Forgive me, dear readers, for I am a lapsed blogger

Forgive me, dear readers, for I am a lapsed blogger: it’s been three months since my last update.

I could write several paragraphs giving a very detailed description of my life during the last three months, but suffice to say that “Real life got in the way.” Unfortunately for those of us with dreams, life has a rather nasty and persistent habit of getting in the way. To quote John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” and that’s certainly been the case for me.

I’ve recently had to accept that I don’t have enough time or energy to do everything that I’d like to do, and certain activities must take precedence. As well as family commitments and an ever-dwindling social life, I have a very demanding full-time job, I contribute to several online profiles (Twitter, Facebook, blogs) and I’ve committed myself to an Open University degree, which takes up a large chunk of my spare time. The online profiles include those of Johanna Nield, but my updates have been infrequent at best during the last few months.

I’ve known for some time that I needed to let something go, and to that end I’ve finally made a decision about my quest to establish myself as a recognised author. I’ve written three novels (four, if you include the one that’s been sitting in a folder for nearly 30 years), and I’ve loved every moment of the creative process involved. I’m very proud of my work, and I’m very grateful for the support and encouragement I’ve received from family, friends and readers. However, because I don’t have enough time now to research all the literary agents and publishers based in the UK, I will no longer be submitting queries for representation and/or publication. I’d love nothing more than to see my books published by a nationally recognised publishing house, but that dream will have to go back on hold.

I will continue to maintain my online presence via Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and my blog. I’ve also recently been accepted as a featured author on Eto Magazine, “a bi-annual anthology of short fiction by authors from Wales or in the Welsh diaspora around the world”. Strictly speaking, I haven’t written any short fiction, but there are always a few projects on the back burner 😉

The first and second books in the ‘New Beginnings’ series have been independently published, and they’re on sale via Lulu, Amazon, and most online retailers. They’re also available in some High Street book stores, but I believe they have to be pre-ordered. Book three has just undergone its final edit and is now being prepared for publication, again via the independent route.

I know that I’ll never make the best-seller list – I won’t even be able to give up the day job! – but I am an author: I have two published novels available worldwide, and a third in the pipeline. I simply struggle sometimes with the notion that my work is outside the “Big Six” publishing houses and therefore is unlikely to make even the most miniscule beep on the book market’s radar.

Despite that, though, I’ll be very happy knowing that my trilogy is out there, and that (hopefully) people will enjoy getting to know Tasha and Jamie.

Will you?