A quick catch up that needs a few more words than my usual brief notes on the SOTA page. The first reports from my FABs (beta readers) are coming back on Code Yellow in Gretna Green. One aspect universally agreed upon at this stage is that, apart from some specific scenes that could use a little tightening, the book is not too long. The FABs used phrases like “don’t you dare cut it.” Looks like I’ll be publishing a 1000-page monster next year.
I don’t have the final cover yet – but my cover designer will be working on it next month.
I’m still sneaking words into book 6, Market Forces, but mostly I just want to get Yellow off my plate first.
This month and next I’m doing the final revisions on Yellow. The problem, of course, is that whereas the usual revisions for a normal length book of perhaps 275 pages and 60-75,000 words would take about 2-3 weeks. This is the equivalent of three and a bit ‘normal’ books. So it’s going to be a looooonger job. I’m hoping to have it done by Christmas, then it can go to my editor early in 2024.
She will also need three times as long to edit it. So at this stage all I know is you’ll have it in the first half of next year. There’s still no pre-order, but there will be once I have a clear date.
Comfort Food Abounds
My brain hurts. Cooking always helps. As many of you know, I lived in Antwerp, Belgium for several years, so I’m making Stoofvlees. It’s one of my ultimate comfort foods. I’m using an old Flemish recipe for beef stew. Many years ago, an elderly Flemish lady hilariously showed me how to make it using mostly mime and example. Hilariously, because at that point I didn’t speak Flemish and her English was limited to “more coffee?”
Cooking truly is the universal language.
I also have a lentil and bacon soup in the slow cooker. If my editing headache gets any worse, I’ll be making sourdough bread to go along with that soup. Sometimes it’s great to be permitted to punch something and dough works.
Here’s a recipe for Stoofvlees or search the web – but don’t accept any recipe that doesn’t include:
Good dark beer (Guinness works well if you’re stuck). I try to avoid anything too ‘posh’ as it can make the gravy bitter even after long cooking. A good drinkable table beer is ideal. If you’re in the UK, Newcastle Brown is always perfect.
The recipe also needs to include chocolate and some kind of bread for the topping.
I often use slices of slightly stale baguettes. Just as you would with French Onion soup. Spread the slices with a little mustard, put them mustard-side down onto the top of the stew and sprinkle some cheese on them. I’d take you all a photo of mine when it’s finished, but my food photos always look as though the dog threw up 🤮
Stoofvlees is the perfect November food, especially when accompanied by another Flemish staple Hutsepot. There’s a great recipe for that here.
A wise Belgian cook would make the hutsepot to serve with the stoofvlees, and then add some meaty sausages (we like Cumberland) to the rest of the vegetable casserole for the next evening’s dinner.
Smakelijk!
(Tasty, Bon appétit, enjoy your meal)
And the happiness?
Oh, that’s the best bit. There were several weeks in September and October when I had two books on the top 500 of Amazon’s sales chart. That’s the worldwide sales charts! The UK was even higher at several points.
I also had 5 books in the top 3000.
Which might not sound impressive if you’re comparing it to Terry Pratchett, Paulo Coelho, or Harry Potter. But when you consider there are currently over 30 million titles available on Amazon, then having Seeing Red and House Party in Gretna Green both in the top 500 excited the hell out of me! My readers are the best. Thanks everyone.
Seeing Red in Gretna Green hit the number one best seller spot and top new release in all its categories, bar one. There the re-release of Paulo Coelho’s classic fable, The Alchemist, kept it at number two.
But coming second to Paulo feels pretty cool.
That’s it. I need to get back to work or you’ll all be sending a pitchfork-bearing mob to my door to ‘encourage’ me to get on with yellow. Until next time, have a fun autumn and may your dogs not find the shit hidden under those wonderful fall leaves as mine did. 🦨
Ooh, that looks delicious; all of it. And I absolutely agree about dough being an excellent stress reliever – plus, you get lovely bread at the end of it. Hope yours is as rewarding as your books are to read 😀