Tag Archives: #AilsaAbraham

…when yeez wonder if the ‘glass is half-empty, or half-full’… m’Lady, Authoress Ailsa Abraham will prob’ly tell yeez, ‘yer glass is just too feckin’ big!’… this ol’ Jurassic has an instant affinity for those ‘Speshhull People’ who confound the universe when it contrives to pelt yeez with disaster, calamity, or just downright p*ssing bad luck, by raising the inverted Churchillian two-fingered salute to it, and grinning all the way… such is my pal, the Lady Acrobat On-And-Sometimes-Off-Up-And-Over-Yer-Motorbike… let her bring a smile to yer face by reading her offering here in today’s Guest Post piece:

AILSA ABRAHAM

Anus Horribilus

No, that is not a mis-spelling, for me it has been an “erse” of a year.

When some bones were removed from my foot, I was only worried about recovering within the promised six weeks. I hadn’t anticipated my beloved GP, in a fit of enthusiasm, tweaking and re-breaking it. Nice one, Doc and no, “Ooops!” doesn’t cover it. Six months later I was still on crutches and in a pirate boot.

Leaving out normal day-to-day frustrations, I then did a marvellously athletic “dismount” from my motorbike (double somersault with pike) which landed me in a coma for a couple of weeks. I could cope with the injuries but being tied to the bed (and not in an exciting way) was an indignity too far. As I said at the time, who knows what a spleen does, or would miss it anyhow?

Getting as far as mid-November, I thought I was going to get away with it. I was wrong. We visited the local cop-shop to give a statement about the incident where a group of  young traveller women offered us violence in a supermarket car-park. According to CCTV, we were technically in the wrong so our fingerprints, DNA and mug-shots were taken.

Great! Now a criminal, too!

The one saving grace is that I had already decided that, my two series finished, I was going to start writing my comical memoirs. Nearly a quarter of a century in France was surely enough for at least one volume.

The fixed grin is there because, whatever happens, I can say to myself “Just more material, kiddo, more for the next series.” Yes, it has all been noted, watch out for Volume One in 2015.

Thanks so much for inviting me over, Seumas, always a pleasure to come visiting.

BIO –

Ailsa Abraham retired early from a string of jobs, ending up with teaching English to adults. She has lived in France since 1990 and is married with no children but six grandchildren. She copes with Bipolar Condition, a twisted spine and increasing deafness with her usual wry humour – “well if I didn’t have all those, I’d have to work for a living, instead of writing, which is much more fun.” Her ambition in life is to keep breathing and possibly move back to the UK. She has no intention of stopping writing.

WORK As Ailsa Abraham :

Alchemy and Shaman’s Drum published by Crooked Cat Publishing

http://www.crookedcatbooks.com/index.php?route=product/manufacturer/product&manufacturer_id=32

Four Go Mad in Catalonia – self-published, available from Smashwords

Twitter – @ailsaabraham

Facebook – Ailsa Abraham

Amazon Author Page

Web page

As Cameron Lawton

…well, Lads and Lassies of Blog Land, it’s always a joy to have repeat visitors, and yeez can understand why Ailsa Abraham’s seat in my writing den is always ready for her! … see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!…

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE/RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH—BE MY GUEST!

…there’s sum’thing compellingly attractive about a Literary Lady of *cough* *a-hem* vintage who attempts manoeuvres a la Cirque de Soleil… on a motorbike!… triple somersaults from two-wheeled transport at speed without a safety net tends to cause, at a minimum, a slight dent in one’s personal immediate diary schedule… m’Lady Ailsa Abraham visited her local hospital in France where she currently resides, but without an appointment, and, more to the point, without her conscious awareness… it appears, pro tem, that a mild slowing-down of m’Lady’s activities has taken place as a direct consequence of her imitation of the Human Cannonball stunts… I for one, would not bet a single sou against m’Lady’s enforced leisure being reversed in early course… be that as it may, I’m honoured to have Author, Ailsa Abraham pen a few bon mots for our quill-scraping perusal… enjoy…

AILSA ABRAHAM

My serials’ killers.

Many thanks to my dear friend Seumas for inviting me to scribble a little something for the blog. Obviously I turned for my inspiration to his latest publication   Self-Publishing Steps To Successful Sales.

At the moment I’m not self-published but don’t take that as cast in stone. The sales problem faces all of us. One of the vital things is productivity. Now I sound like I’m equating the author with a story-factory. Well, yes, in a way we have to be. If readers like our stuff, they will want more and if none is available they will go elsewhere. Rather like your local store not stocking your favourite brand any more.

So one of the most glaring answers is “I know! I’ll write a serial.”

There are advantages to this. Mostly they will fit into a convenient niche or genre and some time is saved by establishing the basics in the first novel. Main characters, locations, jobs will be familiar to the readers by Book Two. Apart from development, there is nothing to do but tell the story. That is what we are supposed to be good at.

Great – let me at it.

Except that “being organized” is vital. Having enough time and a tidy mind help enormously. Oops! I screwed up on that by writing Book Two first. I didn’t mean it to happen but readers clamoured for more and wanted the back-story, so Book One got written pretty quickly. Yay! Characters were popular with readers, they wanted more, so all that remained was to keep up my sales of the existing books while writing Book Three. Previously I had started with a real quick-read and had to produce a full-length in double-fast time, so another Book Three was needed in another series!

This is where Fate stepped in and shoved a few sticks in my wheels. In the last year I have managed to be severely injured twice and an operation which I was assured would put me out of action for six weeks, ended up being six months.

If I had been writing stand-alone books, I could perhaps have completed one but noooooooooooooooo. I was writing two series because that was the accepted wisdom. That meant that I needed to link back to the previous stories, remember my characters’ particularities and generally make it gel. Having had a stroke this proved awkward.

Both Book Threes are now back in production and I have had many ideas of other, stand-alone books which will be my next WIPs when I get through.

***

Ailsa Abraham is published by Crooked Cat Publishing under her own name and as Cameron Lawton (who masquerades as her twin brother) by MLRPress. You can find her books on Amazon 

She has lived in France since 1990 and retired from teaching English to adults due to ill health.  An animal-rights activist and shaman, she enjoys knitting, cooking and until recently motorcycles.

Her web page is here and she can be found on FB and Twitter too. Please get in touch, she loves chatting and has a group on FB – Ailsa and Friends.

…many thanks for these wisdoms of pearl, Ailsa… up and at ‘em, m’girl!… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!…

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE/RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH—BE MY GUEST!