Colin Harvey – author

So tonight the Christmas decorations come down, and its back to normal.

Actually, it’s been back to normal for a couple of days,except that as I’m self-employed I can stay in bed and read books and count that as work. This morning I fell asleep and lost whatever momentum I may have gained!

Most of the last couple of days have been spent on critiquing, and working through the critiques I get from others.  But it’s also been time to prepare for next week’s return to uni and the inevitable assignment.

And saddest of all, yesterday it was time to take the tree down. From now on, I won’t be able to switch the lights on in the lounge, and get that sense of holding the darkness at bay. I think that that’s what makes January tougher in some ways than December. We’re half-way out of the darkness, as Stephen Moffatt wrote.

But it doesn’t feel like it.

With all the frantic goings-on yesterday, what with cheese-buying, Clarke-posting and interviewing (and here’s a hint — if you’re going to pick a venue to be interviewed in, avoid Bath City Centre in the Christmas run up) I completely forgot to mention that my entry on the Angry Robot Advent calendar was up.

Now, where did those Icelandic elves get to….?

We’ll be heading south in a little while, so I’m racing to get this done before we go — I’m never quite sure how good internet reception will be down there. We were due to go down next weekend, but Kate’s been getting a little stressed about the whole Christmas thing; part of that is worrying about whether we can get down there before Christmas to drop the family presents off, or whether we’ll get snowed in.  If we head down this weekend, the whole issue becomes moot.

And I can afford to take a weekend away, since I finished the revision of Ultramassive yesterday, and am reasonably on top of university work. In fact, I’ve been using the worksheet to control my workload rather than it controlling me, to establish where I’m neglecting key particular chunks of work. I find it far more helpful to look at work at a strategic level than simply scribbling down tasks piecemeal.

It’ll be nice to have a break from the routine, and (maybe) go for a walk along the beach. Weather permitting, of course; that’s always the caveat at this time of year. Although it’s generally warmer along the south coast, it also tends to be wetter.  Pictures like this one -taken last February- are the exception, rather than the norm.

Back tomorrow for the last week of term. Wow! Where has the time gone?

Today’s blog entry is cookery related — always a subject close to my heart!

Last night’s entertainment