Apologies and News

As you can see, I haven’t been keeping up my usual blogging programme. In November I took part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to write the first draft of the next Kestrel novel. Lots of things fell by the wayside in order to get that done, so December was spent catching up.

On top of that my husband and I, who are both disabled, both had health issues (which are still going on). There were some family issues to deal with too, not all bad: our daughter had her third son in November and now has three children under four. We try to help out where we can. She lives less than half an hour away and we have the two older boys on separate afternoons each week. They are a delight but very tiring, as you can imagine.

So rather than scrape up any old blog post I waited until I could write something worthwhile. It’s taken longer than I expected, as I had end-of-year and New Year stuff to do, but here I am. For my history fans I am writing a series on the construction of a castle, and for my science fiction fans I will be continuing with the series about my science research.

There will also be news of my books:

• There is now a permafree history book The Conquest of Wales, which is free on all retailers including Amazon.
• I am planning some research on possible topics for my next history book.
• I am going to see if Kindle Print will produce my print history books, which will greatly simplify sales, but as the books don’t have a spine it may not be possible.
• My latest science fiction novel (produced in NaNoWriMo) is with two readers who are going to critique it and think about how to expand it to novel length, as the first draft is too short.

• I’m still working on short stories about the back story of some of the Kestrel crew. There are three at the moment but only one is available: Stowaway is permafree on all retailers.
• I’ve signed up for a marketing course which I also have to find time for. Time to study and time to implement what I learn.
• And I haven’t done anything with my poetry for ages.

So as you can see, I’m going to be busy. I hope you will stay with me, enjoy my blog posts, and watch out for news. You can even sign up for my mailing list and get free books and advance news.

Ann Marie Thomas is the author of four medieval history books, a surprisingly cheerful poetry collection about her 2010 stroke, and the science fiction series Flight of the Kestrel. Book one, Intruders, and book two Alien Secrets, are out now. Follow her at http://eepurl.com/bbOsyz