New Website & YouTube Channel!

Dear all, 

I have two blogs that both publish to my Google+ account so sorry if you are reading this twice but I wanted to make sure both sets of followers were covered. 

I am taking time out from my normal blog posts about a general writing topic and the story of my novel to update you on what I have been up to this week and I have two big announcements. I have already written this on my second blog so instead of writing it twice I hope you would be so kind as to follow me on my other blog as well as this one so that you can keep track of me over there and read about my two pieces of news.  The links for the two blog posts I have already published are below. 

New Website

http://rgrankine2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/no-travel-post-this-week-part-1-new.html

The first announcement is that I have a new website. I would really appreciate any feedback you have as although it is now live there are still tweaks to make and some additional images to publish and I am sure a thousand other things I have overlooked. If you want to let me know your thoughts you can email me at info@thinkingplainly.com or send me a message at any of my social media sites. Thank you very much in advance!

www.thinkingplainly.com 

YouTube Channel

http://rgrankine2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/no-travel-post-this-week-part-2-youtube.html 

The second announcement is that the Thinking Plainly YouTube channel is live again at last! I had to stop while abroad last year and I'm really pleased to be able to work on it now I'm back. We have uploaded our first video and would love your feedback.

http://www.youtube.com/thinkingplainlyltd 

Thanks everyone, 

Have a great weekend! 

RGR.

Please join me on all my social media pages:

Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/Robert.G.Rankine 

Twitter:           https://twitter.com/thinkingplainly 

Google+:         https://plus.google.com/+RGRankine (Personal Channel)
Google+:         https://plus.google.com/+thinkingplainlylimited (Company Channel)

LinkedIn:         https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgrankine 

Instagram:       http://instagram.com/rgrankine 

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YouTube:        https://www.youtube.com/thinkingplainlyltd  (Company Channel)

Pinterest:         http://www.pinterest.com/thinkingplainly/ 

Foursquare:     https://foursquare.com/thinkingplainly 

Blog 2:            https://www.rgrankine2.blogspot.com 

And Author Profile Pages to keep informed of the latest releases:

Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/IqRZK  (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)

Amazon US:   http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)

Nook:              http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf 

Google:            http://bit.ly/1yyMhQx 

Scribd:             http://bit.ly/1xVQlLh 

Apple:             Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine

Kobo:              Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine

***

Literary Drinks Video 1: Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

Dear all,

Welcome to the associated blog of Thinking Plainly's first 'Literary Drinks' YouTube videos!

https://www.youtube.com/user/ThinkingPlainlyLTD/videos 

SUBSCRIBE!

Dombey and Son

Charles Dickens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKyo8Igv0Js 

By way of introduction, this is the first in my new series of ‘Literary Drinks’. Working with Ruairi of ‘The Bonneville’ bar and restaurant and Gerard of ‘Moon in a Box’ productions we have set ourselves the task (but fun task... ) of creating a series of videos that examine literary drinks.

Dombey and Son jumped out at me from my bookshelves immediately. It is one of my favourite Dickens’ books and maybe because we had only just come out of the Christmas period when you cannot help but feel a little Dickensian (as someone who lives in London that is, I can’t vouch for the rest of the world… ) or perhaps because I felt that one should start with a classic, it seemed like a good place to begin.

My edition is from the Oxford World’s Classic series from Oxford University Press edited by Alan Horsman with notes and introduction by Dennis Walder, reissued in 2001. ISBN: 0-19-283990-X.

As a reader from London, when reading any classic, especially Dickens’ I have to say it is always fun to see places you know mentioned. This book is full of references to London because it centres around a retail, wholesale and exportation firm based in the City of London. If you haven’t seen my other blog where by I visit parts of London to research my novel you can click on this link to see my post on the City of London for a personal taste of just a small selection of sites (including a pub frequented by Charles Dickens himself): http://rgrankine2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/research-day-2-city-of-london.html .

However, on top of that, because as I just said it concerns a wholesale business, from somewhere inside the recesses of my failing brain I thought I could recall descriptions of shipping and more importantly… shipping alcohol. Now, I am not here to give away what happens in the book by any means but as I re-read parts of the book those memories served me right. However, I had to choose from the many different drinks mentioned; wine, sherry, rum, punch, beer, champagne… two stood out for me, Port and Madeira.

I like port but I don’t think I have ever had Madeira so for selfish reasons Madeira is the one we looked at.

