Happy Boxing Day

So, now I understand blogging - I always wondered if it had much to do with solitary folk with a lack of outside activities. It certainly seems to lean that way - three posts and no hits!
Maybe I should get out more.
Anyway, had a very nice phone call from an old friend who had been given a copy of Prisoners Property and Prostitutes by another friend - she was very complimentary about it which is highly flattering. Just hope the wider public buy it in their droves when it goes on general released, partly for the artistic satisfaction, but mainly for the money.....

Bring on the New Year

I still seem to be singularly unvisited, but I can live with that. I looked at the publisher's 'author only' pages this evening and see that a further four orders for the book went on today. I had more feedback from pre-release purchasers and I was pleased and flattered to find it all positive, some of it very much so. Looking good for the release in January, though my current employment makes personal promotion of publicity rather difficult. So, it is a case of viral marketing (I think that's what they call it) and the goodwill of friends.
Several small book clubs have given me orders which is encouraging - this means people who are total strangers are reading it, and apparently liking it. Hurrah! Thank God for middle England.

A peaceful evening

A quiet night in watching the alluring ghastliness of the X Factor, punctuated only by the sound of the Jack Russell pup trying to eat several of my fingers. She's very sweet but has very sharp teeth and loves to try them out on anything living. Until it is dead.
This is obviously a unique blog as absolutely nobody has posted on it. So a very quiet night in continues, but maybe blogging is overrated. Unless you want to slag off the establishment. Which of course I would never do. Politics, religion and criticism (or praise of course) of the Status Quo is generally inadvisable in my position.
Though I did see Status Quo at the Manchester Appollo in 1979. That was good.

The first post

Breaking my blog duck and posting into the ether is a bit daunting, but this is just a quick greeting to anyone who stumbles on this, or who comes looking for a good read. This is the blog of Tom Ratcliffe, serving Police Officer and published author - my book is 'Prisoners, Property and Prostitutes'. The publisher's website says: Readers from every walk of life will find this book amusing, fascinating and moving as they either nod sagely in agreement, throw their hands up in horror, or laugh helplessly out loud as Tom’s story unfolds. Read this and you will never look at your fellow human beings in the same light again. It gives an account of many of the people and situations I have encountered, and is not due for release until January 2010 - however you can order a copy from the publisher at http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=938 or you can preorder it at all good online outlets. You can read a sample chapter via the publisher's link above as well, or another sample chapter on Amazon just here http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/184876216X/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-page Some 300 plus copies have already been bought (I am delighted to say) and feedback is all positive, apart from a few whose other halves have confiscated their copies because the laughter from the reader was interrupting an otherwise peaceful evening. Think Evelyn Waugh meets Bill Bryson and James Herriot, and you may not be far off, but this is a truly original work. I'd be delighted if you buy it, and very surprised if you didn't then like it, whether like me you are serving, or if you are retired, or even if you live safely outside the Police and wondered how life looked from inside this unique organisation. You can also pick my brains on the perils and pitfalls of getting published (or not!) if you want. Comments awaited, more to follow.