Cat Crises, Conference Blues, and the Battle of the Wills

I was out on my bike, miles from home, when I took the frantic call from Amanda.

She never calls when I'm riding unless it's an emergency, so I knew it was serious. An hour later we were racing to the vet's with our middle child cat, Amber. She couldn't put any weight on her back leg and was hobbling badly.

To put this into context, Amber has a chequered medical history — which is why we weren't taking any chances. When she was only a few months old, we almost lost her when she fell out of a tree and the force of the impact pushed all her internal organs through her diaphragm and into her chest cavity. A couple of years later, we were back at the vets when she impaled herself on a barbed wire fence.

So you see, she's already down a few of her cat lives.

This time, it was nothing more serious than a thorn embedded in her paw. Painful, but not life threatening. We all breathed a sigh of relief — and now I need to have a quiet word with her about her life choices.

The Good Bad Wife — Still at 99p/99c

Meanwhile, The Good Bad Wife is continuing to attract rave reviews and positive feedback. So I'm keeping it at 99p / 99c for a little while longer in the hope I can shoot it to the top of the charts.

If you've not picked up your copy yet — it's not too late. You can grab it on Amazon now.

Conference Blues

You'll have noticed this post is a day late this week — but I have a good excuse.

Amanda and I spent the middle of the week at Self Publishing Show Live — a conference for indie authors covering all things book marketing. It's a full-on two days, but we did catch up with some familiar faces, including Daniel Hurst, Maria Frankland and AJ Carter, among others.

I've returned home utterly spent. My social energy completely drained. Funny how I can spend days alone in the dark world of my thrillers, deep in the heads of some shady characters — but it's two days in a room with some of the loveliest people that finishes me off…

The Battle of the Wills — Update

I can't put this off any longer. You want an update on the Battle of the Wills, don't you? You want to know whether my book, The Good Bad Wife, has done better than Amanda's new thriller, The Greek Island.

I lost, okay?

I was thrashed. Pummelled. Decimated. Destroyed.

Amanda's book made it to No. 47 in the entire US Amazon store and around 1,000 in the UK. Meanwhile, The Good Bad Wife is stuck at around 800 in the UK store and about 5,000 in the US. Ho hum.

Congratulations, Amanda (he says through gritted teeth.)

But seriously, I'm thrilled for her. She works so hard, she deserves all the success that comes her way. And of course, when she's happy, I'm happy too. Makes for an enduring marriage.

Right, I'm off for a lie down.