The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Blog Twelve

Today we have Martin Crosbie, the organizer of this blog hop, and a recent Kindle Scout winner with his novel The Dead List (A John Drake Mystery).

I'm pretty much done my list of things that I hope will change in the indie world in 2016 (although I am sure if pressed I could come up with a few more), and need to go out and do some last minute shopping and get the food for Christmas dinner. Even though it is not perfect, the indie world of writing is pretty awesome. I got one of my best Christmas gift ever yesterday when I happened into the local bookstore to see that all of my books had sold out and a man in the store stopped me and asked where he could get one of my novels. It's time to sit back and contemplate Christmas and be grateful that I have the privilege of being an indie author.

I hope you enjoy Martin's heartwarming story and that you all have a lovely Christmas season. It really speaks to the heart of Christmas and gratitude. Don't forget to check out some of the other blogs of Christmas.

Martin's Story

Last year on the night after Christmas, even though it had been an exceptionally busy day, I drove a car-load of family members around the streets of our town. For two and a half hours we drove up and down roads searching out the brightest, most illuminating lights on people’s houses and lawns. My eighty-six year old passenger in the back seat, wrapped in a blanket and clutching a mug of hot chocolate, smiled the whole time and asked me pull over and look at every light on every street. Two days later we took her into hospital and three weeks after that we lost her.

            Doreen Clark was diagnosed with cancer when she was thirty years old. It was a form of cancer that took ninety-five percent of its victims. She beat it. In the following fifty-six years she lost a kidney, suffered heart failure, lost the ability to walk without a walker and overcame it all. She beat everything that was thrown at her. Some people are resilient, she was more than that. She was unbreakable. Click here to read more...

Martin Crosbie

In a press release, Amazon called Martin Crosbie one of their success stories of 2012. His self-publishing journey has been chronicled in Publisher's Weekly, Forbes Online, and Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. He’s the author of six books including the Kindle Scout winner “The Dead List – A John Drake Mystery”.

Martin was born in the Highlands of Scotland and currently makes his home just outside Vancouver, on the west coast of Canada.