I seem to have neglected this blog, and I firmly believe this is due to an ever increasing workload. I’m hard at work on another draft of “Countdown to Extinction” and have been busy sending out tons of things to magazines and the like. I’ve also been hard at work on the ‘day’ job and never seem to have a minute to myself.

I suppose that’s modern life for you. So many things and so little time to do them in. I’ve been very creative this year, so I suppose I should not worry too much about easing off a little for a couple of months. Let’s face it: there are many things taking up my time between organising a wedding and several other social commitments. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.

The ‘day’ job is starting to get a little flakey. There just isn’t the overtime that there was, and I seem to be forever chasing the work now rather than it coming to me. I’ve talked with my agent about moving over to different areas, and they’re in agreement that this might be wise and they’re going to look into a client down further south. It means the end of being able to walk to work, but sometimes a change is good. I get bored easily doing much the same thing in the same place so I sort of welcome a change. Apparently, I’m told, the 15th of Septemeber is the magic date when they can pretty much guarentee placing me with another client. What a coincidence: that’s the official release date, if I remember correctly, of my newest book. A new job in time for the big official release of book number six on the World would make for interesting times.

I’ve been thinking about children’s books of late. I’ve spent a lot of time revisiting my childhood with acquiring copies of the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazon books (there are twelve – I have them all now), and a multitude of Enid Blyton. There is something about good children’s books; they are timeless and always a good read regardless of age of the reader. Unfortunately I cannot say the same of most children’s books being buplished in this day and age. Instantly forgettable most of them are. It led me to wonder whetehr I could add another genre to those which I have written in. I fancy trying my hand at tales of the Summer holidays with boats and ginger beer and the innocence of youth where every day was a collossal adventure. It is certainly something that I am more than idly looking into.

Yesterday I spent the day with a very good friend who I haven’t seen in person for a long time. She came down on the train from Preston and we went out for a meal at a local restaurant followed by a girls’ afternoon in chatting over a bottle of wine (the best way of course!). We must do it again some time. For a change the weather actually perked up. For the last couple of months you could have been forgiven for thinking that Britain was in the midst of Monsoon season, but the last two days have brightened up and are looking rather nice. However I suspect on a bank holiday weekend some fool will jinx it all by wheeling out a barbecue and lighting it up in their garden. There is no known better way for making it rain.