Saturday 29 December 2007

Books, books, books!


Over the last few days I have been lost in a couple of books. One is very new and the other very old.


The first is Fire and Steam by Christian Wolmar. It tells the story of the railways from the very beginning at the turn of the 19th century up to the present day. Well, the 14 November 2007 when I stood in St Pancras Station and watched the events which were celebrating its opening day. You can read a Times review here. I think it's great. A bit plodding at times, but I keep turning the pages.


The second is Bygone Bentham by Joseph Carr. It is a composition of several articles written between 1871 and 1896 on his memories of the village of Bentham. He was the Ingleton correspondent for the Lancaster Guardian for over 40 years in the 19th century and he opened up the Waterfalls Walk as well. These memoirs cost me a lot of money a few years ago but this Christmas I have found them to be worth every penny.
O and by the way my depression has been pretty bad over Christmas. I think it's the same for most of us who suffer in this way.

Thursday 27 December 2007

Winning Words

I got a book for a Christmas present on Tuesday. Nothing strange about that, I suppose. But I've read it already.

It came from my friends in Australia and is called Winning Words by Margaret Court the tennis champion. She is now a champion for Christ and a writer and speaker. In the book she talks about the power of words, especially the Word of God. It was an eye-opener to me.

This is what her website says about it:

Winning Words

In Winning Words Margaret shares the story of her battle with illness, exhaustion and depression. She discovered that God's word, embraced in faith, releases amasing power for healing and restoration. This has led her to both personal wholeness and a life of helping others. In an easy to read style Margaret shares her discovery.

I spent all yesterday morning reading it. And started putting it into practice. I even sent her an email asking her to pray for me as I did so. I'd like you to do the same. Because I am fed up with this depression and want to win over it.

Friday 21 December 2007

Too much information!

Yesterday at 4.00 a.m. I got up and started putting information on cards. This was the names and any knowledge I had of those who rebuilt St. Mary's Ingleton between 1885 & 1887. This was in preparation for my next Brook House Booklet, Voices of Old Ingleton (VOI for short).

Two of them share the same initials - RB. I put the full name of the first one into Google and it came up with just one find. But what a find! It took me to a website about the family history of a couple, one of whose ancestors was my man. Before I knew it I was overwhelmed with information about him and his offspring. Not only did he have a card but his wife and three children each had one as well.

Then I put the other RB in and found out that he had been a writer. He had published a book, the nearest copy of which was at Settle Library and a series of articles in the Craven Herald in 1997. But I would only be able to see them at Skipton. Not much hope of that today I thought.

But this is what happened. I spent the second part of the morning ensconced in the vestry at Settle St John's Methodist Church examining the deeds of our chapel with the Superintendent Minister David Briggs. Then I drove home had some lunch and started writing up the notes.

Not long into this I had to break off to take Nathan to catch a bus in Ingleton. Well, we missed it and he was going to Settle to meet his mother for Christmas shopping. So after a heated discussion about whose fault it was I decided to drive him there. On the way I thought and prayed about how I could use this setback. I decided I would stay in Settle.

I then had the chance to go into the library. By the grace of God I had details of the second RB's book in my pocket so I found it and scanned it for details in about ten minutes. I then joined Nathan and Audrey for the shopping trip. It was to Skipton.

So while they shopped I visited Craven Museum and then went over to the Library and read a couple of the articles in the series the second RB had written for the Craven Herald. Can you believe it or what?

Not only that but when I got home I finished off writing up the morning's notes and got my first internet book order which came from someone who reads this blog and eats doughnuts.

But through it all I felt miserable. Can you credit it? All that was going on but my poor family still had to put up with my misery and moping. This depression feels like a thorn in the flesh. But God said to Paul "My strength is made perfect in weakness." May I prove that too.

Tuesday 18 December 2007

Carol Services

Two great Carol Services held at St. Mary's Ingleton on Sunday.

The first was more traditional, the second more "in your face" using drama and film.

Both were well attended by people who don't go to church. Do pray for them to remember what they heard and saw and sang, and for the Holy Spirit to work on it.

Saturday 15 December 2007

It's been a week!

So sorry it's been a week since I blogged. I do appologise.

I have had some successes this week. The main one is that I have managed to make sense of Facebook.

I got a real headache from trying to use it last month and I left a message for Mike Bossingham saying I found it like a missionary must find an alien culture.

He left me a message which said it was possible to assimilate an alien culture.

Well I had a go and managed to find friends, make contacts, reach people I have wanted to find for ages and generally had a good time.

Once again it's Mike Bossingham to the rescue. How does he do it? By the grace of God, I suppose.

Saturday 8 December 2007

IDC goes on sale

Yesterday I started trading. I had produced the IDC Booklet to go along with the Dickensian theme of the Late Night Shopping in Ingleton.

I stood on The Sqaure next to HL Gallery, otherwise known as the Pye family. They were giving away mulled wine for a donation, and I latched onto their customers. I told them they would be interested in my book, that I had written about five fascinating characters who had lived in the village in Dickensian times and that I would even sign the booklet for them so that when I became famous they could sell it for a lot more than it was worth.

It was fun developing a sales patter. I said the same thing over and over again, with variations according to who I was talking to. But each signing was unique. I loved it.

Funny thing though, during the day I was deeply disturbed mentally because of the strain of selling the books. I thought I would find it much more difficult to sell them than to research, write and produce them. But as it turned out that the sales pitch was as much fun as the rest of the writing experience.

The details of my best buyers are thus:

  1. Members of IMC
  2. Visitors to Ingleton for the weekend

I am happy to report that I sold 25 copies of Ingleton's Dickensian Characters and gave two out on credit to people I know very well and trust implicitly.

This morning my head ached profously when I got up but it was buzzing with ideas of how to sell the remaining number of copies.

Watch this space.

Friday 7 December 2007

To market, to market


Today I start trading.

The Ingleton's Dickensian Characters booklets are all ready to sell at £2.00 a piece.

Today I have to get a table, a money float and good weather to sell the goods at the Ingleton Late Night Shopping. I'll let you know how I get on.

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Booklets and ISBNs

I took delivery of 100 Ingleton's Dickensian Characters booklets yesterday. They look really professional. I am proud to own them. Now I have to sell them, and be even prouder.

I also got an email detailing how to buy ISBN numbers. I'm not sure if my Brook House Booklets qualify. But I'm going to have a go anyway.

They ask you how many publications you expect to put out in two or three years. At first I thought about ten. But I have lots of ideas.

I mean I went to the library yesterday and got hold of not one, but two copies of the book Ingleton Bygone and Present. This has loads of ideas within it.

The daft thing is the 100 ISBN numbers cost a lot less each than ten do. But I don't want to stretch myself too thin. We'll see.