Roland Ladley's Blog, page 31

Work, work, work

This might be short. Sorry. We came down to Mary’s on Sunday for a small lunch thing and, since then, I’ve been working at a school in Farnham. It’s a shortish commute and I get in for about 7.45. I’ve had a couple of late nights (8.30 last night) as I have to interview groups of children about their houseparent. It is … it always will be … great being back among the young. I do love interaction with young people – last night it was a bunch of boys. I have three more houses to do – boys and girls.

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my early morning work face

360 appraisals are sensitive things. Any appraisal is tough at the receiving end as every appraisal will (should) tell you those areas were you need to improve. So it’s tricky for those at the report end. It’s also tricky for me. I have to get them right – they have to be evidence based, otherwise they’re no use whatsoever. That means a lot of talking and a lot of reading. And then a lot of writing (about 30,000 words for me all told, more than I would pen as an author in a week) of which every word will be pored over. Anyhow, I have 8 out of 12 draft reports finished. Four more and then a complete revamp. In the meantime I still have about a full day’s worth of confirmatory interviews. Hurrah! It should be over by 8.30 pm on Friday.

The good news, corona virus dependent, by this time next week we should be gearing ourselves up for Spain. I can’t think about that … in case my head explodes.

More news on Sunday. Food and sleep now.

Moving on …

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our final trip to QEH Birmingham to have Jen’s drain out?

First, the good news. Jen’s had her drain out (in QEH Birmingham) and immediately afterwards she felt 1000 times better. It was the drain which was causing all of the discomfort. And since (Thursday) she’s been much better … almost back to her normal self. Which means we turn the trip to Spain in Doris back on. Which is a big hurrah.

And then, of course, there’s our government to talk about. So … I won’t. Because I know a good number of you get really frustrated with my left of centre views. Anyhow, well done Boris for getting another woman pregnant – out of wedlock. Of course you would have thought that the mainstream press had more concerning things to print about. Like the coronavirus, the upcoming Brexit negotiations (leaked government email: we don’t need farmers – that’ll be news to them), floods, the loss of a chancellor and the senior mandarin from the Home Office, Greta and the climate crisis. But no. It’s all about his new fiancee and the baby. Good on the pair of them. I hope they have a lovely life together. I do. Of course a few years ago a senor minister having a child out of marriage might have been considered a no-no in the Conservative party. But we are not a couple of years ago. Indeed, since the referendum we have passed though the looking glass. Like His Donaldness, there is now a new normal. Where lies, half-truths, perverted statistics and a set of politicians undeterred from making dubious claims and then making them again even though the veracity of their words have proven to be untrue, are the new normal.

A new normal where swathes of the press have become so politicised many of the papers and a number of the TV channels are no longer journalists, but mouthpieces for one political side or the other. Even the BBC has fallen foul, although I think it’s fair to say that there is no overall editorial direction … it’s just some journalists have been allowed to pick a side, or proffer their own views. It’s very difficult to know who to trust.

But, at least our prime minister has had a week off in a stately home to reflect on the many crises facing our country. And he should be buoyed on further now that he’s cemented his relationship with a much younger woman and is going to be a dad again. Good news. Things should be back on track soon.

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back from Birmingham, walking along the Sharpness canal

Phew.

C and I are one third the way through the second edit of book 6. Sorrel and I now have all the gear for the recording of Unsuspecting Hero and I’m offering The Innocence of Trust free for a couple of days as an ebook – so, if you want to read it click on the link. We’ve been v busy socially. In the last week we’ve separately met up with Peter and Karen, and Al and Annie … only for the six of us to come together yesterday at P&K’s for a good old reminisce. Fab.

Click if you’d like a taster for more of Unsuspecting Hero’s Audible recording

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en route to Surrey for a busy week of work

And I’m pretty sure I’ve solved the leak(s) into Doris’s garage. I haven’t quite finished the tidy up – I’ve got to waxoil the underneath and cover the areas I’ve worked on with rubber matting, but I think we’re there. Fab again.

Busy week this week. I shall give you an update mid-week … if I can find the energy. Hopefully, for all of us, it’s not going to be a week of wind and rain. Good luck with that!

All the gear …

When I look back over the past five and a bit years it’s a bit of a halcyon reflection. And part of me asks myself where those days have gone to? We lived in a motorhome for almost five years and, as a result, life was so much simpler then. We did what we wanted – nearly always on our feet, in our running shoes or on our bikes – and loved it.

This morning, as I got up at 6.30 and peddled into the MoD’s place at Abbeywood in the cold, I did reflect on whether or not the pendulum had swung too far. Two days this week, five next, two the following … the money’s good and helpful and all that, but if we continue to live sensibly it’s not absolutely necessary. And I find myself distracted from the books. And, with Jen still not well (she came out of hospital yesterday but we’re now having to take her into Birmingham tomorrow because the pain is still not under control), I am distracted further. Sure, we are still among the luckiest people alive, but we’re not browning our knees in warmer climes. That ‘gay abandon’ which we cherished and eventually took for granted, is gone. Life is back to near normal.

And yet.

I’ve had two long (one and a half hour) sessions with two civil servants today and really felt that I have made a difference. In many ways it has been a delight. I am with the school on Friday and, again, it’s a long day, but people do keep coming back. I was described today as a ‘life coach’, which I think is what I’m turning out to be. And at £320 a day, it’s not bad money, although that it absolutely at the bottom end of the consultancy scale.

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we’ve still got Cassie dog

So. The balance? I don’t know. I guess much of this is to do with the awful weather. Much to do with Jen’s operation and subsequent issues. Much to do with the fact that neither of feel as though we’re firing on all cylinders. Of course, we’re only a month back from a three week skiing trip to Chatel. What are we moaning about? I dunno …

Anyhow, the good news is that Sorrel now has all the recording equipment she needs to get on with Unsuspecting Hero’s audiobook. I still haven’t started my read through with C of book 6 (no title, but it must have the word ‘red’ in it), but we’ll get round to that. And book sales have continued to be more positive than the last 3 months on the back of offering Unsuspecting Hero for free three weekends ago. I am doing the same for Innocence of Trust this weekend. And will continue to do this each month with a new book in the series until I can work out if it makes a difference.

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Sorrel – bless her. All the gear … (it’s going to be fab)

On reflection, then. Things aren’t all that bad. We had supper with Peter and Karen on Monday night, brunch with Alasdair and Annie yesterday and don’t we have the loveliest of friends?

More to report at the weekend. Hurrah!

There’s a hole in my bucket …

Two things from me. First, Jen has been readmitted into Gloucester hospital. She was in an awful lot of pain on Wednesday night and, although they’re neither sure nor overly worried, it seems likely she has a mild infection. Her drain has gone from green goo when her pain was at its most acute to, now, more clear fluid, but there’s still a lot of it. She’s on broad spectrum antibiotics and decent pain relief. And they’re keeping her in for now. The good news is that when the drain is ready to come out, which may be some time, they can do it in Gloucester.

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3 am – waiting for a bed in Gloucester hospital. NHS have been brilliant, as always

I relieved James on Wednesday night (so he could go to work the next day – I cancelled mine) and then C and I have been up and down to the hospital until today … James is on duty now. We will go and see her tomorrow. Again, I don’t think anyone is panicking … just being cautious.

So, with two periods of ‘no rain’ I’ve been tackling Doris’s leaking garage doors. And, as I type, I think I have rebuilt the holes (there were three of them) and made her watertight. I’m going to leave everything for now (the inside is still a mess), to check that she is watertight. It is going to rain for the next 6 months, so I should have plenty of opportunity to see if that’s the case. In two weeks, after my mammoth work at the school and before we go to Spain – and assuming there’s not leak – I’m going to finish the inside and cover it with rubber matting – so I can lift and check.

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the worst of the three holes. Hymer clearly didn’t get something right.

What was the problem? Well, having attacked and pulled it apart it it seems it’s been there for a while – ie before we bought her second hand four years ago (she’s ten years old now). Someone has tried to seal the inside of the garage door uprights with rubber sealant before, I found. This may well have stopped an obvious leak into the garage, but it didn’t solve the water ingress, which spread into wood (the only wood in the vehicle) on the bottom of the garage doors and the base of the garage, rotting here and there.

I discovered the issue about 18 months ago and thought that the leak was caused by a design fault between the garage doors and the bottom faring with rain trickling down the outside and attacking from underneath, so I took out the rotten wood from beneath the corners of the garage door, sealed and filled and waxoiled. I did a good job but actually all I did was stop the water from exiting the vehicle in the areas I’d sealed. As a result the water hung about, attacked more wood and eventually pooled in one end of the garage – which I found 10 days ago.

So what? Well I immediately sealed where the garage door frames meets the wall of the van with a bead of sikaflex. Hey presto, what was then a steady trickle of water stopped. Does this mean the seal between the doors and van wall has deteriorated over time? Or, maybe as it was bad on both sides, sealant was never applied? Without taking the doors off we’ll never know. The good news is that 95% of Hymer’s body work is a non-rotting sandwich of aluminium, marine ply and dense foam filler. So it’s just the garage floor that’s an issue.

What have I done? Well, noting that I reckon there’s over £1000’s professional’s worth of work, and when it was done originally it didn’t actually solve the leak, I asked Heath Robinson and he recommended: seal the outside first by removing as much of the rotten wood as you can; this will expose the holes; plate the bottom of the garage with treated ply, and seal with lashings of sikaflex; fill voids with expanding foam (that was fun); reseal everything with sikaflex (which you will get everywhere, including the living room sofa); wait for rain which will come at any moment and check for leaks.

Then … fill and finish the inside and cover with rubber at some time in the future.

Done the first part. Sure it’s not the job of a professional, but I know what I have done, I have complete control and it’s cost me £50 and two day’s labour. Fingers crossed.

Phew. Because of our tos and fros from the hospital (we’re up again tomorrow) Mary cancelled her visit – which is a shame. We will, however, be staying with her the whole week I’m working in Farnham so there will be plenty of time to catch up. I’m working Wednesday and Thursday next week … and I must get up to see Mum. We’ve not seen her since Christmas, although we do talk daily and she sounds fine.

Finally, C’s stomach bug lasted 36 hours and she’s now back on her feet. I’m still running. And we’ve just finished binge-watching Fargo (the series on Netflix … you may have seen the film). Absolutely brilliant providing you don’t mind lots of blood and guts.

That’s all from me …

Where’s the bucket?

We’re all a bit sickly. Jen was back in A&E Gloucester on Monday. She was sore and her drain bag was delivering puss-like liquid – not much of it, but it was stinky. Anyhow a trip

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another trip to A&E. Smiling though.

to a packed A&E (multiple beds in the corridor), a CT scan later, advice from Birmingham and it seems that she has a fistula, which I think means the pancreas isn’t healing (which is not unusual) – or she has an infection. The advice is a trip to Birmingham on Thursday.

C woke with a rubbish stomach today, has been sick and has failed to make it out of the bedroom, save to throw up. Jen phoned me this morning to say she was feeling pukey and what were we to do? As if I would know? Anyhow, the long and the short of it, Jen’s steadied and we will take her to Birmingham tomorrow and see what they say. C’s still not up, but looked better about an hour ago. I have cancelled my day with the MoD tomorrow, but will go back in again next week. I’m still only feeling 85%, like I have since Christmas, although I am still running. Could just be getting old, although my sinuses are still a pain. What we need is an elongated period of dry, sunny weather. Not much hope of that here.

Annie and Al were coming down for lunch today – but we cancelled that. He’s walking miles now, after his new hip; which is great. And fabulously, if you’ve picked up on the news that the first woman has passed P-Company, the Army’s toughest entrance test to the Parachute Regiment, that’s their youngest daughter, Rosie. Anyone who knows Rosie won’t be surprised. She is a fitness monster, an Army triathlete and as tough as they come. Well done her; really proud as a sort of ‘uncle’.

I’ve been working on Doris. Still fixing the leaks in the garage doors. I seemed to have stopped the flow of water with various sealing techniques. Next will be to cut out and replace all of the rotten wood. The good thing about Hymers is the main body and roof are all a composite sheet which can’t rot. So it’s only the garage floor which is an issue. I am looking forward to having a go. First, though, we need a break in the weather. In the meantime using Sikaflex I have resealed all of the external opening: windows, lockers etc. I did the same to the roof lights last year. Hopefully I am keeping the water out. We’ll see.

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Sikaflex … what would motorhomers do without it?

And, I’ve finished the major edit of book six. Phew. It is as good as anything I have written. I’m certain of that. The ending is … well, I think it’s as good as it gets. A double twist and very emotional. Fab. Next stage is a read aloud to C. I can’t wait for someone to listen to it and see if they get as excited as I have been about it.

Mary is down for the weekend. I then have two days work – one with the MoD and the second at the school in Farnham. Hopefully as time goes on Jen will start to pick up. We need her to be fit so we can sail off to Spain for a break!

Book, book, book …

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IKEA meatballs and chips. A rare meal out – just happens to have been on Valentine’s day. There is nothing good for me on this plate.

So, how’s the editing going? Well, funny you should ask. But, fine. Lots of writers don’t enjoy editing, but I do. There is no doubt in my mind that scribbling down 130,000 words in some sort of coherent order that sets out to entertain, trying to match the ambition of your latest novel with the previous five, ensuring consistency across the series and – above all – having a beginning, a middle and an end, is not without effort.

You may remember this year was different for me. For the first time I had competing priorities. We were going to stay at home (even the year before we took a week in Tunisia where I managed to find some peace and quiet) and I was working here and there. I set myself a target of 1,000 words a day and, as I remember it, I only failed once and exceeded many times. As a result, although I started later, I finished draft one just before Christmas. Since then, the tome has been resting. Paused. Until last week.

When I write I do edit. Many authors don’t. I always ‘trash edit’; that is I read the sub-chapter I’ve written so, when I come to do the first (and major) edit, it’s not complete nonsense. I write as well as I can, I’m as imaginative as I can be, both in terms of plot and language, but I will leave stuff that can wait that don’t come immediately to my head … small facts; names of minor characters who turned up in Chapter One but don’t appear again until Chapter Five. And I use a thesaurus – all the time.

And then, after a soak … this time just over a month … I start.

I try to keep a record of what’s happening. Names and dates etc, but that always falls by the wayside, mostly because I can juggle the details, or at least find what I’m looking for by Ctrl-F. I do a chapter at a time; they’re all separate GoogleDocs. Current plan is a chapter a day, but I am doing better than that. And I am ruthless. First chapter read is a major run through; second, straight after, is another look see. And then I cut and paste into the whole novel. Currently I’m on 15/19 chapters and the word count is 97,000. I think the final tally is over 130,000, another epic (that’s a technical term for any novel over 120,000 words).

[And, as there are over 17,000 words written from a US point of view, I’ve just paid one of Jen’s US friends a small amount to check on the Americanisation of what I have written. She’s done a good job.] 

I was really worried it would be rubbish. Badly written and disjointed because of my approach this time round. But, so far, I’m pleasantly surprised. Whilst different again, I think it’s a scream. Sam is brilliant – as always, and she now has a new sidekick along with Frank (and Jane). The plot comes from an idea hatched between me and my son-in-law, and it’s based in the Far East. I. Love. The. Ending. But, then again, I loved the ending of all my books and I know one or two or you have pushed back here and there. We’ll see.

Next steps? Once I’ve finished edit one, it’s a read aloud to C. Then transfer into Word for a quick and dirty proof read. And then I’m looking for four non-friend beta readers. There’s a call out on Twitter for that, but if there’s anyone reading this who doesn’t know me other than through the blog, let me know if you’re interested. Once that’s done, I’ll read it again before it heads to Rosemary for proofing. Then there’s a final read … blah, blah.

It’s not a process without effort, for sure.

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Jen’s big telly and The Walking Dead. Fab.

And the audiobook? Still waiting on one piece of equipment from the suppliers, but Sorrel tells me she has enough stuff to give some clips ago. I am v excited by that.

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oh, and the casing of my e-bike battery broke. So I fixed that.

As for the rest of the week. Well, I’ve been working on the garage leak in Doris, I spent a day with the MoD on Thursday, and, sadly, the trip to QEH Birmingham proved fruitless. Apparently Jen’s not quite ready to have the drain out. They’re going to have another look next week. But, all-in-all she’s ok.

Battening down the hatches here as Dennis does his stuff …

Deja Vu

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deja vu

I pen this sat in QEH Birmingham. Jen’s in – hopefully – to get her drain out. We shall find out in a bit. C’s sat with her at the moment, and I came up in my running kit and did 20 minutes up and down the quite lovely canal. Yes, it could do with being 15 degrees warmer, but if you have to run in winter in this country, you can’t beat a bit of canal.

Actually I’m feeling good. I had a full day with the MoD yesterday and I’m back in again next week and possibly the week after. I sense the boss may have wanted me in for longer, but I’ve got the week’s work at the school the first week in March and then C and I are hoping to pop across to Spain to say hello to Mrs Sun. It’s been an interesting time with the team, and I do feel I am making a bit of a difference. Certainly I appear to have full days … we’ll see. That begs the question as to whether or not I would take on more MoD work if it were offered? Possibly. I am absolutely on the bottom rung of ‘fees’ when it comes to consultancy. £1000 a day is not unheard of, and I charge a third of that. Does that bother me? No. Not at all. It means that I don’t feel bothered if I spend more time with individuals rather than push through a whole load. And that’s easier, in some ways, on me. Having said that my week (+) work at the school in early March is going to be tough. Twelve 360s in a week … and still at a very reasonable rate.

Having sailed through her MoT, I noticed that Doris has a damp patch in her garage. It’s

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mmm, not good, but probably worse than it looks

above where damp had started to rot the bottom panel behind the back wheels … which I thought I had sorted. I’ve done some prelims and I think it’s the same issue; that is water has tracked where I have the repair, but maybe not done it well enough. I’ve cleaned and sealed it and will leave it this weekend to check to see where the water may be coming from – it is, after all, going to rain this weekend. Apparently it might be fine Tuesday/Wednesday, so that should give me a window to sort this out finally. I’m not bothered as the garage is 6 inches lower than the main accommodation and there doesn’t appear to be any water ingress in the main shell. We’ll see.

For the record, we’ve stopped drinking. C’s idea. It’s not permanent, but it is continuous. C has a date in mind … and she seems pretty determined to stay off the red wine (ordinarily we can get through a bottle a night between us) until that date; a date I am not allowed to publish! Do we miss it?  Today is day 6. Not really. I have to have something else, like tonic water. But I can live without it. C? She’s doing fine. She gave up smoking without any plan. Just stopped. So she has the will power. We’ll see.

The books? Well, Sorrel looks set to start recording Unsuspecting Hero next week. And I’m half way through edit one of ‘a book with no name, although it will have the word “red” in it’. And, how about this email I received yesterday

Dear Roland,

It was very good to meet you at xxxx School when you came to lead the session before Christmas. I have just ordered your fifth book having thoroughly enjoyed the first four and my wife has got stuck into them too. Congratulations on a fantastic and thoroughly gripping achievement. I am so glad you told us about them and I much look forward to the next two and wonder what will happen after that! Will the world ever be safe without Sam Green? And Wolfgang?!

So I really ought to get on and do some marketing.

Hurrah!

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Cassie. Like a dog.

It’s windy over here

Jen’s home. Phew. She came back from the QEH with a hole in her stomach, a drain and a bag to collect the stuff that’s still seeping from her pancreas – of which she now only owns 70%. And no spleen. Other than two years of penicillin and other yearly jabs, the outcome should be a Jen without a dangerous cyst. And, hope beyond hope, its removal might see some progress with the issues of chronic fatigue and mental health. We’ll see. Anyhow, she’s at home and C will pop up most days until she’s completely recovered. We are all off to Birmingham on Thursday to, hopefully, have the drain tugged out. I’m loving that bit of the M5.

Whilst that storm passes and Ciara currently rattles our windows, things are still moving on with our world. Doris passed her MoT with flying colours on Friday. Sampson

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the fabulous Sampson Commercials

Commercials in Avonmouth were just fab. Whilst the yard looked like it was a back-of-beyond garage, there were more staff than vehicles, everyone was super polite and I have the confidence to take her back to them if and when issues arrive. And, at £45 for an MoT, it’s cheaper than the council place for an oversized vehicle.

I’m heads down on the first major edit of book 6. Currently a quarter of the way through, it’s taking longer than usual mostly because I’m taking longer than usual, So far, though, so good. I am not going to use my ‘friendly’ beta readers this time … that’s not because they weren’t great (and one or two of them will be reading this for the first time; I hope they understand), but I do want to try my hand at beta readers from afar. For those of you who don’t know how this works, they act like surrogate editors – but they do not proofread. That’s the final job which comes before the final edit. I’ve started to engage with potential readers via Twitter … so far, no response. But I don’t think I’ve been asking the right question. I’m confident I’ll get a few.

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editing – any position will do …

In that vein, books sales have picked up. I put our over 300 free copies of Unsuspecting Hero last weekend – without marketing, and the follow-on from that is currently positive. My (current) ambition is to use the free book vehicle as my only marketing approach, but beef it up via some decent websites. My plan is to ‘go free’ for five days at the beginning of every month with a single title. I can’t do that with Fuelling the Fire as I don’t own the e-rites, but I can with the other four. We’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime Sorrel (narrator) has set up our recording booth in her house (although it is missing a bit, which we’re waiting for from the company). The aim is still to have an Audible book out there by the end of March … which I think, now, is a tall order. But we’ll give it a go. And, concurrently, I’ll press on with book 6.

It’s not all been book related. I spent a day with the MoD on Thursday and I’m back again on Wednesday. I have a full week and a half at a school at the beginning of March. And then we should be in a position to think about heading off to Spain for a bit. Finger’s crossed.

And … and … I found 15 seconds on my run! Now at 19.55 – on Friday. And I felt good all the way round. Having said that I went out today along with Storm Ciara and I might as well have been running on the spot. But, the 20 minute barrier has been rebroken. Thank goodness for that.

That’s it from me. Hope you are all surviving the storm!

It’s all a blur

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Dominic Cummings, eat your heart out

It is. A blur. I drove home from QEH Birmingham (leaving Jen with C) to put Doris in for an MoT on Monday. I’d prepared her, fixed her horn – which always suffers with damp – and a front driving light. And she was ready. I got to the council MoT depot in Yate at 7.30, half an hour early … and it was the wrong day. My fault. It was booked in for the Tuesday. I was a day early. That was annoying.

In the end some good may have come from it. Doris is now booked in for her test at a new HGV centre, which has excellent reviews, in Avonmouth – which is both an easier place to get to and, unlike the council depot where one of the mechanics is, frankly, a pain, the guy I spoke to sounded lovely. On the bus, off the bus. Etc.

So I went for a run (still 20.10 – can’t yet find those extra ten seconds; you’ll be the first to know) and then drove back up to Birmingham.

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Jen is making progress. The pain is under control and the numbers all look good. They were hoping to take the pancreatic drain out this afternoon and she may be released tomorrow. That presents a bit of a logistical nightmare as I’m down this neck of the woods (work with the MoD tomorrow), but we’ll sort it. The next question is how long and how frequently does C spend time as nurse maid? We won’t know for a while, but at least Gloucester is considerably closer than Birmingham.

Whilst I’ve been twiddling my thumbs I’ve started editing Book 6, which was and is a real worry. Why? Well, because it’s different again and I don’t want it to be rubbish. So far (Chapter 2) I like what I’ve written and it’s all plausible, etc. But we’ll see. I know I like the ending, but it’s the bit in the middle which I’ve sort of forgotten about that is causing concern. Wish me luck.

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mmm, I hope it’s good

In the meantime the audio recording gear has arrived with Sorrel, so she’s going to have a practice. And I had a comment on Twitter from someone I don’t know asking when the

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all the gear, some idea

books will be out on Audible. The answer is, Unsuspecting Hero hopefully by the end of March. We’ll see.

That’s it from me. QEH continues to be a brilliant hospital … if you’re going to be ill, ask the ambulance driver to make a detour. Hopefully by Sunday Jen will be home and we’ll be in some sort of routine. Fingers crossed.

Good news

The good news is that Jen has had her op and it was a success. She’s out of recovery and even got out of bed today and sat in a chair. She’s still in a lot of pain but seems to be through the worst. Well done the NHS and well done QEH Birmingham. They have been remarkable. We are, all of us, v lucky to have a free at point of use medical service. Long may it continue. Jen’s likely to be in hospital for a few days and then recovery at home. Phew.

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It hasn’t been without admin. We were all up early on Friday to get her into hospital for 7 am. C and I stayed again in the Nuffield relatives’ accommodation, which is fab. That costs £40 a night for two of us, and £30 for a single bed. We’ve cooked in the community kitchen in the evening (there is a restaurant, but it’s a bit basic) and tried to fend for ourselves where we can. I’ve run a couple of times up and down the v local canal – C’s been out once, she’s on bed duty. And it’s mostly been stress free. I’m now back in Bristol because Doris goes in for an MoT tomorrow, but I shall then head back up to the Midlands. I’m with the MoD on Thursday for another day of one-to-ones, so I hope Jen’s looking to come out by then. We’ll see.

Whilst all this has been happening I’ve been working on the technical side of the audiobook of Unsuspecting Hero. The good news is James, my son-in-law – who is a coder – also (I  find out) has experience in audio recording. I didn’t know that! And he’s keen, for a small fee, to technically edit the recording once my narrator (Sorrel) has finished

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this isn’t what we bought, ours is slightly better than this. But it does give you an idea

with it. Whilst sitting around waiting for Jen to come round we found the right recording equipment and, for £265 – which seems a good buy, I’ve ordered the gear for Sorrel … and it’s being delivered to her house next week. After that we need a test recording for James to play with … and then we’re off.

It’s quite a thing. There aren’t many self-published authors who get to cut their own discs. For the record, and I won’t go into the details, the up-front cost looks likely to be about £600, just under half of which is equipment that we will own. And then Sorrel and I have decided to share the royalties. We will see how that goes. More detail to follow.

And, via Amazon, I put Unsuspecting Hero on free offer over this weekend. You can do that with Amazon (5 days out of every month). Currently it’s been downloaded over 200 times. The rule of thumb is that about half of those actually get read by the people who download. My interest, bearing in mind that sales are currently extremely sluggish, is how many readers (let’s say there are 100 of them) go on to buy one of the other books in the series. As things currently stand I should be able to pick that out, hopefully, by the end of the week.

[And Special thanks to my twitter friend, @TerryTyler4, for her support and advice. Check out her v well reviewed, future dystopian thrillers here: Terry Tyler.]

So … still going at the books. Must start the edit of book 6 (still no name) soon. Once things settle down and we can breathe easy.

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met up with old pals Robbie and Claire when I was relieved of ward duty!