A busy month, yet the calm before the storm. I am hoping to move house in October and there is so much to do. However, I managed to squeeze so much into the summer.

The biggest thing is that I have started writing again. I took advice from all my friends – to be kind to myself. While I was feeling emotionally beaten up it was impossible. I just had no motivation to write, or do much else to be honest. However, in the last week of August I went back and picked up in the middle of editing an unpublished novel. It’s standalone, and a one off story. It’s a long story, with plenty going on. My first target is to get to the end of it and then start querying again. Whether I can do that in 2026 remains to be seen.

It’s such a shame I have lost the impetus I had last year, but it is what it is. A few people have said to me that I must be giving up – no way. If anything the last year has made me even more determined. How I get my work out there remains to be seen.

I helped out at the Liverpool Book Fayre where I was the interviewer for several guests. I met some really interesting and inspiring people. One of them was such an inspiration they might just become a character in a future book. I hope to do more of that in November.

I had a day at the Test Match at Headlingley, it’s always good to see cricket live. Joe Root is hopefully steadying the ship after the chaos (and fun) of Bazball. The best day of the month however was going to London to Abba Voyage. It really is a magical experience that I would recommend to everyone.

The month also ended with a partial eclipse. I remember the last one, I was in Cornwall on holiday. This was good fun, but I suspect for most of the country a bit disappointing.