Well, anyone who has been following me knows I haven’t updated much on here recently. Life has got in the way and my commitment to update this blog every Sunday has not happened.

But what have I been doing? Well, here goes.

I’ve been running my son’s under 10 football team in the mid-Gloucestershire mini-league. This year we reached the cup final. A large part of my non-work time has been spent trying to work out how to give them the best chance of winning in the game. The team they played had beaten them heavily in their league away game (I wasn’t there because of a work commitment and didn’t see first-hand how it panned out) and we then beat them in the return fixture (albeit they were missing some of their players). For the final I wanted to try to find some ways of helping the team succeed. As it happens, it didn’t work out. We lost quite heavily, a combination of naivety of what happens in cup finals (the time before the game is different), the kick-off time being at 12-00, the extreme heat that day and the fact that the opposition were better than us. Could we have won? I think we could, but a lot of things had to go for us, and they didn’t. But I’ve learned and if we get that far next year, hopefully I can pass it on to the players.

That was on 29th April. As I mentioned, I spent a large amount of time the week before focussing on the football. The week after, we decided to take advantage of the bank holiday and a teachers’ strike day to go away for the week. Myself, my wife and my three children went to Butlins in Minehead. I did take my writing things with me. I did get to do some writing, but it was difficult to focus in the time that I had. We had a very small apartment, and I spent most of my time with my family.

However, on the weekend just gone, I did get some writing done. I added 2,500 words to the first draft on Sunday. If you’ve read my previous blogs, you’ll know that I dictate and then stitch the adjust various dictation sessions together. I was then able to get in nearly an hour of dictation on Bank Holiday Monday. Again, if you have read my previous blogs, you’ll know that I often struggle to focus. We decided that fish and chips from the chip shop would be a good idea on Monday night. I find that dictating (with a headset and dictaphone) whilst driving is one of the best ways for me to focus. There is nothing else that can distract me. And once I’m in the zone, I continue even when I’m out of the car. It’s that initial focus that I find challenging.

The story is getting interesting. Jack and the Crown Prince have escaped from one dark situation and been taken to the Professor. However, they find the Professor entertaining Kamran. It is Kamran who has disinherited the Crown Prince! Why is he talking to him? The things they hear make them question everything.

My next task is to write up what I dictated in the car, probably with a few adjustments and may be one more short dictation session. I keep reading to get the first draft down quickly and I get that, but I’m not convinced I’m entirely happy with the flow of what I’ve written. My first drafts are never perfect, but, probably because I’m still a novice, I can’t help but make them as good as I can without spending an age correcting them.

Thank you for reading.