So suddenly my email inbox is awash with unknown names – and it’s not spam: because not only is Bets and the City on sale, but people are reading it… and writing to me!

Thanks so much to Dilip P who was quickest off the mark. He wrote and said, “Fantastic book!! I read it in under two hours in one sitting.”

This was closely followed by a message from Steve W. “Although I am not one for reading books, I just couldn’t put yours down,” he began. “So what do I reckon? BRILLIANT! You have outlined so many pitfalls that I reckon 99% of all new traders do go through, if they’re honest about their mistakes. Also the bits of humour throughout the book are great. I have to admit you kept me up till 3.30am!”

And I have to confess it’s been a long time since I kept a man up until 3.30am…

Anyway. I’m thrilled that so many people are finding the book entertaining and useful. There’ve been lots of emails – and the reviews on Amazon are starting to accumulate, as well.

Today, I’m recovering from my first (and probably last!) Public Book Reading. It went well… almost 100 people and we actually ran out of copies of the book.

During the evening, we held a Trading Raffle – it raised Ł62 for Macmillan Cancer Support – where the Nice People From Finspreads set me up with a test account, so I could place a whole bunch of random trades on the American markets, which were still open while the reading took place.

The results were fascinating: To give you just a taste, a Ł1 a point SELL trade on my old favourite Google made a profit of over Ł700 in just a few hours (the Dow Jones went into freefall yesterday and was down over 150 points at one stage during the session).

Check back here at the weekend, and I’ll tell you in detail about the volatility of the US markets: volatility, incidentally, is GREAT for trading… so long as you’re trading with the trend!

For the past couple of years, I’ve been bashing away at the computer, putting one word in front of another. Like this. With no real, tangible end product – other than lots of words stored on the hard drive.

When I meet new people, they ask, “So what do you do?” I tell them I’m a writer, as it sounds marginally more respectable than explaining about the spread betting. Almost always, the next question is, “What have you published?”

In other words, unless you’re published, you’re not a ‘real’ writer.

Well, now I am published. And I have to tell you, it feels totally unreal!

My copies of Bets and the City have just arrived, hot off the Harriman House press. They’ve done a fantastic job, and I’m really thrilled. I know they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but in this case, you can: The cover’s absolutely gorgeous, and the words inside aren’t too bad, if I say so myself!

I went into Primrose Hill Books to see if their stock had arrived. Jessica was just putting a copy into the window, in the coveted Local Author spot.

“It looks just like a real book!” I thought I’d spoken the words to myself, but apparently they’d come tumbling out of my mouth.

Jessica laughed. “It is a real book,” she reminded me.

So now I’m wondering if anyone’s going to buy it.

The bookshop’s sold one copy. To my friend Simone, bless her. She sent me a text that said: “Already laughing, and only on page 19.” This had me really worried – the first joke’s on page three.

On publication day, everyone assumed I was out drinking champagne. No such luck. I had taken to my bed with Dow Jones and a large mug of Lemsip. And I wasn’t thrilled when the phone started beeping at 11.30pm.

Another text. “I know it’s late. But could not put book down. So skipped drinks and read from cover 2 cover. Bloody fantastic. Loved it. Your first paying reader.”

I felt a whole lot better. And I’ll feel better still when someone who’s not my friend, my family, my publisher, my agent or my dog says they like the book, too.

Until then, as I say…. unreal!