Bryan Islip's Blog, page 61

Getting going with Gabriel

Yesterday the Market in Gairloch Community Hall was the venue for the first 'official' exposure of Going with Gabriel. I signed and sold a few copies. Very few, but I calculated that if the session had been exposed to the whole population of the UK instead of the thousand or so of Gairloch my novel would aleady be a number one UK best seller! Great. It continues to receive high ratings on the Goodreads site but now I have to begin marketing the thing in earnest.

Publicity, think I; but how to ...

Pictures of home

All those yesterdays

So this is my latest pastel painting, begun early December and finished yesterday! (In all fairness our holiday and our house removal did get in the way a bit.) It is entitled, 'Badachro Bay' and will feature in this year's Pictures and Poems catalogue and next year's calendar.

To reach this viewpoint you drive the mostly single track along the south side of Gairloch. Just before you reach the village of Badachro you see a river bridge and sharp bend. Park there and walk the rough track down t...

All our good days

It feels like Spring today. Bright sun on mirror loch, temperature high enough to make fun of my gloves and heavy coat, visibility thirty miles. Wonderful. Literally. That reminds me; in spite of all those sub-zero days and nights and all that ice and snow, nobody here can remember such a long spell of no-wind / low-wind weather.

Continuing my efforts to promote Going with Gabriel. Publication date 11 February draws near and then there's the inaugural signing session at Gairloch Community Cent...

Catching up

Well, the dust has settled and the ice has melted (at least for now) and we're safely back on line in our new abode. Time to take stock, regroup.

In a couple of months'time looms our first craft market. We've decided what we'll be offering. Summarised: a 2011 calendar; 24 selected pastels and poems in the form of both our square 'luxury' cards and mini-cards and postcards and the medium size print (all 34 will be on offer on-line, and made to special order.) Plus the 12 wildlife bookmarks and ...

Bad luck, good luck

'January 8th', I pronounced, 'That's going to be our house removal day.' Little did I know that sub zero temperatures would set in on 17th December and last right through until mid January.

Problems galore and a whole more acute after I slipped over (I know, like name like nature) and injured my back. Agony, agony; lying flat at the top of our driveway with snowflakes falling into my eyes, Delia rushed back to comfort the husband she probably thought was close to something really ... 'Bryan, d...

Goodreading

If you're into books you really should not miss the Goodreads website. This has developed into a massively important rendezvous for readers of novels.

There is a section on Goodreads in which authors of soon to be published or recently published novels can offer copies of their work for free - as a way of spreading the word / perhaps even igniting the legendary viral burn. On 1st January I placed an offer of twenty 'review copies' of my Going with Gabriel on the site. The offer finishes 15th J...

Catching up

Last entry 10th December. Just a few things since then ... headlines only!
*Train from Inverness to Cambridge for family get together and tour down memory lane (I lived there 1956-59 - town not gown!)We so enjoyed this. Cambridge really is some city.
*Train from Cambridge to Kings Lynn for another family pre-Christmas get together. Walked the wide open beach in North Norfolk. Great.
*Kings Lynn to York for one more all our yesterdays with old friends. Walked the four miles of York's ancient wall...

Too many? Of course.

Last night, enthralled, I watched Horizon on BBC TV as highly respected Sir David Attenborough skated over the thin ice overlying the massively important question; "How many of us can our planet support?" I'm not sure the question was answered in any other way than 'too many', but at least it exposed facts that have for long enough been pretty well taboo.

Given that there are indeed, or soon enough will be too many of us I do not think the way to stabilise, much less reduce human population is...

Fighting for what?

Yesterday on our walk we spotted an eagle being harassed by our resident buzzard. The day before that we'd seen the buzzard under attack by a pair of hooded crows. A much fairer contest and a brilliant display of aerobatics.

This morning another avian battle took place on our bird table. This time the ring doves were at it. There must have been a dozen of them all trying to reach the richest feeding grounds on the table itself but of course there wasn't room for everyone. I watched, fascinated...