Reasons to be cheerful ...

I didn't mean to spread doom and gloom with that last post!

Of course the state of publishing is dire. I posted about it here last year too so it's not like it was news to me.
But to be honest I'm not prepared to waste any more energy moaning about it and feeling negative.

Let me explain how the situation has affected me personally.

Back in September 2004, before we signed on the dotted line, my agent wrote the following to me:

In the long run I do believe the books about the Nirvanans will be a great success but there are some really formidable obstacles to overcome ..... Let me say again that I think you're a very impressive writer and you're doing something different - indeed, you've made a much bigger impression on me than practically all the new writing I've read over the last couple of years.

He was right to warn me about those formidable obstacles.

He now has both De Nada Nirvana and Me, John and a Bomb to sell.
And he's looking forward to receiving The Gene Pool.

So far, so brick wall ...

But ...

... today the sun was shining.
And the birds were singing.
And I could hear them!

I took the current ms I'm working on for the The Writers' Workshop to the park.

So there I was - sitting on a bench in the sunshine - being paid to sit in the park and read!

I earned this. My first 3.5 books were written while I was working - in 2 jobs - and had small children.

I won't do that now.

There is a price to pay - we are very poor by most people's standards -
- but sometimes I think I must be the luckiest woman in the world!