The Lady

Mum came over today for lunch, as she does every few weeks on a Thursday. We pick up Jamie from nursery and head off to our old favourite Nash's. The faces may have changed there, but the food is refreshingly the same, and you still cannot buy a bacon bap anywhere else in Bicester that comes close in terms of quality or quantity!

In fact today, I had the legendary monster, which is a sausage and bacon combo - there's a picture of me tucking into one on my facebook page, but in case you missed it, here's a copy for your enjoyment.

With a particularly apt T-shirt logo to go with the image!

I have been bombarded of late with sausage related queries, so many in fact that I feel I may need to write a "Dear Sausage Man" style entry very soon. Those of you familiar with my past letters - both of which featured in my previous books will know the sort of thing to expect. But today, I must move on with the exciting news of what happened when we got into Sainsbury's

What can this be? I can almost hear regular readers asking. "Were Cheese Balls half price?" "Was there an amazing mark down on honey roast ham on the deli to 40p per 100gm?" No - it was none of those things.

I just happened to be browsing down the magazine aisle (nothing dirty, they don't sell them in Sainsbury's) when my eyes alighted on that rather upmarket publication known as "The Lady". Now this is a very old and respected publication, for the rather upmarket set, in fact the cover alone this week tells you all you need to know. It has got a picture of Lady Edith standing in front of Downton Abbey, the kind of image to inspire ladies of ambition and breeding everywhere.

I'm in here!

Anyway, I remembered that some weeks ago after I launched Austerity Dad I had sent out emails to many publications across the land and The Lady was one of the few that replied. In case you were wondering why I did this, well I am a completely independent and unknown(ish) author launching books from scratch with no publishing company, no advertising budget, no marketing budget, attempting to break in to a huge market with a totally unproven book (or two books) which without anyone knowing of their existence would have sunk without trace, regardless of their merit.

So I've emailed, tweeted, written these blogs, done everything I can to get noticed just to give my books a fighting chance to at least get in to the public eye and it's taken a lot of time and hard work, but it is paying off. Like I say The Lady was one publication that showed interest, they asked for a review copy, and I sent one. Then caught up in the whirlwind of all the other publicity from Radio and press over the book and more recently as "The Sausage Man" that I sort of forgot all about it.

Until today, I just happened to notice The Lady on the shelf and joked to mum I would have a look to see if they had reviewed my book. And lo and behold, there it was, in black and white on Page 47 and not only had they praised it, they had given it 4 out of 5 stars.

Now I am not for one minute suggesting that reviews on Amazon are in any way inferior and I am very grateful to everyone who has reviewed my books on there - even the negative ones, but to have an actual written review in an actual real magazine, especially one so respected as The Lady feels quite, well, amazing. I am actually starting to think I can introduce myself to people as "A writer" without it feeling strange.

In a conversation later we joked about the fact that The Queen probably reads The Lady and one of my friends joked about her getting in to cheese balls! A most amusing image came into my head of an order being sent by royal demand into the Lidl branch of Balmoral for a 300gm pack of Crusti Croc cheese balls, to be served on a silver platter with a smattering of quails eggs (Phil likes them apparently) and Swan Sausages! Where will my influence reach to next?

If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.

Jason xx