Autumn scribblings
What’s not to love about Autumn? I always feel sad about the end of summer, but then unpack all my chunky knits and put the winter duvet on and am momentarily glad it’s here. At least until the dog needs a bath after every walk, anyway.
Autumn is always a busy time of year for me, but this year it feels like I’m juggling lots of different pencils. Here’s what I’m writing right now:
Strictly Come Dancing liveblogs
I talked about this in my last blog, but OMG WHAT a series. I’m loving every minute of it, and getting back into the liveblog feels like hanging out with old friends. There’s quite a lot of preparation for each episode, so I make a start on Monday and do an hour a day. It makes it easy to fit around work and means I’m completely ready by Friday and can spend Saturday away from the laptop until the liveblog starts.
Some thoughts about…belonging
For my day job I work for an employer brand agency in Bristol, which means writing lots of copy and proposals and Powerpoint presentations. And stuff for LinkedIn too – last week I wrote a piece about the importance of feeling like you belong at work. Employers think that all their people care about is money and benefits, but that’s not true. Of course these things matter, but we also want to feel valued and listened to and supported and respected. It’s astonishing how difficult this is for some businesses to get their head around.
Final final edits for Book 2
I’ve had edits back from my publisher – nothing big, which was a relief. So I’m making final amends and taking the opportunity to make sure I’m 100% happy with it. Once it’s gone back I won’t be able to make anything but the smallest of tweaks, so it’s now or never. It also now has a title, which is EXCITING. I definitely haven’t been writing titles, because it turns out I’m rubbish at them, but luckily I have the support of a brilliant editorial team who do this kind of thing every day.
Book…4? Or 5? Or 6?
Book three is also written, but final edits won’t be done until later in the year. In the meantime I hate not writing anything, so I’m noodling around with a new idea. Will it be Book 4? Not sure, probably not. But fun to write, and a little bit different from the other three books I’ve written. It’s so interesting to explore different ideas and voices and see what feels right/fun/interesting. I’m sure there will come a time when I’m completely drained of ideas, but right now I feel inspired by lots of things. So I try to write 1000 words a day, usually half before work and half before bed. It doesn’t always happen, but there are only so many pencils I can keep in the air!
Happy October. What are you doing?