Back in sunny London

It's odd. Being away it's as though nothing was happening anywhere else. Just us enjoying the sun in between the showers and the sights and smells. Now it's all over again and I have to get used to getting my head around the fact that the book is being published next week. From a thought to a paperback. Quite something.

I have the piece in Stella coming out on Sunday. Then the launch and now an interview on Radio 4's Excess Baggage regarding repatriation! Well, I think I remember enough about that! My presentation skills are something to be desired. I'm practicing but it's hard... Hopefully I won't make too much of an idiot of myself. I don't really know what everyone expects. Googling the book and it shows up on all sorts of sites; one of which is solely dedicated to mental illness - so I've hit the button there, then! Presumably once it goes there, then other mental health resources will show it too... Three books about mental health problems were reviewed in the papers last weekend. God - you wait for a bus, then three come along at once!

More sunshine!

Two successive days of sunshine and heat... Wonders. Florence is such an extraordinary place to visit. Crowded but not vastly so that you can't get to see the paintings in the Uffizzi or the simply amazing frescoes. Looks like Mainstream are going for radio too. Apart from phoning in on the Vanessa show, I've not done that before... More wonders: Zach found his way back to England from Morocco. As we had not heard from him, we had visions of 'official' phone calls and requests for funds... I hope that the summer mania is not a part of the whole...

When will the rain stop?

It's been raining pretty much continually since we've been in France and are now in Florence. When we arrived, the sun was shining - within the space of about five minutes - the heavens opened and a storm let loose and we've had thunder and lightening and the rain was torrential. Well, I suppose it will then leave me enough time to start preparing myself for thinking about what I will say on launch night. I keep trying to practice my public speaking - unused to so doing... Who do I thank and how long do I take to thank everyone without everyone else falling asleep? I note that the book has been number 1 in the Amazon 'forthcoming titles: drug and alcohol abuse'! Such a claim to fame...

...umm - full of good intentions

Having written the first blog, I had good intentions of writing something stimulating in the second... It's not easy. Suffice to say that I was asked for and have written a piece for Stella Magazine, the glossy weekend mag. that is part of the Sunday Telegraph. It's in their First Person genre. Will be published the weekend of the 29th June (my wedding anniversary - apt!) At least it's been sunny today... 'Zach' has been in Morocco for the past week and, instead of coming home in two weeks' time, he's decided to return a week earlier. I hope that's a promising outcome... To France tomorrow - at 5.00am to catch a ferry. Ouch!

Countdown to the launch!

I keep being asked if I'm excited. I'm not sure that I am - more filled with an anxiety that I can't do it. Stand up in front of everyone I've asked to come along and then speak about why I wrote the book in the first place and then have to read from it. It's a daunting concept for someone totally unused to this kind of exposure. Maybe I'll take some lessons in public speaking... Maybe someone can give me some tips!