Where have I been?!

Oh dear.  It has been exactly a month since my last proper blog post (can you tell I was educated at a Catholic school? That sounds very like a confessional!).

The last review I wrote was of Clay by Melissa Harrison.  That same evening I went to an event at a local library and met Melissa.  She read a passage from her book and then spoke to lots of readers, including me.  It was lovely to meet her, chat about her influences and her memories of Guildford, which was her haunt as a teenager (actually her words were “I used to come here for nights out and to snog boys” brilliant!).  She also brought a lovely box of things, which were instantly recognisable as TC’s bits and bobs he keeps under his bed.  She read my review while on the train to the event and we talked about skills and knowledge handed down through generations.  She told me a sad story about a horrible break-up that drove her to Dartmoor to be alone to get over it.  While she was there she remembered things from her childhood – trees, birds and plants and this knowledge memory acted as a form of therapy.  She said her next challenge is to teach herself to identify trees in winter.  To a lot of readers our conversation may seem dull, boring and a bit geeky, but we also had a sideline chat about Mixmag magazine (I used to read it – she used to write for it), which shows neither of us is as square as our map/trees/birds chat might suggest!

Anyway, none of that explains where I’ve been for four weeks.  I haven’t been anywhere – just here.  I’ve had a lot on my mind – not necessarily a lot on my plate, but certainly lots to think about and take up my head-space and it’s distracted me from writing.  One thing distracting me at the moment is applying for jobs.  I haven’t applied for a lot, but those I have been interested in, I’ve spent a long time thinking about and preparing my application.  My time out of the job market has helped me forget how time consuming it can be.

Although I’ve not been updating the blog, I have been reading.  I’ve read a couple of interesting books over the last month, but I haven’t read anything that’s really got my heart racing and kept me up late at night wanting to find out what happens, which may also be why I haven’t written much.

I feel like I’m back on track now and want to get some reviews up on the blog over the coming weeks, so watch this space and thanks for being patient!