I’m exhausted. Still. On Thursday night I went to the BBC writers’ and agents’ party at Skylon. It’s always daunting walking into a room full of people – who doesn’t get that moment of thinking ‘oh, I won’t know anyone. I won’t go’? – but from the moment I got there I was accosted by people I’ve worked with over the years, from ‘The Archers’ to ‘Crossroads’ to ‘Holby City’, and I had a ball. The wine and the gossip flowed and before I knew it, it was pumpkin time. I hope no-one had a script deadline on Friday … Supercool venue, too.
It was Sports Day and Prizegiving for my youngest son on Friday. Neither my husband nor I have any particular sporting prowess, so we were flabbergasted when he won both the running and the sack race, and was given the Sportsman’s cup. Maybe two negatives make a positive? I was also a little dismayed by the propensity of some mothers to cheat in the Mums’ Egg and Spoon Race – what kind of an example is that?! I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t quite pluck up the courage to enter, but I did enjoy the father’s sack race – who’s the best dad in the sack?
One more week before the children break up for the holidays … help! Are there any other writers out there who will be juggling writing commitments and children? Any hints? This is the first summer I don’t actually have a deadline looming, so it will be more relaxed than usual, but there are still always things to be done and before you know it the guilt is piling on. I’m reluctant to put them into ‘holiday clubs’ – they are my kids, after all, and it’s great to spend time with them, so I try and work in the morning, bribing them to entertain themselves till lunchtime, and then we do something together in the afternoon. Kidswapping with other working friends works well too, as long as you don’t find yourself taken advantage of. It’s difficult, but it’s important to enjoy them while they are still young – I know, as my eldest turned 20 this week, and I’d give anything to have some of that time back …
