Kiddie illness… and writing

No one ever tells you that a minor illness in a minor can cause such chaos. The last week has seen tonsillitis in a 1 year old, a double ear infection in a 2 year old (leading to an impressive perforated eardrum) and a deadline to finish the final edit of Spike Book 3 (HOLLOW MOUNTAIN). The result has been a curious combination of shelving the work, worrying about the infants, then getting more done in a brief hour of baby-monitor silence than would usually occur in five hours of happy cooing. Cyril Connolly famously fretted about the ‘pram in the hallway’ (try the double pram, I would have said), but the flipside of that is an enviable focussing of the mind.  HOLLOW MOUNTAIN is due out on April 10 this year. I think — hope — that it’s leaner and meaner than any of its prececessors, but if it isn’t, blame the Calpol…