It’s my birthday!

Well, almost! Tomorrow. There will be bands, banners, drinking, and violence. Which sounds like a memorable, but unfortunate, party. It’s the Twelfth here, though, so this is all for Good King Billy not, despite what I thought as a child, me.

That’s fine though.

And I’m not being sectarian, before anyone asks. But roots of the day aside, there’s a lot of drinking on the twelfth and usually that leads to at least a few people getting their neb kicked in. One memorable day I was driving home in the afternoon and I saw a man get hit in the head with a bottle. Very cinematic.

Rhys Ford to me: Oh my god! Did you get him to hospital?

Me: What?

Rhys: When you stopped.

Me:….

I’m not getting involved in a midday brawl outside a pub. That sort of thing ends with the police asking what you saw, and I’m a bad liar.

Anyhow, this year there’s been one fatal fall, a bunch of people in effigy on bonfires, and a lot of bad feeling about the BBC not covering it anymore. I won’t be going — to the parade or the bonfires — so I’ll probably visit family, walk the dogs, and then catalogue all my book stocks ready for…

UK MEET and GRL.

It’s only two months until UK Meet! Can you believe it? I’m shook. I’m sad that Rhys won’t be able to go this year, but I’m hoping to see her at GRL still! She has said that she’ll try and chuck some swag/books our way so we can have stuff for fans on the day.

Meanwhile, having dillied, dallied, and got a new puppy this year I am RUNNING LATE on my preparations.

I have to sort out:

A: My pre-order list

B: Swag for the most recent books.

C: …ummm, transport to get me there.

D: Panel outlines

I do have accommodation sorted! And my passport is valid for another year….something I’d been stressed about for at least five months. Not that I need a passport to go to England, despite Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol, but I don’t have my license back yet. So I might need my passport to use as a photo ID.

…oh, and I’ve not lost my license for any nefarious reasons. I had a seizure back in February, so the DVA pulled my license and I’ve had to apply for it back. I SHOULD have it back soon–the rules are six months, which puts me in the clear this August–but they still have a lockdown backlog apparently. So who knows.

Which is all, if I am honest, a very long list of excus—REASONS–that I’m behind with everything this July. There’s a lot to try and get done! I am trying not to be hard on myself about it. It doesn’t help, and I do have a tendency to spiral once I start to feel bad. At which point I get ever LESS done.

I’ve got a fair amount done this year! I released Dirty Job on July 5 and I’m nose down in the next Digging Up Bones now. I’ll get back on track.

…but a flight to Southampton is DEFINITELY high on the list of things to sort out.

If you wanna wish me a Happy Birthday you can find me here!