Alex Leslie – Author

Hello All and Happy New Year!

Okay, I’m running a bit late for that. But I’ve been a little under the weather lately and have been stuck in bed since late December, thanks mainly to the ever-lovely machinations of my old friend Mr Long COVID. Although the last couple of months haven’t been the most fun or productive, I’m starting to feel a bit less like death, so decided to sit up and type out a little news post to round up everything that’s been happening lately, along with what will hopefully be happening as the year progresses.

My Big Gay Family Christmas Wedding Disaster (Nolan Family Book #2)

The launch in November went off without a hitch and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of downloads on the first day. Given that Book 1 was released a couple of years ago, I was concerned that too much time had passed and people would have forgotten about it, or were no longer keen for a follow up. But all my fears were set aside when I not only got a large number of preorders, I also got a huge number of sales in the days after the launch.

I’ve started receiving a number of ratings and reviews across multiple platforms, with Amazon featuring multiple five-star ratings, which warms the heart of my cockles! Thank you so much to everyone who bought Book #2, read it, loved it, shared it, rated and reviewed it. You are all angels. Pour yourself the Nolan Family cocktail of your choice!

PS: I’m in the middle of sorting out the print edition of Book #2. It’s been delayed due to my recent illness, but it should hopefully be up and available for purchase in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more updates.

Social Media Changes

2024 and 2025 seem to have become a season of change when it comes to the world of social media. While my social media presence isn’t enormous, it’s essential to putting myself out there and attracting an audience. So when Twitter more or less imploded last year, I found myself in quite a pickle. Twitter has been my preferred platform for more than a decade (long before I started writing) so seeing it’s spiralling decline over the last year or so has been shocking to say the least.

I made the decision to move my main social media focus over to BlueSky and I have never been happier. What a refreshing platform it is. It reminds me of Twitter back in the early days, when it was a lot more open and free of the kind of soul-crushing negativity and trolls that have ultimately lead to the bird’s drawn-out demise.

I still maintain presences of other platforms, but my main focus going forward will be on BlueSky for the time being. Recent controversial policy changes at Meta are likely to make me use platforms like Facebook, Threads and Instagram for the basics only (if not leave them altogether – we shall see what the future brings) but you can rest assured I will keep everyone up to date of any changes. Plus, any major news updates will always be posted here on my website. So don’t forget to follow my blog here too!

Upcoming Writing Projects

Here’s where things get a little bit vague. I have several writing projects in the works at the moment, but haven’t decided on which one I want to focus on yet. I have two books that are currently in the process of being written, with several other ideas that I’m still plotting out. The two major projects that I’m currently working on are vastly different from each other, and quite different from anything I’ve written before.

One is a romantic comedy/drama featuring characters experiencing love in their twilight years. The other is a sort of sci-fi space opera with rom com elements. The latter is the project that is more advanced in development and mostly plotted out, while the former has been on the back burner for a while, as it touches on some sensitive subjects that I’ve only recently felt comfortable getting back in to thinking about.

I’m hoping to soon get back into the groove of writing regularly again, with the tentative goal of getting at least one of the projects completed and released at some point in 2025. But for the moment I am at the mercy of my own health. So I will announce solid release information at a later date, once I am confident of where things are going. Stay tuned for more info.

Well, for the moment that’s all the news I have for you. I hope you all had a wonderful silly season and I wish you love and prosperity for the coming year.

Lots of Love

Alex Leslie