A vortex of ideas is flying around my head like candy floss. The whirling strands are trying to adhere to the wooden stick and weave themselves into the patterns that will be the framework of Danny3. In tandem with my third Danny Lancaster crime-thriller – following on from the Wreck Of The Margherita and Death Squad – I am working on a travel book. Drawing on my 600,000-word travel diary of snippets that never made it into the feature articles, it will feature some of the wonderful people and places I have encountered doing the best job in the world.
Oh for more hours in the day.
The Facebook Twit Lits Book Club are still making me graft with a steady flow of sharp and detailed Q&A questions about The Wreck Of The Margherita which was their May book of the month.
And chuffed that Waterstones Brighton liked my post.
I’ve nearly finished Mark Billingham’s Tom Thorne novel Good As Dead, a 100mph hostage thriller.
I wander fairly randomly around my To Read list , paperbacks and ebooks, picking and mixing according to mood. I won’t buy hardbacks. They’re too expensive, don’t fit on top of the cistern and hit me on the nose when I nod off reading in bed. And when will we see the bath-proof Kindle?
It’s a joy to get away from the city to somewhere remote and serene. But it’s not easy when you have work to do and net access is not so much wi-fi as when-fi or, should the wind blow the wrong way, very if-fi.
One must-have travel accesory is the Google Sky Map free app. It’s a fantastic piece of kit, a GPS-guided star chart which can search or jump in time – Patrick Moore in your pocket.
…and finally, asked a Greek waiter for a menu. He smiles. “Is changing every day. I memorise. I am the menu.”