Happy Birthday, Douglas Adams!

Had he not died in 2001 as a result of a heart attack, Douglas Adams would have been 61 today. 61 is no age. My best friend's father died on New Year's Eve aged 68 and we all lamented how that was much to young, so to pass on aged only 49... Well, it makes you think.

Apart from loving his work, I'm also a big fan of one of Douglas Adams' more celebrated quotes.

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

Now, for once, I've not missed a deadline*, but I do seem to be lagging behind a little, with all manner of projects on the roster for this year and multiple unfinished stories cluttering up my laptop at the moment.

By multiple, I mean four, and something inside me is telling me that I need to get closure on some of these pretty soon. Then there are the ten or more projects that I've promised people, or am already committed to, and that doesn't include the various pitches in with editors that I'm waiting to hear back on.

Adams was a terrible procrastinator, and the stress of moving house (and down-sizing at that), a weekend away in Wales, a school visit, and a head cold, are steadily turning me into one as well.

I'm not as bad as Mr Adams**. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy might never have been written at all had a good friend not camped out on Adams’ doorstep and subsequently locked him in a room. Adams used everything from making cups of tea, taking baths, and spending days in bed to avoid writing.

I'm not that bad - we don't have a bath - but today I am turning the Internet off and knuckling down.

In other news, I received my royalty statement from the Black Library on Friday, which was a most pleasant surprise. But it only makes me wonder what the top BL authors must be earning***.


* I'm not counting the one I have missed, because I've got an extension on that. ;-)

** But then I'm a lesser writer than he ever was.

*** One can but dream...