Week Ending 7th June 2012 - Birthday Wishes

I have been writing non-stop all week (well not quite non-stop but it certainly feels like it) so its going to be difficult to comment on much else and complete a blog entry without giving away too many plot lines from my next Bradley Baker instalment... the Pyramids of Blood. Well obviously I'm not going to spoil it for the Bradley Baker readers so I thought I would be totally self indulgent and dedicate this particular blogspot to my birthday, which I celebrated last Monday... and to the way a single day in your life can gauge just how effective social media is on shaping your future. Just over a year and half ago I joined Facebook and Twitter to start sharing my writing experiences and my journey as an author with others. It's amazing how social media has changed the way we interact with each other in many different and diverse areas of our lives. In particular, where my wriiten work activities are concerned... during the last twelve months the awareness of my Bradley Baker children's adventure books has grown dramatically, which is fantastic. A good example of how social media relationships grow over such a short period of time on cyber-space can be gauged by the responses I received on a single day this week. As mentioned, I celebrated my birthday and the same time last year I received some happy returns from a handful of FB followers... a dozen to be exact. However, this year I received over 90 messages to celebrate the anniversary of my birth and I feel this demonstrates very well just how strong social media friendships can become and have developed over such a short period of time. I was blown away by the attention received and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all my FB friends that sent me birthday wishes this year and I honour you all here; Melissa Studdard, Barry Stone, Zoe Powell, Tracey Jones, Zoe Jones, Phil Trenfield, Jane Lovering, Mandasue Heller, Elaine Manton-Rattee, Adrienne Hennessey, Clement Hendrix, Athina Paris, Giles Paley-Phillips, Sue Hyams, Susan K Franklin, Aquablast Drains, Jane Harris Dickinson, Rikin Parekh, Sheri Larsen, Bev Jepp, Denise Parton Plunk, Nikki Mutch, Gabrielle Balfour, Meg Sanders, Darran Lambe, Martha McCabe Current, Pauline Elizabeth Kerslake, Andrew Birbeck, Joe Whittington, Dan Tunstall, Market-Harborough Waterstones, Jeanne Hogle, Kitty Dinners, Deborah Carr, Laura Goodall, Christoff Rodriguez, Annabelle Bryant, Nell Dixon, Bobbie Derbyshire, Jeannette Towey, Dee Shulman, Annaliese Matheron, Vanessa Harbour, Mark Goddard, Kathryn Evans, Thomas Taylor, Suzan Collins, Geraldine Finnegan Gaul, Francesca Nield, Helen Stirling, Kimberley Chambers, Lee Howell, Julie Cole, Sammy Deen, Barbara Spencer, Melissa Spencer-Jones, Anita Loughrey, Kizzy Kemp-Gee, Lobke Gill, Mike Walsh, Johanna Farrell, Steve Rolfe, Nikki Goodman, Sam Jones, Wendy Phelps, Trauma F Newell, Trish Thomas, Susan Halley, Helen Robinson, Penny Jones, Becky Bettesworth, Carrie Jones, Nancy J Para, Remarkably Raven, Authors ArtistsMag, Leesa Link, Sue Whitehead, Steve Travers, Nick Gunning, Bev Tregunna, Nicky Lewis, Tom Kilpatrick, Laura Hooson, Colin Page-Smith, Sarah Lee Thank you so much for taking time to send me your messages :) On a quick note I was really pleased to receive confirmation this week that pre-orders are starting to come in for the third book in the Bradley Baker series. This is very encouraging for pre-sales in September when the Pyramids of Blood will be released. This is also having a very positive knock on effect for the current sales of books one and two. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy of my Bradley Baker books so far. I'd like to finish this week by congratulating my very good FB friend and author Giles Paley-Phillips for winning the children's award for the peoples book prize. His picture book The Fearsome Beastie is a great read and I'd recommend anyone with very young children to purchase a copy. That's all for this week. Catch you again this time next week. David :)