Search This Blog

Monday 6 February 2012

The Promise

February is the shortest month of the year and also one of the most depressing. January's salary disappears on bills from Christmas, your New Year's Resolutions have gone the same way as your money and along comes the annual celebration of showing your love through maxing out your credit card on an overpriced weekend away or not so romantic meal. Add to that, this year is a leap year and men everywhere go into hiding on the 29th just in case their girlfriends know about the old adage of women proposing on the extra day in the year.

Luckily for me, that isn't the case. My long suffering girlfriend has already told me that she would never in a million years propose to me because that is not the way it has to be done. My girlfriend is a very traditional woman (even though she earns more money than I do). Take for example the time we were discussing whether or not we wanted children - 'Would you want to have children without getting married or do you want to do it the RIGHT way?' No leading questions there!

So when I was just about to publish The Surrogate, and after a period where I wasn't working, I promised her that if I sold five thousand copies I'd ask her to marry me, she was delighted. I, on the other hand, had dodged a bullet. I'd given her the sign that I was ready for commitment, put faith in our relationship, and left the whole thing to chance. While she was willing the book to sell thousands of copies while flicking through bridal magazines, I was sitting back watching one or two books sell, comfortable in the knowledge that there was no way that I would be getting married this side of 2014, if ever. Then, it all went horribly wrong.

So far The Surrogate has sold just over 1000 copies in two months. Whether it's because people like it, fate, just dumb luck, or Joanne has 999 copies on her Kindle, it is selling and at this rate, I'll be ring shopping by September.

I know it sounds like I don't want to get married. I do. And I want to marry Joanne. She has been there for me since day one of this adventure and she is the one person that made me believe that I could do this. She may be messy, bossy and a bit of a control freak, but I wouldn't change her for the world. She sees the best in people, and I was lucky that somehow she saw the best in me. So if it happens, it happens. If another 4000 copies of The Surrogate fly out of the big database that stores all Amazon Kindle titles in the next few months, I will be standing at an altar somewhere, waiting. Tense, nervous (and knowing Joanne's ability to be late for everything) probably fearful.When she finally arrives, I'll be looking over my shoulder at her in awe and amazement, because without her, I wouldn't have sold a single copy.

C J Evans.

3 comments:

  1. I look forward to congratulating you on both accomplishments ... scary as one of them might be ;-D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice one. Good luck with the book and the Wedding.

    ReplyDelete