Fully Re-covered!

  

A bonus scene from the 'Director's Cut' of Limited Capabilty

[No spoilers - honest!]
Just in time for the 5th Friday and thus the 'big giveaway' of Limited Capability, I've finished replacing the 'art paper' covers for the ebook episodes with appropriate photos.  I've also taken the opportunity to fix some typos, though the major proofing exercise is still on hold pending the final reports from two of my triumvirate of proof-readers.

My original plan for Episode 13 (a pair of trendy trainers - that will make sense when you read it, if you haven't already) has been superceded by a details from a picture of a classic Victorian Town Hall.  It could be the home of the Solent Welfare Rights Project, as I pictured them working from a building of this era, but in fact this one is a long, long way from Hampshire.  It is Fenton Town Hall, here in the heart of the Potteries - Fenton being the sixth of what Arnold Bennett named the 'Five Towns' (and whose inhabitants have never quite forgiven him his oversight).  It's an appropriate choice despite that, though having promised there would be no spoilers I can't spell out why!

One thing the Project staff won't get to admire in their Town Hall is a First World War memorial with the grandeur of Fenton's.  An impressive tribute to almost 500 local men lost in that conflict and made from individually hand-painted Minton tiles, it is absolutely unique. 

Having been used as a Magistrates' Court since the Six Towns became one city, Fenton Town Hall is being sold by the Ministry of Justice and may very well pass out of public ownership.  Even if the building is safe (and many local campaigners are not convinced it is) public access to the memorial could be greatly diminished or lost.  The memorial certainly won't move to a safe home in a museum - the attempt would result in its destruction.  There is a petition calling on it to be saved for posterity here:

http://www.change.org/p/stop-the-desecration-of-fenton-great-war-memorial-1914-1918

It already has over 10,000 signitures, but a few extras won't hurt.

Episode 14 was always going to be a tough one to pick a pic for and I haven't really, as the photo illustrates the final chapter of the story available as an ebook, though the current paperback omits this event.  It's still part of the bigger picture, however - I've decided to save it for the opening chapter of the 'new book'. 

Treat it as a sneak preview!

Don't forget it's something of a giveaway weekend - in addition to all of the Limited Capability episodes free tomorrow, the Severe Discomfort ebook is free Saturday and Sunday and, for all you quick readers, Continual Supervision is free the following weekend.  If you enjoy the books and can afford to do so, please make a donation (on Lyn and Terry's behalf, as it were) to your local CAB and if you are feeling particularly generous, pop a rating (or even better, a little review) on Amazon or Goodreads for me.  Thanks!
https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=sarah+honeysett

Ebook Freebie Timetable

It would be fabulous to think that I could make a living as a writer - but better scribblers than me are feeling the pinch in these days of digital downloads.

There's also this problem that, having priced my ebooks as low as I can go to make them accessible and affordable to as many people as possible (there being a public information or 'counter-propaganda' element to my tales), for each £1 we raise for the 'Beverage Fund', Amazon takes £2.

I would rather give the stories away than settle for that, so I do.  Episodes of Limited Capability are currently free to download every Friday with 1, 5, 9 and 13 available on the first Friday of the month, 2, 6, 10 and 14 on the second and so on.  They're all free on the 5th Friday (the next one is 29th August).  I may swap the day later in the autumn, so people who have lively social lives and are out on Friday nights can also get their Welfare Rights Lit fix for free.  I've added an 'ebook freebie timetable' page to the blog that you can check for updates.

Severe Discomfort doesn't have a fixed timetable but is next due for free release on 30th and 31st August and 13th and 14th September.  Continual Supervision is free on 6th and 7th September and 20th and 21st September.

If you download free ebooks and can afford to do so, please make a donation to your local CAB, Law Centre or local Welfare Rights Project.  Biscuits are good.  Cash is also good, as we don't get as much as that from the Government and local councils as we used to. 

If you aren't sure what the 'Beverage Fund' is supposed to do, the blog post about it is here: http://benebook.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-beverage-report.html

One day I'll find out how to do those clever links without the whole web address...

Looking the Part

Following my recent discovery that my books and ebooks are on Goodreads, I've taken the plunge and set up an author page that I can edit.  It's here... 
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6959945.Sarah_Honeysett

Potentially, it's great publicity as there is space for an author profile (done one for Amazon - copied with minor edits to GRs), a blog or a link to an existing blog (check!) and a photo.

Not this one.  The guidelines talk about a 'professional author photo' and other (ie.'real') authors generally have nice head-and-shoulders black and white pics of themselves.  While I'm a stranger to the professional studio, I have no shortage of pictures taken by my husband, some of which are in focus and others I even quite like, but most of the recent ones do make me look like Professor Mary Beard steering a narrowboat.  Not, I hasten to add, that there is any disgrace in looking like the fabulous Prof. Mary but it would be dreadful to be mistaken for the great lady writing under a pseudonym and have people post questions to you in Latin and expect authentic Roman puns and witticisms in reply.

I decided it would also be a shocking cheat to go back too many years and flatter myself with a more youthful image, though I'm sure there are authors who do.  That narrowed the field considerably.

 

 I eventually settled on this one.  It's from 2012, taken by Jon while we were strolling round Portmeirion (the village in Wales, not the pottery) on his birthday.  It's an appropriate choice as, in addition to catching me with a smile (rather than a manic grin) and with my eyes open, it was during this little holiday that I told Jon that while he had been out with his pals on their regular Thursday pub night, I had started writing a book.

After posting it on Facebook, one friend commented that she could imagine it on the back cover of a good paperback.  That's an encouraging endorsement. 

All I have to do now is write one.