A Day in the Life
My Threads timeline this week has been full of people fretting about retirement — specifically, the fear of having nothing to fill the days once the working part of life stops. I read so many of these posts that I started paying closer attention to my own Sundays. Here’s what mine looked like this week. Judge for yourself whether “nothing to fill the days” is a problem I’m ever likely to have.
It started at stupid o’clock, having fallen asleep at half-time the night before and woken up determined to catch the second half of England v France. Some sacrifices are worth making.
Before I’d properly surfaced, several messages had come in from my cover designer. He’s deep into The Fifth Film and giving the entire Frankie series a spruce-up at the same time, and he had some genuinely great ideas. We spent most of the day batting them back and forth — the kind of conversation that’s easy to lose an hour to without noticing.
Then the usual admin: checking sales figures, tweaking advertising budgets, all the unglamorous plumbing that keeps the glamorous part possible.
Somewhere in there I fell down a rabbit hole researching the clearance of illegal fly-tipping sites. Don’t ask. Writers are always warned that our search history will one day be used against us, but honestly, I think the real cause for concern is the people who dream this stuff up without needing to look it up first. In my case, at least there’s a paper trail explaining myself.
The research wasn’t wasted — I wrote a crime scene for the next Carrie book, which, by not much of a coincidence, is set at an illegal fly-tipping site.
I also reviewed two chapters of the audiobook version of Fair Play. Perdita is doing a brilliant job with it, and all being well it should be out before the end of summer.
Then a nap. I’m getting on a bit, and I’m not going to apologise for it.
Once I’d come round, I drove out to the Yorkshire Dales for a stroll and a sit on a bench — what I like to call “plotting,” because it sounds more productive than it looks from the outside. David Mitchell’s Back Story kept me company in the car, and it’s very funny.
Home in time for the World Cup Final, a decent steak, and a bottle of Spain’s finest.
Who knows what Monday will throw at me. But if this is what an ordinary Sunday looks like, retirement can wait.
My reading this month
Okay, I’m slightly obsessed with MW Craven at the moment, but Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are such fabulous characters and The Final Vow is a great read.
If you spot me looking lost at the Harrogate Crime Festival this week, be sure to come and say hello.
Roy