Madeira

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira

From Dombey and Son, edition mentioned above:

Page 41

Solomon looked a little graver as he finished his dinner, and glanced from time to time at the boy’s bright face. When dinner was done, and the cloth was cleared away (the entertainment had been brought from a neighbouring eating-house), he lighted a candle, and went down below into a little cellar, while his nephew, standing on the mouldy staircase, dutifully held the light. After a moment’s groping here and there, he presently returned with a very ancient-looking bottle, covered with dust and dirt.

“Why, Uncle Sol!” said the boy, “what are you about? That’s the wonderful Madeira! – there’s only one more bottle!”

Uncle Sol nodded his head, implying that he knew very well what he was about; and having drawn the cork in solemn silence, filled two glasses and set the bottle and a third clean glass on the table.

“You shall drink the other bottle Wally,” he said, “when you have come to good fortune; when you are a thriving, respected, happy man; when the start in life you have made to-day shall have brought you, as I pray Heaven it may! – to a smooth part of the course you have to run, my child. My love to you!”

Page 288

Day after day, old Sol and Captain Cuttle kept her reckoning in the little back parlour and worked out her course, with the chart spread before them on the round table. At night, when old Sol climbed upstairs, so lonely, to the attic where it sometimes blew great guns, he looked up at the stars and listened to the wind, and kept a longer watch than would have fallen to his lot on board the ship. The last bottle of the old Madeira, which had had its cruising days, and known its dangers of the deep, lay silently beneath its dust and cobwebs, in the meanwhile, undisturbed.

Drinking with Dickens

I had a stroke of luck when reading this book. As with all research you tend to go to that magical place of Googleland on occasion (only on occasion of course… ) and I stumbled across a wonderful book called Drinking with Dickens written by none other than Dickens’ great grandson himself, Cedric Dickens. It is a lovely book full of warm anecdotes of Cedric’s and Charles' life, Victorian recipe’s and importantly, Dickens’ own recipes. I won’t go into it here to spoil the fun (and possibly to give away future drinks) but I’ll give you the link here should you wish to learn more.

For this video we used a wonderful recipe contained in 'Drinking with Dickens' that Dickens himself wrote in a letter and which he called Moonbeams for Summer Drinking. Although the letter is in relation to Bleak House it contains Madeira and so this is the recipe we used. Here is the core of it for your reference:

Moonbeams for Summer Drinking

• 10 wine glasses of Madeira
• 2/3 wine glass brandy
• 4 wine glasses water
• Add peel of a small lemon cut thin.
• Sweeten to taste.
• Grate nutmeg over the surface.

(Although we used smaller measures as didn't need to drink that much at 10am! Ours contained 100ml Madeira, 25ml Brandy and 40ml Water) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKyo8Igv0Js 

A modern twist

Having the expertise of Ruairi of The Bonneville to hand we couldn’t leave it at just that. He came up with a modern Madeira cocktail that we could try and here it is:

Bosom Caresser

(If that isn’t a name Dickens would have loved I don’t know what is!)

• 10ml Grenadine
• 20ml Triple Sec
• 20ml Madeira
• 75ml Brandy
• An egg yolk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKyo8Igv0Js 

I really would have loved to have tired Negus and Porter too but perhaps another time… in fact, I’m sure in future videos we will come back to Dickens again. There is so much to explore that it would be criminal to ignore the many other drinks, especially with this fantastic guide to hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKyo8Igv0Js 

So that is it for now. Hope you enjoyed our first video. We are learning and experimenting as we go so remember this is just for fun and if you have any recommendations for books we should look at, and drinks you would like to see made, please let us know!

Take care,

RGR

www.thinkingplainly.com

Please join me on all my social media pages:

Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/Robert.G.Rankine 

Twitter:           https://twitter.com/thinkingplainly 

Google+:         https://plus.google.com/+RGRankine 

LinkedIn:         https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgrankine 

Instagram:       http://instagram.com/rgrankine 

Flickr:              https://www.flickr.com/people/thinkingplainly/ 

YouTube 1:     https://www.youtube.com/thinkingplainly   (Personal Channel)

YouTube 2:     https://www.youtube.com/thinkingplainlyltd  (Company Channel)

Pinterest:         http://www.pinterest.com/thinkingplainly/ 

Foursquare:     https://foursquare.com/thinkingplainly 

Blog 2:            https://www.rgrankine2.blogspot.com 

And Author Profile Pages to keep informed of the latest releases:

Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/IqRZK  (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)

Amazon US:   http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)

Nook:              http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf 

Google:            http://bit.ly/1yyMhQx 

Scribd:             http://bit.ly/1xVQlLh 

Apple:             Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine

Kobo:              Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine

***

R.G Rankine’s new short story: 15 Soon & Alfred Duff on Wattpad

Dear all,

I have just released a new short story this weekend. It seems like a long time since I have done so… and in fact it is, April 2012... which seems impossible but I cannot find any plausible way of denying it or hacking into Amazon's database to change the dates. 

