Stress, Depression, Early Retirement and Conquering Mail Chimp

   Well, it's been about six weeks or so since my last blog. I thought I might make an effort this year, and it was going quite well; I even had a go at the A to Z challenge. But it's all fizzled out again, I'm afraid.
  It's tricky, really. I can't write about work, as a lot of it is confidential. I can't write about my hobbies, as, even if I could remember what they are, I haven't the time for them. The P&J hasn't asked to go into deepest South Wales to do a bike ride, so we haven't been exploring, and except for the cat's thyroid gland ( she's completely recovered, by the way), the pets haven't been able to contribute anything, either.
 So, I sit here, wondering what to write about, and who it might interest. Shall I write about the allotment? No, we've given back the keys for that and are going to convert part of the back yard into a kitchen garden. Shall I write about the kitchen garden, then? Er, no, the weather has been too poor to start that, and it's not likely to get going until the spring. Ditto the greenhouse. If you're lucky, though, you might get exciting news about the seedlings growing on my widow sills, from January onwards.
 What about the OH or the P&J? Hmm. Do you want to hear about stress, depression and early retirement? No? I don't blame you. 2017 is certainly going to be an interesting year.
  The P&J is pottering on happily, still going off on ridiculously long bike rides in ridiculous weather. He's got a judo grading next week, two days of it, the poor soul. He's told me to come on the Sunday, as it's "more fun." He's working on his junior black belt. If he achieves his stripes this weekend, he'll only have the teaching and mentoring one to get, and so, with luck, might squeeze in the junior black belt before he hits eighteen.
  The self publishing isn't really any further forward; Barry is still being edited,

but I am quietly confident it will be out by Christmas, or possibly the end of November. However, despite some nice reviews, the sales of my other books are pathetic- yet still sufficient to warrant me having to complete a self assessment tax return. Apparently HMRC owe me £7.00.
  I have fallen in with this chap- nick@yourfirst10kreaders.com (Nick Stephenson), who has given me some sound and, importantly, free advice on how to improve matters, and it is partly his fault that I've been otherwise engaged. I have also started revising and re-editing all my current books, with a view to getting some of them into paperback.
  Several "gurus" I have contact with have stressed the importance of a healthy mail list to build my following and potential readership. I had a half-arsed go at it last year, but, again, couldn't give it the time it deserved, and so had nil subscribers after nearly a year. But after listening to Nick's advice, I spent last weekend on a maths and mark making course, and- getting to grips with
MailChimp. Oh, the wailing. Oh, the gnashing of teeth. But I nailed it. And would you believe it? I discovered I had acquired a subscriber, and I sent them my newly created Welcome email. So what if they'd been there since June. They had signed up and they were getting the email, whether they liked it or not.
  So, I'm up and I'm ready, and my next project is to write a half-decent short story, or one of my epic length daft poems, to send as a free gift in return for email addresses, and find out how to get the gift to them when they click that send button. And, of course, there's the publication of Barry. If I can get some impetus on the email addresses before that comes out, my next tax return might be worth the doing. So, if you'd like to help me on this journey, and encourage me to develop my IT skills, why don't you just... click on the button- that lovely big button up there, and down there as well. Go on. Sign up for emails. and I promise I won't flood your inbox.
  And that, my friends, is that. Off to bed with me. The next time you hear from me, it will probably be Christmas. Baah! Humbug!