Good morning, friends and fans!
Welcome to another “Peek Into My Week”, a behind the scenes look into the (I hope) noteworthy events in my past week – December 27, 2021!
Edit: whoops, I’m a day late! Sorry, I’m on holiday and lost track of time!
This will be my last “Peek” for 2021! Let me take this opportunity to wish all of you, friends, fans and readers, the best this season has to offer! I’ve also had a bit of a busy morning – and if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll see I’ve just posted three other articles this morning about new releases in audiobook format – but more about that in the next section.
Here then, are some things that happened this past week:
News About Writing & Publishing:
The week started off with news from Brandon at Moon Books Publishing, that three audiobooks have been submitted to ACX for approval pending their release: “Loderunner” (Quantum book 4), “Dead Beckoning” (Galaxii book 3), and my dad’s novel “A Way Of Life“! On Tuesday morning (28 Dec) I was informed that they’d been released, so if you’re looking for some great books to listen to, you can hurry along to Audible, or Amazon, whichever you prefer!
With my annual vacation coming up, there’s a few things I have planned – firstly, getting enough rest! After that, there’s a few things I’d like to take care of, like editing the first draft of “Sentinel“, which is the long-awaited fourth title in the Galaxii Series. With any luck I’ll have it done by the end of January, but anyway, I’ll keep you posted about that! Brandon of Moon Books Publishing will be designing new covers for a lot of my books during the next few weeks, including the Panic! series. I’ve also asked him to do one for “Sentinel” as well!
The COVID pandemic has cause havoc with local businesses, and many physical book stores have closed down around the country over the past 2 years. It seems that with many people struggling, and many newly unemployed, buying books or eBooks for entertainment has fallen rather low on people’s list of priorities. This is understandable. This too means that publishing companies have also been struggling. After all, it’s hard to hire editors, cover designers and the like, when your sales figures aren’t earning enough to warrant it… but at least this nonsense is all temporary. It won’t last forever. In any case, Hally Park Publishers are preparing to release 2 of my dad’s books, “African Assignment” and “A Way Of Life” early in 2022. Both appear to be heading for local high schools as part of their agreement with the Department of Education, but more about that another time! I’ve been promised a more dynamic approach to getting my books onto SA’s book shelves during 2022, and I’m really looking forward to that!
Other News:
On Wednesday I went to work for the last time this year, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel great! I’ll be off until February since I’ll be taking all my annual leave at one go this year. After leaving work, having closed early, I hopped into Dolly and went to visit the Traffic dept. offices in Korsten to collect my renewed driver’s license card – which had been lying there since May without them bothering to notify me to collect it. Is it any wonder I loathe bureaucracy? To complete my day, the clutch cable snapped almost all the way through, making the return journey way more interesting than it had to be! That was it, I decided, the car had made my mind up for me – it was history! It was for me a heartbreaking moment where I’ve been forced to reconcile my future happiness and standard of living with the burdens and responsibilities of owning a 60 year old car as a solo daily driver. It has for the past nearly seven years, become increasingly untenable. I simply cannot continue to spend so much money and time, blood, sweat and energy on the mission of keeping that thing running just to have transport. I suppose it’s been inevitable all along, but I can be stubborn about these things, especially things I’m passionate about!
On Thursday I took photos and put it up for sale and began the search in earnest for a replacement. After a few time-wasters tried to bargain my price down to almost nothing (as expected), I began to worry that I might not get a good price for the car. Then, on Friday, a wealthy buyer from Durban bought it for a very good price – more than I had anticipated – and I began the process of packing up the car and all the spares I’d accumulated for it over the years! It’s amazing how much space an old car like this takes up – not just in the garage, but in your life, isn’t it? I mean, you have the car, right – but because parts are hard to find or expensive, you start to hoard spare parts for “just in case” that funny little noise means you need one. In the case of smaller items like a spare distributor or carburetor, it’s not to bad – but when it comes to items like doors, fenders, body panels and wheels… well, you basically need a second garage just for the spare parts! Cleaning all that out will not only free me of a years-long burden of worry and struggle, but also free up a large amount of space in my garage!
Dolly is due to be collected on a car-carrier in the first week of January 2022. Yes, it’s sad to see her go, but I need to do this for my own survival and mental health and wellbeing. I need to move on now, to a newer car that doesn’t make me wonder what will break next every time I drive it to work or to the mall. I’m done. Goodbye Dolly.
For the first time in my life, I’m hoping I’ll be able to be able to afford a brand new car out of the box! Not needing to work on a car anymore also means no need to keep spare parts for that car – and also no need to maintain a basic mechanical workshop in my garage! This will save me a lot of space in the long run, and I can also break down the steel shelving that has narrowed my garage for the last decade or more! Also, I’ll be able to have trouble-free motoring again – want to go on a day-trip to J-Bay? No problem! Feel like a holiday in Knysna? Hop in! It’s been years and years since I’ve been able to do that! The weight falling off my shoulders is almost tangible! There is a lot of good with this dose of bitter, and denying that would be silly.
Cheers!
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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2021.