It is called, “15 Soon” and describes a young school lad coming to terms with new feelings he is discovering. These take place as a hot summer approaches and the friends he has in different aspects of his life converge in an unexpected way. He has to cope with burgeoning romantic emotions whilst accepting some existing relationships he has relied on up to now may not be good for him anymore. 

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/16gdoI6 

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/168sQoG 

I am not making a big deal out of the whole marketing thing, as crazy as that sounds I know, because this year I really am focussing on writing and as much as I am learning about the promotion and marketing skills needed (and believe me, I know it is absolutely vital to every indie out there) I am going to be a bit bloody minded about it. I have set myself a target of putting a new short story out every month while I am working on my first novel and I do not want to spend the time needed to push for reviews and expanding my reach. That sounds like suicide and in a purely logical business sense it is, but that is not where my mind is - and yes, you could argue I don't have a choice, it needs to be - and I am not going to worry about it. I have too much to work on right now and for me the most important thing is getting content out there. 

Over the last few years I have drafted many stories to a decent level of readiness but as my life has taken a few twists and turns I haven’t been in a place to convert them all to completed stories. As you may have read in my blog if you have followed me so far, last year was a turning point. I had a lot of time to think about what I want to do and I committed myself to spending the coming years on my writing no matter how difficult life may be in the social and financial sense. I really feel that I will never improve as a writer if I don’t make the time to finish what I have started and get on with new works. 

Alongside the writing I am still learning about marketing and I am not ignoring that. My business plan and various publication process documents are being updated all the time with new ideas and I'm pleased about that but it is not my priority. If I actually make it to the end of year without going crazy and have 12 new short story ebooks self published and a complete draft of my first novel I will be very, very happy. Then the hard work will really begin... I have many more shorts to work on and other ideas for novels but the business will have moved on and I will be putting marketing and promotion at the top of my to-do list, except I will have a decent level of content behind me which is the thing I need to feel more confident. 

Saying that, I am not just typing away in isolation. I am working on other projects that will increase my social media content and following which I am looking forward to sharing with you soon. It is just the time needed to promote every single publication that I am not prepared to commit to... oh boy, I can hear the sighs and wringing of hands from here, sorry to anyone that statement annoys the hell out of!

Anyway, there we are. If you choose to buy the new short story (£0.99 or $0.99 and equivalents) then fantastic and thank you very very much, I would be keen to hear your views on it, but I won't be hounding you so that's the last post on it... for now!

***

On to a new announcement! I am really pleased to let you all know that my Thinking Plainly colleague Alfred Duff has just opened a Wattpad account and will be releasing his new novel chapter by chapter over the coming weeks.

It is a really interesting move because we have been working towards a few different projects on Wattpad (more of that in later posts) and Alfred has taken the bull by the horns and gone straight into a serialisation so I hope you find the time to take a look at his Wattpad page and read and comment upon his first chapters that are now online.

http://www.wattpad.com/user/AlfredDuff 

Of course if you can't wait!... then his ebook is available to buy at the following links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1u0GLDg

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1wRj2GK

If anyone reading this is a Wattpad user, either writer or reader, then please let me know what your page is or your favourite pages and myself, Alfred Duff and Rufus Garlic will follow and add them to our lists for future posts on the subject.

Here’s to a very productive 2015.

Take care,

RGR

www.thinkingplainly.com

Please join me on all my social media pages:

Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/Robert.G.Rankine 

Twitter:           https://twitter.com/thinkingplainly 

Google+:         https://plus.google.com/+RGRankine 

LinkedIn:         https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgrankine 

Instagram:       http://instagram.com/rgrankine 

Flickr:              https://www.flickr.com/people/thinkingplainly/ 

YouTube 1:     https://www.youtube.com/thinkingplainly   (Personal Channel)

YouTube 2:     https://www.youtube.com/thinkingplainlyltd  (Company Channel)

Pinterest:         http://www.pinterest.com/thinkingplainly/ 

Foursquare:     https://foursquare.com/thinkingplainly 

Blog 2:            http://rgrankine2.blogspot.co.uk

And Author Profile Pages to keep informed of the latest releases:

Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/IqRZK  (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)

Amazon US:   http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)

Nook:              http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf 

Google:            http://bit.ly/1yyMhQx 

Scribd:             http://bit.ly/1xVQlLh 

Apple:             Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine
Kobo:              Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine

***