Isolation continues for me. I was just thinking that I might feel like going for a socially distanced walk when the idiocy factor ramped up and folk flocked westward in their droves. I’ll sit tight as the second wave tsunamis in; unfortunately I think it is inevitable. I do know that I am lucky to have this option. I am pleased for those who can now meet family in parks and gardens. It does make it hit harder that the gardens I’d want to socially distance in are 300 miles away though. So, I’ll continue to #staysafe, grit my teeth and enjoy my own garden. Suddenly, the facts that the single baby blue tit has fledged and the poppies are blooming seem hugely significant.

This latest update is mostly about books though. I am gearing up for the cover/title reveal for novel #2. It is now in the hands of the publishers. There really are only so many times you can delete a comma and then put it back again on the eleventy billionth read through. I am looking at today’s appalling worldwide news stories and sadly, the book’s theme of intolerance is all too relevant. I am excited to report that the talented Dan Britton has written a companion song for this book too. Recording it under lockdown conditions was challenging but the end result is perfect. The plan is that it will be available, along with two other tracks on a similar theme, on 29 August, along with the book. Ninety days to go! Don’t forget that I am gradually leaking hints about its contents.

In other writing news, I’ve been commissioned to write a school textbook and that is finally making progress. My online One-Place Studies course for Pharos is ready for presentation in September (bookings are already coming in and more than a third of the places are filled). I am looking forward to speaking about writing your memories for Crediton Literary Festival on 6 June. There are some excellent talks, you can attend from anywhere in the world and better still it is free. All you have to do is apply for the link to join the audience.

I am getting some exciting invitations for online presentations so watch this space. Thoughts are turning to ‘what next?’ I am playing with an idea that is set in the seventeenth century again but not Devon related. I am wondering if I can write ‘at a distance’, as I normally work by immersing myself in the locations. I am also thinking of reviving my collection of North Devon emigrant stories and I may work these two alongside each other. Then again, I might just sit and do nothing!

I have been working on ‘writing-up’ the accounts of a few more branches of the family that have been neglected over the years. These are not beautifully crafted stories crammed with context, that’s just what I advise my students to produce! At least if I can get the broad outline done, I can add the flavouring later. Some of these offerings do appear on my website. Woolgar, Bulley, Dawson and Hogg are amongst the more substantial accounts, if you are thinking of taking a look. Currently, I am working on the sorry tale of a shipwreck that took place during the Napoleonic Wars, when the vessel went aground off the Dutch Coast but the crew thought they were in the Humber Estuary.

By the way, if anyone is wondering abut the fate of the parcels mentioned in my previous post, they arrived relatively unscathed.