Sounds like something I should be saying in the confession box!
Sometimes life just seems to get in the way of catching up on those little jobs you know you really should be doing - like updating this blog. It all comes down to having to work for a living. Without my day job I could afford the luxury of thinking, writing and blogging all day every day - unfortunately the thing I would not be able to afford to do would be to eat! And, of course, going out to work gives me the chance to meet and interview people and get ideas for the articles.
I have written on some really interesting subjects in recent weeks and the end results are popping up in Nov and Dec issues of several nursery mags - taking kids to the panto, making music with bottles, left-handedness, simple science with magnets, Road Safety Week, activities involving moving backwards and sideways, child bereavement, and hairdresser role play (for the under 5s, not something kinky that adults do with the straighteners!)
And I have been trying to sell copies of my great little granny book - about 25% of them have gone now, and the others are languishing in their box like moody teenagers reluctant to get out of bed, let alone leave home! But it's still early days.
Had a go at some more poetry for children in response to a request from MacMillan to send in stuff for a new Key Stage 1 anthology for schools.I have sent them five, on various subjects, so hopefully one or two might get into the book.
Oh, but I do miss the fiction - it's been taking a backseat to the commissioned non-fiction that pays the bills. I did win the Saturday challenge at Write Invite again last week though - my fourth win this year, and I am nestling nicely in the top 5 or 6 in their winners' league table. And Peoples Friend have sent me two more illustrations they need stories for, so these are now pinned to my wall and constantly staring at me in a menacing way until the inspiration arrives and I give them a suitable plot to make them go away.
If only I had the time to write the wonderful bestselling novel that's knocking away inside my head. It's all in there bursting to get out but... Of course, I have to make the time - just as soon as Strictly Come Dancing is over, Corrie have had the tram crash and I know for sure who dies (can't trust the rumours!), and I have done my Christmas shopping. Like I said, life sure does get in the way...
