Disruptions to our lives

There are always disruptions that happen in our lives, life never runs completely smoothly, does it? However, the important thing is how we deal with these disruptions.

An example of this is last year when we were going on holiday, we were sat having our first coffee stop when John received a message that he had to attend hospital for surgery halfway through our holiday. So, we cancelled some hotels, booked another near the hospital and continued. Okay, the holiday was a bit messed up but we didn´t cancel it. We received a frantic message from our dog sitter, “Are you coming home, do you want me to leave early, I don´t know what I will do, I have nowhere else to go!” He had heard from my brother who lives next door to us about the operation and immediately panicked, why? We didn´t panic, we just dealt with the situation.

Recently, after the launch of the Spanish books I finally settled down to drafting book 3. I was happy at writing a minimum of 650 words per day, five days per week. A nice steady progress, giving me time each day to think about the progress of the book, and its structure.

Then, one evening whilst sat with John, I remarked how an author in the US could hold a book tour much easier than us authors here in Spain, well us English speaking authors, that is. A famous author will tour the country, visiting the larger towns and cities, but a less known author could easily travel around to all the small towns in the area. Here in Spain, it is not so easy, or that is what I said to John. His reply was that, okay I could not easily do a tour, but there was no reason I couldn't organise a book fair, with other local authors perhaps, in one or two places locally where there was a larger population of ex-pats.

What a great idea! So that is what I have been doing these past couple of weeks, finding other local authors, sounding them out about my idea, contacting the town halls to see if there was a room available to hold such an event. Now we have the Spring Book Fair being held in Mojácar on Friday 25^th April, called the Spring fair as I hope to hold an Autumn one and repeat it annually. I am also trying to organise one in May in another town. Therefore, no writing, but hey, it is book promotion, so it is allowed.

Now as I am sitting at my desk typing away at this blog, I can hardly hear myself think! The kitchen extension work is finally underway and all I can hear is drills drilling, angle grinders whining and how can I even write these words with all that racket going on? I really don't know!

Well, I certainly cannot write my book under these circumstances, but at least I seem able to write these words. As far as my book is concerned, work on the kitchen only happens when John is home so hopefully, I will be back on track with my 650 words per day soon.

If not, when it is quiet and I feel inspired, I can write a couple of thousand words and “catch up.” How do you cope with sudden occurrences? Are you a “Stay Calm and Carry On” sort, or run around like a headless chicken? Also, if you are like the latter, would you admit it to me? Let me know how you cope!