Finally, Eclisped breaks through?

When I say breaks through…

Has it become the viral sensation that I had hoped - and propel my two new books to the top of Amazon’s charts and sold thousands of my downloadable stand-up show?

Er, no.

For the time invested, Eclipsed has not been uneconomic. But money is too crude a measure of success and doesn’t account for what else it provides. I enjoy writing it. I enjoy having an outlet and a voice and I enjoy reading some of the very kind comments from readers.

And I still live in hope that the hallowed viral days are ahead of me…

But this week – my blog did suddenly come in financially. The site is popular and as such I get regular mails from company’s requesting whether they can advertise on my site. No adverts have appeared as yet but not because of any ethical constraints – but because they usually turn out to be scams.

But this week, I received a mail from a PR company repping Lego.

Would I review a game for the Wii on behalf of Lego?

On the phone I reasoned that there really should be something in this for me – a fee perhaps? – but typically demure, I didn’t like to ask. I said that I would be happy to do so – only for the fact that we don’t have a Wii - and then the kind lady explained that I would be gifted a brand new Wi for this purpose and I agreed without hesitation.

In the house of Holland – we do have the machine (an X box I think) on which my boys can play Fifa – all bloody day if they were allowed. This game is the single biggest cause of rows in our house and so the prospect of another screen dependent game should fill me with dread – but the prospect of something free and because of my blog was just too much to resist. All those hours and finally some payback…

Plus it would allow me to show off to my boys. Look at what your dad got for free? I am also embarrassed to admit that as soon as I put the phone down, I googled the value of the new Wi – but did not divide this figure(£249 on Amazon)  by the number of hours I guestimate to have spent on this site – far too upsetting.

Yesterday the box arrived and sure enough, I was the hero for the hour, particularly with my youngest son – who has still to properly forgiving himself for breaking my leg last year (regular readers of eclipsed will get this).

So thank you Nintendo – the review will appear on this site after the Easter weekend – and Tom has said that he will review it also. I expect that I will lose on the Lego game – perhaps even deliberately for it to fit with this blog and its theme…

And to close – and in anticipation for some of the purist readers who feel that product placement and free stuff has no place on a blog of integrity – then say, sod that and make no apologies whatsoever.

Furthermore, the Hollands are a family of six – and cars for such a number are always a challenge – so if there are any car manufacturers who would like a review (glowing) of their new six seater vehicle, then this is a good place to start…