It’s the end of July. I’ve spent a few weeks here in my quasi-summer, doing a lot of work, seeing some family and friends, eating seafood, making occasional trips to the beach, all the while continuing to worry about London real estate woes and future events. In a couple of days I’m heading back to London for a week to move out of our family home, the place we have lived for nearly seventeen years, the place where we raised our kids. The sale has been months-worth of nightmares, but we believe enough that this present deal will happen that we are making our move. Everything will go temporarily into storage and then, after returning to the States for our August holiday, we will — please God — come back to London and our newer, smaller, funkier flat by the river. It’s all very exciting and, as you can imagine, exhausting.

August will be its usual time of family-feeding (in all senses of the made-up word). Augusts are always very busy chez Guinee, and this one will be no exception. I know I will also be trying to continue to make headway on novel 3, but I think I better not promise any more blog posts until September.

But here’s what I’ll be thinking about, and what we can look forward to during the next year of my writing life:
    * a completed first draft of Novel 3…not to mention a title!
    * a Playwriting Workshop at the Ham and High Literary Festival in September
    * two September readings in Dublin with other Ward Wood writers – details to follow
    * the beginning of my position as Writer-in-Residence at The University of London’s SE Asian Department of SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies)
    * a short book tour of the East Coast of the States in October
    * participating in a panel discussion at Cambridge University’s Festival of Ideas  – details to follow
    * another stay at my beloved writing retreat, Anam Cara, in West Cork, in November
    * a reading with Peter Phillips at the Toriano Poetry Reading Series in December — again, details to come
    * then looking ahead: a month in Cambodia working with the kids of Anjali House, starting mid-March, while (hopefully) doing edits on novel 3

Phew! I ‘m exhausted just thinking about it, but happy to think that after all these years of “wishing and hoping and dreaming and praying” so much of the writer’s life, good and bad, is mine.

Wishing everyone lots of fun, sun and relaxation in August. See you on the flip side.

Love,
Sue