Rest

Today is the first day after four months of doing events. From Newcastle to Cornwall. 117 events. Over 3000 people.

The last few days I've been in Surrey and Sussex and Southampton. (And Liverpool.) As I got to the end I was feeling more and more in need of a break.

The highlight of the tour came on the penultimate day. In Bognor Regis. A six year-old girl was grilling me on being an author. Why do I write books? Why do I only write about football? That sort of thing. Then she asked:

Do you ever get time to play?

And it made me think.

I was supposed to be spending the next ten event-free days writing the first draft of a book Puffin want to publish in October 2009. I was going to blitz it. But, when that girl asked what she asked, I decided I'd do something else. I called my editor at Puffin. I asked if I could submit the book a month later. She said Yes, of course.

So now I have time to play. Ten days. Here's what I'm going to do:

Monday: take my daughter swimming
Tuesday: take my wife swimming, then go for lunch
Wednesday: see a few mates in London
Thursday: go to see a film with my wife
Friday: go for a walk in the Lake District with the poet Craig Bradley (www.craigbradley.com if you're interested)
Saturday: take my daughter to her first home Leeds United game
Sunday: meet a friend and his daughter in the Lake District
Monday: ?
Tuesday: ?
Wednesday: ?