And the winners are...

The morning started off with a lesson from the law of attraction....

On Monday we went into a key-makers to get a copy of the car key made, just in case I should ever lose it -strange as it's never worried me before. After having made the key the keysmith found out he didn't have the right 'chi' to activate the key, so no spare was purchased.

Today I was about to rush out and went to pick up my car key off the hook - it wasn't there - "but it's always there," I cried. Turning the house upside down ensued, trying to retrace my steps, wailing and gnashing of teeth accompanying all actions.  After at least half an hour of hell I found the key in Cuddy's toybox -how it got there is a mystery -but it was definitely a message from the universe - that what you consider will be delivered.

At midday the draw for 'The Magic of the Camino' prize book draw took place -All the names were put in a hat (all 98 of them) and I drew two for the prizes:

And the winners are: Heidi Kirchhof and Nick Brennan. Both have been sent messages. Nick, already having the book has chosen to get some 'Camino goodies'. As yet I've not heard back from Heidi.

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And today's photo challenge: Together

I had so many ideas for this one, but finally settled on this photo taken by Nick a couple of years back. It's one of my favourites of the two of us:

Promo....

HouseofTulStig
I've spent most of the afternoon working on a webpage for House Of TulStig. Happy with it so far, but adding techno gadgets to make it the best ever.  Honestly this is just the front page and just the start:

 Any comments / all comments muchly welcomed. 

Winner.
Tweeting during XFactor like a mad thing. Either going to get noticed or annoy everyone big time -but hey that's getting noticed too. If it helps sell even just one more book it's well worth it. Here's a selection:

Nick Brennan ‏@NickTB

See what REALLY goes on behind the scenes of #Xfactor #TheXFactor http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/HouseofTulstig

 Mark Tullett ‏@TulStigM33

#TheXFactor - Joey sang for his Nana and look where that got him - #Winner - This summer's must read - http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/HouseofTulstig

Nick Brennan ‏@NickTB

“@TulStigM33: #TheXFactor - Bounce would probably go just one better - #Winner - The incredible novel by MT - http://www.lulu.com/spotlight

 

The Key
Having had some great feedback for the first chapter of the book from selected readersI am very happy. One 'reviewer' read it to her young son at bedtime, and he loved it and wants more... so I'd best get writing. 

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and so to today's photo challenge - AT NIGHT: 

A view from our double doors - Vinci in the garden...

General Updates...

This morning Tony was at the dentist for an update on his teeth (or lack of). He now has to wait until next week to get a temporary set fitted ready for our holiday next weekend.

After Tony's appointment and a bit of shopping I had a lunchtime drink with some of my chums from work, and even surprised Sue by holding Lilly and calming her down. It is well known I don't do babies!

This afternoon after a much needed siesta a little bit of writing.

So here are the updates for my works in progress and the published ones.

HouseofTulStig Webpage
I now have the domain and have been playing around with building a website. I have to admit to having got a bit stuck. Not quite sure what I want it to look like, and want it to be right before I go live with it. This is possibly a project for after our hols ... any suggestions, helpful hints etc all welcomed...


The Magic of the Camino
I'm still promoting the book through Facebook. The school I work for has included a link on their page, and now I've well over a hundred 'likes' of the MOTC page. Next week there is a draw for two free copies of the book which has helped the promo no end.
The translation to Spanish is going well. Victoria is currently translating chapter 29. I'm hoping for a Christmas publishing date.

Winner
Sales are stalled at the moment, and I have to admit I've not down a lot of promotion, but intend to start a big push this weekend during 'The X-Factor' as suggested by Nick. It will be a twitter bonanza. If you're on twitter I'd love for you to join in and help with the push. Watch out for hashtags: #JoeyFischer #Winner #PopSensation all attached to the hashtag of the programme. I fyou are willing and able I'd be so pleased if you could use any of these hashtags creatively, and/or just retweet what I'll be putting out. 
Watch out for a Facebook innovation too.... 

Michael is still busy translating this one into German. Publication date probably in the new year.

Take Two
Still waiting on the proof copy to arrive in the post. Once it's here I'll be checking it thoroughly, revising what's necessary and setting up for sale. Then I'll be popping out  the promos for that too. 

The Key
Chapter Two is under way - And part of the secret is revealled as Aaron steps up at lunchtime at Nana's. Who knows where this story will take me, but I do have a good feeling about it. 

So I guess that just about is a round up of my writing projects. One thing  I do know is that there will be a blog-like page on the new website which will have all these updates. 

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And so on to today's photo challenge. The prompt is 'Every Day' 

Birthdays, English and doubles

First of all I must give a big shout out to sister in law Janey a it's her birthday today.

Happy Birthday Old Thing.

And here's a pic of the Game bird with another game bird - daughter Amy.

I may not have mentioned this before but I really do love my job, particularity when it challenges my knowledge of my language. Most of my lasses are advanced classes which test me from time to time, as well as a couple of intermediate classes and a proficiency class (high level) which regularly makes em think. Today I've also had parent-meetings, which I don't enjoy as much, but at least they're over for another year.

BTW -how good is your English? How many of you can complete the following within 12minutes (approx time allowed at exam level) You may need to enlarge the piece to read it. (you can do this by right clicking it and saving it to your pc then printing or enlarging the image)

Walking down the Rambla after school this afternoon I was checking out a young man coming my way and was surprised at his likeness to Nick. He was such a doppelgänger that I almost went over and hugged him. The features were so similar right down to the tattoos. It really was one of those surreal- is it- isn't it moments. Texting Nick the details of the encounter afterwards has given us both a few giggles!

The 'real' Nick: