Madness and Mayhem

Where has the summer gone? Both a bit bushed …

Madness and Mayhem

Well that’s been a bit of a time. Two weeks of madness and mayhem. For most of the time we’ve had Bex, Steven and Henry with us. And it has been a delight. I’ve rehearsed how I feel about him so many times … and you might have thought that feeling would change over time. But it hasn’t. He’s hilarious. And lovely. And he doesn’t show off. Or moan too much. He sleeps until 7.30 and he goes to bed to order (although he always falls asleep with an adult). He loves the outdoors and, once inside, he doesn’t play with adult stuff, such as ornaments. He eats well – savoury before sweet. But, to repeat, he’s hilarious. Just the best fun. And, having dropped the three of them off at Heathrow just now, I miss him already.

miss him already

Doubtless things will change over time. And the connection I feel for him will change too. But I’m ready for that. What a summer.

Whilst that’s been going on I have, rather boringly, been working. It’s not quite been all day, every day, but those of you who know me, know that I am a recovering workaholic. Currently I’m still helping my pal, but have found myself stepping deeper and deeper into the business. It’s fascinating and, and with any role which deals with people, I love that bit of the interaction. I have made a promise that I will step back from what I’m doing at the end of the month as we plan to head off to Spain for a couple of months. Between now and then (three weeks) I sense that I’m going to be working pretty much full time. Oh well.

oh, and we went to Derby to get the Focus a new cambelt. I should tell you about that one day. This is a 5-mile walk C and I did along the canal

Then I intend to write book nine in the Sam Green series. I normally write September to December, edit in the Spring, and then publish in the summer. I’d like to think I can manage the same this time. And … and it’s a big and, I’m meeting with a marketing person at the beginning of the week after next. I’ll amplify later but, in short, what I hope to be able to do is spend some money and, if nothing else, get the same return – a zero sum gain. Those of you who have been following me forever know that I would plump for 10 books a day; 300 books a month; 4000 books a year. This is perfectly achievable if I can just find the right marketing formula. So what I hope to do is to pay someone to pull that off. There would be no return, but there may be some organic growth that comes from that. We’ll see.