Congrats. It's exciting to get a book picked up, isn't it? I went out and screamed it to the whole neighborhood, grabbed my husband of thirty years and gave him a tight hug as I took out his eardrum-- haven't done that for a while, you should've seen his face-- and lived up on a cloud for about four weeks. I'll see ya when you get down. Very happy for you. A toast to all YWO members and great success with your novels. I didn't see a toast glass, so I had to drink the whole thing myself.

Thanks for the comments.

I did some of that stuff and more, though a celebratory drink is off-limits these days.

The novella is 22,000 words long. The truth is that it started as a novel of 70,000 words. I had great input from an author who showed me what wasn't working and then I set to work on it.

There was a lot of pain in losing so much. I almost couldn't bear it - favourite characters, lines, dialogue, chapters were all cast aside.

In the end, I believe it was worth it and it means that a year's work wasn't completely wasted (nothing, they say, is ever wasted in writing).

I did get my first 2 reviews after the publication on Tuesday. Both are 5 stars and the first made me cry (damn those tears).

Here's a bit of the second:

'5.0 out of 5 stars coming of age noir from the dark side of Scotland, October 13, 2011
By Thomas Pluck - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Smoke, Kindle editionSmoke (Kindle Edition)
I've enjoyed Nigel Bird's short fiction for years. He imbues his characters with such a vital and fragile humanity that you feel as if you're watching a nature documentary about a doomed species who cannot change their ways... Smoke takes you into the cruel landscape of urban decay where the cost of living might be the ability to live with one's self.
Highly recommended.'

I need to admit that Thomas is a fan of my work and he's also a very fine writer himself (watch out for him in the near future). That said, I know he wouldn't put his reputation out there for something he didn't like a lot.

So, thanks Mr Pluck and Mrs McDroll and to you guys for the support.

Till soon,

nigel