Hi,

March, a month of early frost and daily sunshine, has fast slipped into May, and this week has been as mild as midsummer, until evening falls and the temperature plummets. Veg seeds have been planted in the polytunnel, but we are still harvesting leeks and purple sprouting from last year. It has been a long haul to get a barren field into a fertile growing area, but we are succeeding.

We are off in UK again visiting our mums. Mine will be 90. She began as a telephone operator in the 1950s, was then a librarian while I was in junior school, until a head teacher walked into the library one day and said he couldn't get a teacher for his reception class, would she like to have a go? Therein lay the start of a career she enjoyed until her retirement. My mother fostered my love of fiction, as you can imagine.

Robin's mum is 101... imagine that! A whole century. She worked for the war office, was a knitwear designer for Marks and Spencer, owned a health food shop in Bath, and has now been retired for nearly half her life!

Home Front Renovations

Finally, a bathroom!

Click the image to visit my website to see some of the photo stories of our life here in Ireland, where we are renovating a 'wreck'.

Click the Storyboard tab for more stories.

Authorly News

I have started on my next book, a mainstream women's fiction set in Ireland. I wrote: Chapter One, and then managed to get a few pages done before we set off on the long drive to UK. But that's good. the opening lines are always the hardest to find.

I have finally finished the second book in the series: Suffer the Little Children, which is live on Amazon. This has been read by an amazingly dedicated Beta reader (thank you, Phil!), who pointed out several inconsistencies. It was then edited thoroughly by another wonderful subscriber, who came to me via this newsletter. (thank you LaDonna). It provides such a boost to my confidence to know that the book has been given a thrashing by discerning readers. It's a fact that the author never sees his or her own mistakes. A phenomenon called manuscript blindness. One sees what one expects to see, rather than what is actually there. and this did lead to some rather annoying mistakes getting into print with my first self-publishing attempts (since rectified!)

*** BOOKS FREE OR ON OFFER (mostly) ***

I don't have time to check every book that comes via a 'swap' promotion with another author, so, if you get a short story, a badly written book, or anything else that you find irritating, let the author know; don't shoot the messenger!

If you are new to my list, and are willing to post an online review of one of my books, email me and I will send you a link to the book of your choice.

I welcome feedback on my writing.

Happy Reading

www.chrislewando.com

You have probably received this newsletter because you have accepted one of my books from a promotion. I do hope you wish to continue to follow both my publishing journey, and my storyboards of life here in Ireland, but if not, there is an unsubscribe button below.