Monday, May 21, 2012

coming soon!


A little pre-publicity for the ebook of the blog!

I’ve been working on it for a few months now, and it should be formatted  and published by mid-June, available to download onto Kindle &c from Amazon and maybe some other sites. Priced no more than £1.99, probably less.

I’ve taken a range of blog posts from over the years, edited them to sharpen the writing, then arranged them into chapters reflecting different themes – all within the context of me, Spence, starting work in the ambulance service under the guidance of Frank, a paramedic coming up to retirement.

I’ve written extra material to give more personal context, hopefully building into a more complete picture of what it’s like to work on a front-line, UK ambulance.

If you have any questions, I’d love to hear them. I’ll always answer as honestly as I can, as you know.

With thanks for all your support and encouragement over the past few years

SK

31 comments:

Wayne Conrad said...

You've just turned my insomniac night into sunshine and fluffy white clouds.

Is it ready yet?

How about now?

Ok. I'll wait.

Now, then?

petrolhead said...

Brilliant news, I'll definitely be buying it! Will there be any new material, or will it all be reprints? Not that I mind, I could read your stuff a thousand times!

And since when has Frank been retiring?! He's not allowed!

tpals said...

Also available in the US?

Joe said...

Spence, this is great! Will definitely buy a copy. One thing though - I've not got a Kindle, rather merely a laptop... Is there any chance it could be published as well as Kindle et al., just for a simple browser?

Keep up the writing!

jacksofbuxton said...

Looking forward to it Spence.

Good luck.

Spence Kennedy said...

Wayne (I completely sympathise about the insomniac thing. Shift work messes with your head, man!) I've done all the editing - it just needs formatting, which shouldn't take long (famous last words), then uploading.

PH - There is new material (I've got to figure out what the % is / haven't yet, but prob 20%). Plus I've freshened up the old stuff, so worth a look (he says, rubbing his hands and chuckling...). I know what you mean about Frank - my best character! But I thought I needed some kind of hook for the book (a 'book hook' if you will), and he seemed like a good candidate. I could always resurrect him, like Dr Who - he can regenerate as and when... x

tpals - Yep, should def be avail. in the US

Joe - I'm aiming to have it avail for any kind of ereader. I think Amazon do a kind of free app that converts for PCs etc anyway. I'm not very tech-savvy, but I think it's pretty easy to do this stuff (crosses fingers & spits).

***

Thx for the feedback!

Spence Kennedy said...

Thanks, Jacks! (For some reason your comment got published out of sequence there - sorry! Damn technology). I was really happy with the cover - Innis did me proud! :)

Ali_Q said...

This is awesome, so glad that you've finally gotten around to it! Hehe.

Benn reading for a while now, and although I don't comment often I do always enjoy your blog!

Keep up the good work!

PS would I be able to download it onto my phone do you think....?

Spence Kennedy said...

Ali_Q - I know. I've been talking about it for ages. My excuse is trying to write a completely unrelated book (that I did finish but haven't had published - still needs work I think).
Thanks for reading all this time. And yep - I'm hoping it'll be avail for download onto most things. :)

Keith said...

That's great news to hear - I always look forward to your next installments and now I have a whole book to look forward to!

Chris said...

Excellent! Can't wait to read it. I "blog-stalk" you all the time, checking for new posts. :-)

Spence Kennedy said...

Thx Keith & Chris. Hope you like it!

Absentbabinski said...

Spence, I've really enjoyed reading your stuff for a while and look forward to supporting you in a tangible way :)

Bobbi said...

Brilliant! :) looking forward to it. Sorry, this might be a daft question - is Frank retiring in real life, or just in the book? Might have to cry if that's in real life too...

Spence Kennedy said...

AbsentB - Thx for reading all this time. That's brilliant support, right there!

Mike - Cheers for that. Nice to think it helps in some way. Certainly helps me to write some of these things out!

