Happy 2013

Instead of a raft of resolutions, just choose one habit to change in 2013. If you're giving up something you really love (tobacco, alcohol or caffeine, for example) then you will probably lack focus for anything else. If you're determining to be kinder or more compassionate, or less confrontational, or a better listener, that will be just as difficult as giving up a chemical. Hour by hour, day by day, inhale, exhale, that's the way.

Or, if you're determined to have more than one resolution, then leave the second one until February, and the third one till March. Have some compassion for your mortal frame, as the good book says. And always start with the end in mind. You might not reach it, but you won't be aimless.

Peace and fire!

Hello Smashwords!

I've just published My Mother is an Old Elephant on the Smashwords platform, which I came across recently. I have to say that this has been the simplest and most straightforward route to publishing that I have come across. An intermediate knowledge of MS Word is really all that's required. The instructions are comprehensive and clear and the book arrived first time.

And in a couple of weeks it will become available for iPhone/iPad via the Apple iBookstore, the Nook, Kobo and Sony e-readers, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, and others, and will emerge eventually on Barnes & Noble, the Diesel eBook Store, Baker & Taylor, and some other outlets I hadn't heard of before, including some who service Android platforms.

You can even get it in good ole PDF, RTF and plain text formats if you prefer.

So here it is! Merry Christmas!