I’ve just got back from a week away and am feeling bizarrely jet lagged, in spite of the fact that I’ve only come up from London on the train today.  There’s something about being on holiday that makes you feel as if you’re in a different time zone somehow, no matter how close to home you are.  I don’t think the Isle of Wight counts as an exotic location, but it feels a million miles away already.  We spent four days walking round the coastline, and loved it, even though I threatened to spoil everything by getting a blister on the first day.  I was so sure I’d worn my boots in, too.  At one point I wondered if I was going to have to give in and get a bus, which would have been SO disappointing, but fortunately I’d taken a pair of walking sandals, so I was able to make it all the way round in the end and feel duly smug about the achievement.  So successful was the trip, in fact, that we are already planning a re-run, this time in Cornwall, to mark my own 50th birthday in September – although next time I’m going to do a bit more preparation than painting my toe nails, which was all I managed this time.  I’m lucky I didn’t get more than a blister, I think!

I have to admit I am rather stiffer than I was before I left, but I feel sure I must be thinner after 16-18 miles a day, too, and I am certainly browner.  We had wonderful weather, although weren’t sure if this was luck or the famous ‘micro climate’ on the Isle of Wight.  Either way, it was absolutely beautiful.  I had great plans to spend my time plotting, life changes as well as fiction, but in the event I found that admiring the view and putting one foot in front of another (especially towards the end of each day!) took all my attention.  It was strangely restful not really thinking about anything at all for a while.  I feel sure it won’t be long before I have whipped myself into a new frenzy about deadlines and decisions not made, but for now I’m telling myself it was good to give my brain a rest for a while. 

Tomorrow, though, I will have to get back to work.  I’m off to the RWA conference in San Francisco on 24th July, and would like to have this book finished before then, but as I’m still only on Chapter 4 of my first draft, there’s still a long way to go …