Feb 12, 2024
At the start of the year, I made a plan to read 75 books in 2024. It started off very well, but lately I’ve been struggling a bit and I had to sit down and think about whether this was really something I could do, or, more precisely, whether I should do it.
Here’s the thing: I love to read, but I am starting up a business and that takes a lot of time. When I sat down and worked it out, reading 75 books a year would take about an hour and a half of reading every day. Longer, if I wanted to listen to audiobooks as part of that. That’s around 10% of my total waking time spent reading, more if you take out the essential things that I have to do every day, whether or not I want to. Then it’s more like 70% of the time I have on any given day.
I’m not quite ready to give up on the goal, but it’s looking less doable now, because some of the time I have remaining after doing all the things I need to do each day might be better spent on things that could directly benefit my business, like writing a blog post, and fixing up my website.
75 books in a year was always an ambitious target for me. Currently, I am on track to read more like 52 books, which is still a book a week and much better than I managed in the last few years.
Feb 8, 2024
My latest book, The Long Winter, is available now on Kindle (Unlimited) and as a paperback.
Amazon US | Amazon UK
In the heart of a relentless winter, where the snow never ceases to fall and the cold grips the soul, lies a story of survival, hope, and unexpected guardianship. The Long Winter unveils a world transformed by an apocalyptic freeze, a world where humanity is tested to its limits.
Nick, a solitary figure hardened by the icy wasteland, has learned to navigate this frozen world with resilience and quiet resolve. His life of isolation is upended when fate leads him to Lisa and Mark, two children left orphaned in the merciless wilderness. As their reluctant guardian, Nick finds himself drawn into a role he never sought but now cannot abandon.
Tranquility is short-lived. When the children vanish into the vast, white expanse, Nick is thrust into a harrowing journey across the snowbound wilderness. The search becomes more than a mission; it is a voyage of discovery and redemption, pushing him to confront his own demons and the haunting specters of a world lost to ice.
The Long Winter is a tale of survival, the power of human connection, and the resilience of the heart. In this bleak and beautiful wasteland, each step is a testament to the enduring human spirit, and every breath a defiance of the cold silence that seeks to smother hope.
Jan 23, 2024
My latest post-apocalyptic book The Long Winter is available to pre-order now.
As I mentioned yesterday, this is going to be an Amazon exclusive for at least the first 90 days. If you are on Kindle Unlimited then you can read the book as part of your monthly subscription. It is also available to buy on Kindle and as a paperback.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Jan 22, 2024
One of the advantages of having a lot of books for sale is that it’s possible to try out new things and see what works. Although I have had all my books available wide for a long time now, with the launch of The Long Winter, I have decided to test KDP Select.
I am not sure what I am hoping for from the experiment. The book is a standalone post-apocalyptic thriller and I don’t know how well those sell in the marketplace. It’s worth a try though as for the foreseeable future I am going to be releasing Galdorland books. Ideally I would like those to be wide releases, but if there is a significant boost from Kindle Unlimited, I may be tempted to put them up there for the first 90 days before releasing wide.
The Long Winter is going to be available for pre-order soon with the release of 5th February.
Jan 16, 2024
We follow the rules because we think they are going to keep us safe. Instead they turn us into good productive cogs in a machine which produces nothing of benefit to us.
There are rules beyond the law of the land. Social conventions put us in a similar position. We are expected to have social media accounts so we do it and our attention is taken away from us and sold to advertisers to the benefit of the companies that made the platform. We drive places because it is convenient and that makes us less fit and produces pollution that is destroying the world. There are many more.
Some things we can’t change, some things are genuinely a benefit that we wouldn’t want to change. But it doesn’t hurt to ask whether we are doing something because it helps, or if we are just following the rules.