Bobbi - Well... Frank doesn't actually exist as a single entity (which sounds bizarre!) He's a conflation of lots of different characters - because I didn't feel comfortable describing any one of my colleagues specifically. The other thing is that for some years no-one's had a regular crew mate. You tend to work with the others in your shift group, but it means one of a dozen or so.

So although the incidents are real (except for some changes to protect identity), Frank is not. The things he says are either what my crew mate or I have said, though.

Is that a terrible shock? I hope not. The thing with Frank is - he represents all those things I really value and respect in my colleagues, which is a sense of humour, a grounded, common-sense approach to life, a humane kind of toughness, practicality, empathy - and did I say sense of humour?!

The good news is that because Frank is a fictional character, I can de-retire him at will... ;)

Bobbi said...

Aah, ok - that makes sense now :) I knew you'd anonymise the incidents, because you're professional about this, but I didn't realise you'd anonymised your friends as well! It's a good idea though - I thought you'd used a pseudonym for your friend. I did wonder how you'd ended up with the same crewmate so often, when all the techs I know locally haven't got a regular partner, and neither have most people on the other ambo blogs I read. Does that mean Rae's a composite character too?

I suppose Frank being a character means that when you have that moment after the incident that goes: 'someone should've said/done this... that would've been interesting. Or possibly *interesting*, depending on the patient and the situation :) Cheers for explaining that to me!

Spence Kennedy said...

Everyone anonymised - incl. me!

I wish we did have regular crew mates (excepting relief shifts). I think it makes for a slicker, less stressful life (depending on your crew mate, of course). Rae was composite, too, sorry to say.

It is def tempting to re-write history and be hilarious / wise / tough after the event. I can't say that some of that doesn't go on, although I try to keep a lid on it. The blog's supposed to be an honest account after all! :)

MetalDog said...

Frank exists now. You brought him to life with a bit of the old Doctor Frankenstein and some keyboard CPR.

Spence Kennedy said...

OMG - I hope he doesn't start stalking me. Mind you, if you had to have a stalker, Frank would be pretty benign. Well, benign, anyway.

Mike said...

Looking forward to this Spence. Hurry the techies along please.

Spence Kennedy said...

Thx Mike. Actually I think I annoyed them by sending thru an amended copy just now... :/

OKinUK said...

This is greatness!

Spence Kennedy said...

Thanks v much, OK! :)

Wordfiend said...

Will it be available on Kindle in Canada?

Spence Kennedy said...

Hi Wynn
Definitely! I'll put it out in as many areas & formats as I can.
:)

L."Wren" Vandever said...

Oh, Spence! I'm delighted that you decided to publish a book and delighted for you that your excellent, thoughtful and creative writing will now be available to a wider audience! I've got the biggest smile on my face!

I'm so looking forward to the opportunity to buy your book and add it to my bookshelf--or my Kindle's virtual shelf.

Best wishes to you, Spence.

Spence Kennedy said...

Thanks v much Wren! And thanks too for your fantastic enthusiasm and encouragement all this time.

Great to hear from you. Hope all's good with you.
x

PattiL007 said...

I knew it was just a matter of time. SO Glad to hear that you're this far along with it. Eagerly looking forward to downloading it on my Kindle. As for Frank & Rae, I don't think either would begin to stalk/attack you...you gave them too much character for that kind of thing...

Peace, Blessings & Abundant Success!
Patti from Atlanta, GA, USA

Spence Kennedy said...

Thanks v much, Patti.

As far as stalking goes, Frank n'Rae wouldn't do it anyway because I know too much... which, come to think of it, actually makes me even MORE of a target. *gulp*

:) x

tpals said...

What's the latest on this? I see it's available on smashwords, but what about amazon?

Spence Kennedy said...

It is avail on Smashwords, but has been 'pending' for a week or so whilst it goes through various checks. Apparently all that's done now, so it should be avail on Amazon &c very shortly. I was just waiting for that final green light before making a big announcement, just in case there were any hitches! :)