This week, I’ve been busy with work again and being the Easter weekend have been doing family things and tidying up the house. On Friday, Kate was feeling a bit run down. One of Braydon’s friends was on a bike ride and saw the kids in the garden, and asked if he could stay and play for a bit. It was actually really good. It kept them occupied, but I did end up spending time watching over them and still trying to clean things up. And then in the evening, I checked the local football pitch with my Assistant Coach and Chairman. As suspected, the pitch wasn’t playable for the next day. Despite all the sun, it was still very wet in places, and it also had about 4 inches of grass at one end. And the clubs mower is in getting serviced.

On Saturday Kate’s mum and dad and sister and niece came to see us. Obviously they were coming down whether Brayden and I had football or not, but not much time to do any writing. But it was great to see them. Ashton (my 11-year-old) cooked with quite a bit of help from his nanna, and the food was really good.

Then on Easter Sunday, I had to take Brayden to a birthday party.

Again, I’ve found my most creative and productive times being away from my desk. That’s becoming a regular occurrence. This time I spent 15 minutes dictating in the car on Wednesday whilst journeying back from somewhere, 10 minutes doing the same on Friday, and then just over an hour on Easter Sunday when Bray was at his birthday party, dictating whilst I took the dog for a walk and then finishing what I was composing in the garden.

I’ve now spent a large part of Sunday – over 2 1/2 hours focus time (I know I’ve been measuring it), but I seem to have taken up far more elapsed time doing other bits and pieces – putting it all together and giving it a first pass edit. I think I’ve said in the past that so many books on the subject say you shouldn’t do this; you should just write. I can’t. I do manage to stop myself spending forever on a particular word or phrase that can come later, but I still can’t put down something that is obviously awful to me, even if it’s just a first draft.

All in all, I’ve had a successful week. I’ve added 2311 words to the narrative and written the next scene. Jack, The Exile, Julia and Grey have broken the Crown Prince out of his imprisonment. Now they just need to get him to the Professor.

I keep thinking I might get a second scene written, but so far, no such luck.

Thank you for reading.