May has been a bit of a blur what with the house being on the market, The Son’s GCSE exams, more paperwork for house purchases to work through, and trying to get more writing done. However…
- We’ve sold our house after only two weeks of hectic viewings and a nail-biting wait for the 11am closing date to see what, if any, offers came in. Fortunately, four offers arrived, two were a bit rubbish and two were excellent so that’s done and dusted. Everything is moving along nicely and, barring major crises, we’re moving on the 22nd July. I’ll tell more about the new house once the missives are concluded.
- The novel is chugging along and even though I’m not managing to establish the productive writing routine that I probably should, I’m feeling quite pleased with how it’s coming along at the moment. Editing is horrible though and I’m very lucky to have a wonderful beta reader who knows her stuff, likes the sort of thing I’m writing, and isn’t afraid to point out plot holes.
- Next week I’m off to XPo North – a two day event for that bills itself as “Scotland’s leading creative industries festival”. I was encouraged to submit a chunk of The Novel for an event that they were billing as a kind of networking/Dragons’ Den thing. Right up until they sent me the info last week I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to be doing. It’s actually the sort of thing that I did at Bloody Scotland and that went well so I’m not too stressed. I was in two minds about going – on the one hand I wasn’t sure that it would be of more benefit than actually concentrating on getting the novel finished but on the other, One Never Knows. The part of me that believes in serendipity won and so I’ll be heading off up the A9 to Inverness for the next on the 8th June.
- I’m trying to get back in to the habit of going to the gym regularly. I’m really unfit at the moment and working from home, especially writing, isn’t going to improve that. My posture, hunched over a laptop, is dreadful. I did manage to give myself a minor concussion last week when I fell off a Stairmaster but otherwise it’s ok. I don’t think I’ll ever understand those people who claim to enjoy a workout though – don’t they understand that a coffee and a good book are far more enjoyable? To be frank, doing the VAT return is more enjoyable but I suppose I have to accept that both VAT and exercise are necessary evils.
- The latest Little Free Library – number 36444 – has been opened a few streets away under the guardianship of book artist Rachel Hazell. It’s lovely and people are gradually starting to use it to discover new writers and share the books they’ve enjoyed. That’s it in the picture at the top of the post – as you can see, it really is a little library.
