Tuesday 3 May 2011

Coming Out on Kindle and Other Stuff





So - after months of procrastinating and faffing and declaring that I'm far too much of a techno-idiot to cope with anything electronic and that books are books with paper pages you can turn and feel and smell and not soulless words-on-a-screen, I've joined the 21st century!

I've gathered together two short-ish volumes of short-ish short stories and published them on Amazon Kindle with the help of lovely Aimee Fry from The Author Works who did the covers, and I'm chuffed to bits with them!

Bucolic Frolics - a collection of rural romps - is available on ASIN:B004UH7V5Q
and
Happy Ever After - a selection of short rom-coms - is on ASIN:B004UGPVH2

It took me ages and ages to work out how to do it (even though the Kindle instructions are wonderfully simple, but then so am I...) then I had a eureka moment when it all fell into place - and I was SO proud of myself when I did it! I wasn't sure about pricing, so just went for the cheapest option, and I'm now going to have a go at *Kindling* a couple of my earlier out of print books and some more short stories - so you have been warned!

The absence from the blog and the plunge into *Kindling* do have a common thread - I've been a bit ill - again. I had post-herpetic-neuralgia - the after-effects of the last lot of shingles when the skin from my neck to my waist felt like someone was constantly pouring acid over it, and the nerve endings in my spine and ribs became inflamed in sympathy and HURT non-stop - and believe me you DO NOT want it. Never, ever... As I spent most of April high as a kite on mega-death-strength prescription pain killers and was unable to sit or lay down or wear any clothes from the waist up (not an attractive sight - and no, I didn't go outside) and slept (ho-ho-ho!) fitfully by standing up and draping myself over a dining room chair, the only thing I could do to take my mind off the crappy stuff was to spend the enforced waking hours by messing around with Kindle. So I did...

It hasn't been all bad though. Last weekend, because I was feeling better, we all went to Jersey for Easter. We being me and The Toyboy Trucker and Elle and The Doctor. And a jolly bunch we were too. Well, TTT and The Doctor were fine, but I was still zonked on medication and hurt quite a bit, and Elle hasn't had the best of pregnancies so far - so the girlie half of the party waddled and limped and grizzled - but we also sat in the glorious scorching sun by the sea and people-watched and ate loads (sadly neither of us are allowed alcohol so it was slightly less lively than it might have been) AND we met up with Debs and her lovely husband and the fabulous Grumpy for lunch AND huge milkshakes - which was brilliant. Thanks Debs - we LOVED it!

And now post-Royal Wedding (I thought it was fabulous.... sigh...) and all those millions of bank holidays I'm going back to work... Which hopefully means that as well as *Kindling* I really will answer emails and catch up with FaceBook and maybe even crack on with Only Make Believe. Of course the garden looks like a jungle and the house is akin to a midden - but they can wait - can't they????

10 comments:

Groovy Pumpkin said...

Hi Christina, I'm so glad you've found out about adding those books to Kindle. I must say, I really enjoyed reading TWTAWH on my new Kindle.

Glad you're feeling a little better too!

Take care, Jane :D

Christina Jones said...

Jane - thank you! I haven't got grown up enough to actually own a Kindle - but I can feel myself being tempted now. I'm miles better now, thanks - will be so happy when all this virus stuff has gone... Cx

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

It was wonderful catching up with you again too.

I'm now off to download your two books to my Kindle, I can't wait to read them.

Writer Pat Newcombe said...

Best of luck with the books - just got a kindle myself so will read them when I can get through the rest of the stuff I went mad buying!!
Love the blog and I intend to follow you blindly!

Kath McGurl said...

Sorry to hear you've been so ill. Sounds very nasty - hope you get completely well soon. Good luck with the Kindling.

Christina Jones said...

Debs - thank you so much - I hope you enjoy the kindles - and again, it was brilliant meeting up with you and the gang - but it seems like a lifetime ago now - sigh.... Cx

Christina Jones said...

Pat! Wow! Thank you!!! Not just for downloading the kindle books but for bothering with my Bad Blogging!!!! I promise I'll be better in future - I will, I will.... Cx

Christina Jones said...

Womag - thank you so much on all counts. One day I'll shake off all this rubbish Epstein Barr related stuff and be healthy - yes, I will!!! Cx

Lesley Cookman said...

Chris, I didn't realise! So, so sorry.

And guess what! I've got a romance out! Xcite are trialling a romance imprint and one of my old ones (very dated, but still) is a guinea pig. Two actually, the second comes out at the end of the month.

Aimee's brilliant, isn't she? I shall download yours on to my Kindle. (kids gave it to me for Christmas and it was brill on hols.)

Lots of love Lesley

Christina Jones said...

Lesley - please don't apologise! Kindling was a huge leap in the dark for me! Congrats on yours - can't return the favour as am still Kindle-less - may hint for birthday/Christmas... Cx