Whirlwind

Thanks to the BBC Weather site for the photo. Though to be an accurate picture of my life just now, the willow tree should be flailing wildly and a good number of slates starting to lift ...

I didn't plan for there to be so much going on in the last weeks of the summer - all I did was say Yes to stuff. Between now and the day I go to Hawthornden for the writer's retreat, I have committed myself to 5 Wickit Chronicles events, 3 Tales from the Keep events, 1 Questors/Seventh Tide event, a Summer Reading Challenge medal ceremony, 6 train trips, 2 flights and a job interview (about which I am saying nothing, for fear of jinxing it). I have just finished the editing for Night of the Kelpies for Barrington Stoke and The Case of the London Dragonfish for Catnip Books. I'm almost finished the final draft of The Case of the Glasgow Ghoul. And the Teachers' Notes for the Wickit books need to be finalised and got up on the website ...

Am I telling you this so that you can go "Oooo - she's so busy - she must be really important and popular!"? No. The moral of this story should probably be closer to "Oooo - she's so busy - why can't she plan her life better? She must be really dumb!" On the other hand, which of the things I'm going to do would I want to lose? And there's the problem - there isn't anything I wish I'd said No to.

So wish me luck and good health (this would be a REALLY bad time to get Swine Flu - as opposed to all those other GOOD times to get it.)

Cheers, Joan.