Busy week gone, busy week to come



The low point of last week was Tuesday. In the middle of the morning I rang the organizers of our Meet The Authors venture, scheduled for 7.15 that evening, to make final arrangements… to be told that the event had been postponed. I spent much of the rest of the day phoning the people who said they’d come, and those who said they might come, and those who I knew had heard about it, so they wouldn’t have wasted journeys to the venue. By evening I had a sore ear and a bad temper.

But Monday had been good (more work on novel, excellent time in theatre in the evening – three contrasting one-act plays) and Wednesday was better. My storytelling tutor, Sophie, had invited me to her soiree in the evening; and only a few miles from Sophie’s abode is an 18th century stately home, Kedleston Hall, which I’d never visited. So after a brisk walk with the fat dog I drove the fifty-odd miles to Kedleston, spent a lovely summer’s day there, went to the nearest town for a pub meal, and then on to Sophie’s. She’d erected a large round tent in her garden and arranged a circle of chairs and cushions in it, and buffet food was arrayed on tables just outside the tent flap. Several of us told stories and by the end of the evening I’d sold three copies of my book. I was tired when I got home (after midnight), but what a great day!

Thursday was devoted, as usual, to shopping, creative writing class, lunch with fellow-writers, and then playwriting class in the evening. Once again I was pretty tired by bedtime, but it had been another day well spent.

Friday saw the start of the Glossop Music Festival. I’d taken my elderly neighbours to the church coffee room in the morning, as is customary, and I found time in the afternoon to catch up with editing work before the pre-concert lecture at 6.30 and the excellent concerts at 7.30 and 10.00. On Saturday we had the closing concert (7.30), but before that I’d attended a one-day school on Peak District geology, run by Glossop Guild. Five hours of lectures… masses of information… brilliant, but despite the quality of the music (once again) I was on the verge of falling asleep during the concert thta evening!

Today, Sunday, I’ve written an article about the Music Festival and future Concert Society plans for our local newspapers, prepared a poster for our next Meet The Authors (Hyde, 15th July), finished my creative writing and playwriting homework exercises, and prepared stories for my one-hour gig in Droylsden Library on Wednesday morning (10.50-11.15). I shall take copies of book and CD with me and wave them around optimistically. Thursday will be its usual crammed self, with the addition of a creative focus group meeting at 7.30, and on Friday I’ll be going to Matlock for the storytelling cafe. As yet, my diary looks quite blank for next weekend!

And in the interstices of time among these events, interspersed with domestic chores and fat-dog-walking, I shall attempt to write more novel.

Leave a Comment

Logged in as - Log out