The Bell That Never rang is published!


Ever since I was a child, it has been an ambition of mine to write a novel. I was always writing stories in those days, and then laboriously stitching them into little books with lengths of wool stolen from my mother's knitting bag. The busy veterinary years, found me busily scratching way at something, usually technical articles or newsletters but sometimes I allowed myself the luxury of some less focused writing, the occasional poem or the beginnings of my next best seller. When lockdown arrived in New Zealand and the prospect of many weeks of my own company loomed, I no longer had any excuses; there was no longer any shortage of time.

As I began to assemble the various scraps and notebooks together, I began to realise three things:

  1. I really enjoy the researching and writing. 
  2. It is very easy to get sucked into the detail.
  3. It takes a very long time to produce something like this.

But slowly I pulled it together. On a few occasions I probably spent too much time down web wormholes, seeking elusive details. Initially I was determined to make everything 100% accurate but gradually I relaxed into the storyline and introduced a few fictitious characters and moulded the story a little more freely.

A final draft merged, or what I thought was a final draft, until some enthusiastic beta readers found typos or suggested minor changes. There will inevitably still be a few in the published copy: my favourite typo emerged just before I pressed the "publish" button. I had Jim "holding a moistened figure into the wind." Not, I imagine, a very easy thing to do as you are about to set off sailing? Well spotted Beverley Walls!

I then I began to learn an awful lot about self publishing and how Amazon and Kindle work. I'll write more about that in a subsequent blog but, never having been Amazon's number one fan, I have to say that it is a fantastic system, one that just about anyone could utilise if you have spare fifty hours or so!

So it came to pass; the book was self-published on Amazon (and Kindle) and the early reviews are flooding in! 

The details are:

Title: The Bell That Never Rang

Author: Lewis Griffiths

ISBN: 978-0-473-61515-4 (Paperback) 978-0-473-61516-1 (Kindle)

If you do feel like purchasing a copy and even reading it, please feel free to post a review on Amazon. I'm currently about book 11,000,000 on their list - but I did climb 800 places yesterday! Onwards and upwards.....

I intend regularly blogging again about the book and any other topics that grab my attention. If you haven't done so already, click the three little lines top left and click  'follow' so that you never miss another blog!

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