Michelle's corner

I finally did it.

It had been touch and go for a while, because I don’t ban the followers who have nothing in their profiles… because it’s not a legal requirement for everyone to have something to say :-)

But those that did say something that was blatant advertising garbage, got blocked.

And now I have finally banned ten times more followers than genuine followers.

To be honest with you, I know what it’s like to operate a forum. It’s not fun. Some of the forums I ran over the years, I didn’t know why the heck I did it some times, as the thanks was little. And I’m grateful for BookLikes.

The spam accounts would likely take a 50% hit if they just scanned for the word “keto” in the first post of any new account but, hey ho. And some of the spam has been entertaining. The one about the Andalusian Donkey Facts raised a smile. I didn’t actually read much of it, so I don’t even know if there was a link to something in there. I just chuckled and moved on to the next follower.

So why haven’t I been posting? Indeed, why haven’t I been writing?! Well, that’s because I’ll never be able to make my living at it… so I have to keep down a day job. Lately, it’s been really depressing. Coming home after work and the first thing I do is reaching in the fridge for a can of 8% by volume craft beer… that’s not good. So I’ve stopped that. And the over-eating. Got to kick start the exercise regime as well, but these things have to be taken in small steps, and at the right time to take them… otherwise the whole house of cards will fall and I’ll be back at square one.

It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that this is no state in which to be writing books.

Plus we’ve had Brexit. On top of that, the clamp down on books dealing with adult literature. It’s been so bad that my publisher has started another imprint, bought another one… heck, I lost track of that… split the adult from the general fiction and has been keeping his authors up to date with the various bits and pieces he’s had to do in order to navigate the things that happened in 2019. And 2020 looks like it won’t be any easier. My hat is off to all small business people who are trying to keep it together in this insane world.

The first few months of this year will likely be taken up trying to stabilise my position. I have my new interview suit, my CV has been updated and next week I get my hair done ready to face the job hunt. This is going to be interesting.

So expect more silence from me while I sit here, trolling through the spam followers and getting my life in order, before I return to writing. After all, there’s plenty for me to write. And read. The TBR pile hasn’t been dented much. Can’t concentrate on books. I read for enjoyment and forcing myself to read simply to reduce the pile, would just be cheating myself.

Happy new year all. I hope to have something better to report in a few months time.