The Bicyclephant in the Room by Rukia author Margaret E Leigh #RPBP

The Bicyclephant in the Room

It’s nearly eight years to the day since I stood in that New Zealand bicycle shop choosing the least frightening-looking species of the genus. “Yes, this should get you across Europe,” the amused shop-owner assured me. But first it had to get me home, and I’d not ridden a bicycle since I was ten. I’d been rubbish at it even then.

So I wobbled a precarious the mile or two and parked my new purchase in the living room and tried hard to pretend it wasn’t there for the next month or so. It was hard to pretend it wasn’t there – that bicyclephant in the room - all black and silver and sparkly with newness, impossible to ignore, a terrifying reminder of just exactly what it was I planning to do.

So what was it exactly I was planning to do? Oh, that’s right, I’d had a moment of complete lunacy and had decided to cycle across Europe with a tent, all alone, in search of Utopia. But now the bicyclephant in the room was reminding me daily that what had started out as a project-in-thought had become a terrifying reality from which there was no escape.

Looking back, I don’t know where I found the courage to do it. But nothing I have experienced before or since can quite compare with the joy and the freedom I experienced during those months as a nomadic cyclist, relying on some sort of internal compass rather than any maps, travelling south through Europe in search of heaven on earth. I didn’t find Utopia of course, because it doesn’t exist. But I came close, very close. And one day I’ll try again. I’ll set off again, like Laurie Lee, one midsummer morning, with no idea where I’m going, with just the freedom of going….

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LM7R36O 

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My family and other animals #RPBP

Those of you who are familiar with my Facebook Book pages will know that I regularly post photographs from behind the scenes of my travel memoirs.
On the Two dogs and a suitcase: Clueless in Charente Facebook page http://bit.ly/SJTwodogs

the animals involved in our story often take centre stage. Below are some of my favourites.

Rosie the rabbit who turned our to be boy!!

Dave & Buster our well travelled Australian cattle dogs

George the rescue kitten 5 weeks old

AWOL Cat 1

AWOL Cat 2

Chicks in Jaime's bedroom!

Look what this chick turned into!

I love writing about our animals. We have laughed so much at their antics and ours in relation to them. It's fortunate for me that there were none of our kids at home on the day I was chasing the ducks before rescuing Rosie from the neighbours garden by crawling around on my belly hoping not to be seen!

Two Dogs and a Suitcase is available at:
Google books http://bit.ly/TDsGP
Nook http://bit.ly/TDsBN
iTunes http://bit.ly/tdsIT
Paperback http://bit.ly/PB2dog
Kindle http://bit.ly/but28
Txtr http://bit.ly/TXTDs

Stay tuned for more fun and stories from my family and other animals.
Thanks for reading
Sarah Jane

Authors get FREE Book Promotion from Rukia Publishing!!! Readers receive indie author book news and special offers!!!

Hello everyone,
Some of you may know that I operate two Facebook pages and a website aimed at authors and readers who want to help self-published authors. The interest and interaction from readers and authors is growing beyond my expectations and so I think the time is right to address book promotion!
One of the hardest elements for authors who are new, or who haven't acquired enough reviews, etc., is accessing the book promotion sites.

To address this from 1st March, the RPBP News will initially feature 5 authors a day who have a free or discounted book, new release or event to publicise. I will add the guide on how to submit in Issue 1 during February and we will have a trial run at the end of February in case we need to tweak the layout.

Interested? Subscribe to the RPBP News http://eepurl.com/bcAAGH and let's work together to promote our books.
I know the next question you want to ask - how much does it cost?
Simple answer - nothing, it's FREE !!

All we ask is that you show your support in one of these ways:
Like one or both of the Facebook pages
Follow us on Twitter
Share and RT alongside the Rukia Social Media Team. 

The more people we get signed up the greater the exposure we all get. We are fortunate to have some loyal readers as part of the Rukia team who give their time to assist these projects in exchange for books to read and review!
Some of you have already experienced the power of the tweet team during promotions. We are not big, but we are growing and we would love you to join us. Don't forget to use the ‪#‎RPBP‬ on Twitter for the team to RT you, there are currently 10 accounts taking part - Twitter handles are on the Rukia Facebook pages.

Thanks for reading and feel free to share the news or contact me with any questions:)

Sarah Jane

Support and networking for authors provided by Sarah Jane & the Rukia team:

http://www.rukiapublishing.com/

https://www.facebook.com/RukiaPublishing

https://www.facebook.com/promotingauthors

Feel free to copy and paste to social media:

Authors - Have you signed up to the Rukia Book Promotion Newsletter (RPBP News)?
Readers - Have you signed up to receive news from your favourite indie authors and great deals on free and discounted books?
http://eepurl.com/bcAAGH