - we shall do it ourselves.’ Also, they made for quite cheap Christmas presents. Our family and friends are VERY tolerant of our literary narcissism.
Anyway, ‘Nearly King Jimbo’ initially earned £2 something or other, for which we received a cheque which I kept for posterity. And then nothing more forth-came; thus our careers as royalty earning writers came to a juddering halt from the crazy snail-like speed it built up to, and maintained for oh, a month or so?
But now we have earned another 44p! Which means someone, somewhere, has purchased one of these tomes! They have actually spent money! God Bless You, whoever you are!
Of course, this has reminded me that I have ‘Night Owls’ ready and waiting to be Lulu-ed. I’ve been a bit ‘whatever’ with writing this last month, which is naughty because I Am A Writer, but I’ve gone adrift because the garden and my paid job have kept me otherwise occupied. It’s not like I’ve been wasting time staring into space and bemoaning the terrible TV on offer these days, yet watching it anyway. I don’t know - perhaps I’ve needed a writing break and now the Universe is saying, ‘Righty ho, young lady mi lass, time to don your Writer hat once more. Here’s 44p to get you started.’
I suspect the Universe is stuck in the 1800s, because if She was a 21st century gal She might have taken into account the cost of living and adjusted the sum accordingly with inflation. You can’t even buy a second class stamp with 44p these days. But hey! It’s the symbolic gesture that matters, isn’t it? A little nudge to remind me to keep on writing and don’t give up. Not just yet.
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