My last post here on the blog was back in September when I announced the re-release date for Kissed by a Rose. Then after a good six months of being able to find the time to work at being Marc Nobbs, things changed. It’s been a hectic few months for me since October. Not as a writer, but as a living breathing person with a job and a family life.
After the UK’s first ‘lockdown’ came to an end in the summer (not that it was much of a lockdown, in truth) both the schools went back, and the rest of the economy started to open up and my workload went up. And up. And up.
That’s actually a good thing from a business point of view. In the third quarter of the year (or more accurately, the final month of the second quarter of my Firm’s financial year and the first two months of our third quarter) we’d made up for much of the income that was lost during national lockdown—particularly May and June.
That, of course, has meant that my output as a writer slowed to a crawl. Whereas during lockdown I was brimming with creative energy, writing and editing more than I had for a good few years, since the middle of September, I was back to being so tired after work that I had no energy to write or edit.
I was, at least, able to complete the edit of Kissed by a Rose that I was working on and get the book up and available on Amazon. I also prepared a print edition, and both are now available.
Beyond that, my “to do” list from August remains pretty much intact.
The Christmas break was welcome, but once that was over it was right back to the grindstone. And after being able to get back in the office 3 days a week in the autumn, the country locked down again and I’m back working from home four and half days a week, while also supplying IT support to my wife as she tries to teach live lessons from home, and my two children who are both engaged in ‘home learning’.
I’m not complaining. I’m not making excuses. I never do. But as always at this time of year, I’m going to make a concerted effort to get back to it.
I’ve already updated six short stories on Amazon, giving new covers and updated internals to Heaven in Leather, the Ladz series (Laura, Emma, Rebecca & Carla) and Private Party. I’ve got three more short stories with new covers waiting for the internals to be updated so I can upload them, five novellas in the same state, all of which I’ll create print editions for too, four novels to update, one first draw of a new novel to review and I’m writing the first draft of another novel. I’m also working on a few short stories.
So, I’ve got lots to keep me busy.
Let’s just hope I can find the time to work on all that.
