‘Everyone’s’ doing a blog these days, so why aren’t you?’ a very dear friend said to me as we were driving along the other day during a two day stock signing tour around Yorkshire. Rob’s a wonderful young man I met several years ago through his working for my daughter Lynsey whilst he was doing his degree at Sheffield University, is a true book lover, and since then somehow he’s became my unofficial tour manager.
‘Blog sounds disgusting,’ I responded, narrowly avoiding driving up a one way street. We were trying to find a certain book shop where I had a signing to do… the fifth of that day and my advancing years were beginning to severely tell on me. Actually I’m not that much of an internet dinosaur that I didn’t know what a blog is… well I think I do. ‘Anyway I haven’t time with all else I have to do,’ I said purposely disinterestedly, hoping that would be the end of it.
Rob though had the bit between his teeth.
‘That’s what you always say to people who tell you they haven’t time to write the bestseller they know they have in them.’
‘Yes, I know I do, but I really haven’t got time. I’ve a book half finished that should have been before Christmas, haven’t cleaned my house for weeks, I fear my family have forgotten what I look like and… well anyway, why would people want to read about what happens to me on a regular basis. My life is boring.’
‘Boring! It’s anything but. Your day to day has more drama in it than what happens to your characters in your novels… well nearly as much, and thousands of people love reading about them so I’m sure they’d like to know what’s happening to the woman who writes them while she’s writing them if you see what I mean.’
‘Do you think? Are you sure we’re in the right town as we’ve been around this bit three times and there’s no sign of the shop we’re after?’
‘Of course we’re in the right town as it’s me that’s navigating. So you’re going to do one then?’
‘Do what?’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, a blog?’
The shop I was looking for then miraculously appeared so blog’s and all else but the matter in hand was forgotten about and another miracle happened as right at the front of the shop was a parking space, miracle indeed considering we were in a busy town centre. Obviously the council planners thankfully hadn’t gotten around yet to full predestrianisation in that particular town.
When we emerged from the shop an hour later me armed with a bag of books I’d bought, doing severe damage to my bank balance, I’d completely forgotten about blog’s but Rob though hadn’t. Immediately we were on the road to the next venue twenty or so miles away and only ten minutes to get there through rush hour traffic, I was mortified to hear. ‘So about this blog…’
‘Oh, for f…’s sake I’ll do it, I’ll do it, if it’ll only just to shut you up about it,’ I cut him short.
So under extreme pressure I agreed but still hadn’t a clue what I’d write about. As I fought to drive amid other’s hell bent on getting to their destinations ahead of us seeming unmindful whether all of us arrived in one piece, my brain started working then. There was the time when… that would give the readers a laugh. Then there was…. Oh, they’d relate to that…. And they’d definitely have a shock when I told them about what happened to me a week ago in the snow when I narrowly escaped death…. And sometimes it’s good to air your views on topical issues. Actually the more I thought about it the more I liked the sound of it. The rest of the journey was spent recounting past incidents during my seventeen years of beavering away trying to write my books, up until six years ago whilst still working full time in an office, some hilarious incidents, some not so hilarious, ones even needing wads of tissues to dry tears and always ending off with ‘That’s one for the Blog.’
So here I am. I can’t promise to write every day or the two books a year I am under contract to write will never get done and then I risk the wrath of my legions of ardent fan’s and possible new ones, and my publishers won’t be very happy and neither will the taxman but certainly as regular as I can… I’ll try for once a week but do promise once a fortnight.
See you shortly then with the tails of the trials and tribulations of life as a writer, woman, mother, grandmother, friend and all else heaped over this head of mine that I have to deal with. Sometimes I do question why I was put on this earth and hopefully one day I’ll find out!!!
Best regards
Lynda x
