There is a decided spring in my step. It’s been getting warmer with each day, but today I declare that Spring has officially arrived. It’s about 25 Celsius here in the largest man-made forest in the world and it’s wonderful. I have flung open the windows and the doors and am about to go for a brisk meander around the block.

It could be the weather. I have no doubt it’s playing a large part in my sense of the delicious at the moment, but it could also be the fact that Harcourt’s Mountain is selling and I have, so far, three wonderful reviews on Amazon.

Here’s the final paragraph of the latest one:

Harcourt’s Mountain by Elaine Dodge is a brilliant love story set in extreme circumstances. Luke Harcourt is one of the most honorable heroes I have ever read. So honorable in fact that I would have liked to have smacked him upside the head a few times for not sharing his feelings with Hope. These star-crossed not quite lovers keep their distance while the reader bites their fingernails in anticipation. Hope evolves like a budding flower and watching her adapt to her new surroundings with such finesse is part of the draw to this adventure. I truly enjoyed Harcourt’s Mountain by the very talented Elaine Dodge, and I give kudos to this South African native for writing about a land so far off and doing it so well. I recommend this tale to all and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

One has to admit to a bit of preening and self-congratulation happening. Still, after all the hard work to write the book and then get it published, I think I deserve it. Either that or a congratulatory chocolate cake. All to myself. Both taste delicious, but one has a rather drastic effect on the hips! Hence the walk around the block—just in case.

I wonder if well-known, multi-book selling authors have as much delight in each review and each book sold? Or do they become blasé about it? I hope I never do, it’s like a shot of pure delight and joy. You know those scenes in movies where they have to inject adrenaline straight into the heart? That’s what it feels like.

Which is good because I now need to hunt down “real” work. The happy-go-lucky recovery period of retrenchment has come to a close and the rent needs urgent attention. But if I feel down, I rush to Amazon, Goodreads, Tirgearr Publishing or Book Obsessed Chicks and re-read my reviews, bounce around for a bit, like a demented bunny and then head out once more, dear friends, into the fray.

“Harcourt’s Mountain” was launched five days ago. And I’m reveling in being a published author. Watching my ranking veer wildly up and down the Amazon Kindle ranks is a both exciting and disconcerting. It’s out there now and all I can hope is that people buy the book and leave favourable reviews. And of course, repost the links in their Facebook pages. Doing the marketing is so time-consuming. I guess what every author prays for is that the book will develop a life of its own and start racing up the ranks by itself. After all, what I’d rather be doing is writing. Since the launch of “Harcourt’s Mountain”, “The Device Hunter” has been playing nicely and I have churned out a good six thousand words since last Thursday.

It’s been great getting emails and Facebook messages about “Harcourt’s Mountain” and the celebration lunch on Sunday was a hoot. Now comes the wait for public opinion. Nail-biting, that’s what it is. Never realized how slowly people read! But then, maybe it’s just new parent anxiety. Come on people; let me know what you think of the book! I feel like my life is filled with exclamation marks since last Thursday as well.

For those of you who haven’t got your copy of “Harcourt’s Mountain” yet – it’s waiting on Amazon Kindle begging to be read. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EK0V2Y4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EK0V2Y4&linkCode=as2&tag=tirgeapubli09-20

Today is a perfect day for writing (and reading) - chilly with a slight brisk breeze. “The Device Hunter” is calling. So, a pot of coffee and off I go! And I’ll try very hard not to check the Amazon Kindle rankings more than once an hour.

Three days, including today, until my book, “Harcourt’s Mountain” is launched! It’s come so fast. There’s so much still to organize that “The Device Hunter” is on hold for this week. Although it does feel as if it’s been on hold, or at least moving extremely slowly, for a while now. Here I was hoping that for three months I would be burning up the keyboard with words, imagination and chapters leaping from one to the next with the abandon of ADHD gazelles! It hasn’t quite worked out that way. Retrenchment, a.k.a. freedom, has been wonderful! Not even the fact that my car has chosen this time to fall apart has managed to ripple the surface of peace and joy I have discovered in the last few weeks.

While the car was at the fix-its though I found myself pacing the cottage, muttering about plot and heroes who refused to play nicely, trying to decide whether the story should be smaller and more contained or to let my imagination run riot. Should it be a bridled and saddled horse that I can ride with precision and comfort or should it be more of a ride with a herd of wild horses and just see where we end up? Even if it is the edge of a cliff?

That’s when I realized I had a bad dose of cabin fever, induced by writing B.T.S.O.M.P. (by the seat of my pants) and a lack of transport and not being within walking distance of, well, anywhere really. Cabin fever isn’t pleasant. It’s not as bad as dengue fever, but it is a tad annoying. There I was, trapped in the cottage, unable even to go for a coffee and tearing my hair out. Thankfully, I do have amazing friends who came to the rescue when I needed it. Sometimes it was when they needed it.  So instead of worrying about what my ever so reluctant hero should be doing I was sewing capes for a school performance for eight year olds!

All creativity is connected, even day dreaming. Those golden threads that we pull out of the imagination, out of the sky all speak the same language, it’s how we interpret them that differs. I was chatting to an artist friend about the difference between writing “Harcourt’s Mountain” and “The Device Hunter” and how I was battling the rigours of writing the new book.  She’s just finished an eight meter canvas and she mentioned how she had worked in one section at a time rather than seeing the canvas as a whole. But when it was finished she had an interwoven narrative that worked as a fabulous whole.

Helen Keller once said, “Life is either a great adventure, or nothing.” So wild horses it is then, and I’m not going to worry about where it all fits together. I’m going to write anything and everything that comes to me. Get it down on paper. Tell each section as well as I can and then when there are no more sections to write, I’ll stitch it all together afterwards. Now that seems more like an adventure! And something a hero would prefer! I can’t wait to get started! Until then, keep your eyes peeled for the launch of “Harcourt’s Mountain”. From 15 August it’ll be available from Tirgearr Publishing, Kindle, Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, Nook, Sony, All Romance Books and Omnilit. I'd love to hear from you once you've read it. And if you enjoy it, please let all your friends know so they can download a copy as well!