Today did not start too well. John and I got up bright and early and drove through the fog to Canterbury for a breakfast networking meeting that starts 7am tomorrow morning. Thought the car park was quiet. Still, enjoyed the dry run. Should be really good at it by tomorrow. Sigh!

However, the day did get better when the design for my book cover arrived in the post. Excited! I should say! So I asked daughter number 2, Katy, who had called round, to take a picture of me holding it in an excited fashion. Which she did. In the first picture I looked a tad psychotic. It looked OK on my phone, but due to new contact lenses, I couldn’t really see it. When I uploaded it onto my laptop, I was terrified! I looked like a mad person. What has really stumped me is that both Katy and hubby John said that it was a normal expression! Hells bells and coconut shells – I must look like that all the time then! Horrific.

Anyway, I calmed my face down and we did a re-shoot which you can see here. Hope you like……

Waiting for my book to be ready for print is a bit like waiting for a baby to be born, except it’s a bit easier on the pelvic floor muscles. Getting the cover reminded me of getting the picture of the first scan – scary but marvellous.

Won’t be long now.

Had a really great weekend and seemed to fit so much in.

Hysterical! Saturday morning, Sam (son and heir) took me shopping! I felt about 92 as I sat next to him and he drove me to Aldi (don’t judge – I’m careful with my money). As I sat there with my handbag on my knees, trying not to scream every time a corner was negotiated slightly faster than I was comfortable with, I realised what it must be like to get older and have things done for you. Mind you, it was Sam who dropped a jar of Marmalade which smashed into a million pieces all over Aldi’s floor. Everyone looked. They all thought it was me I’m sure, but hey-ho.

My afternoon treat was a 2 hour session with Marcus. Humph! One of my favourite boys who every four weeks fights with my barnet to make me look like Halle Berry. Enough said.

Then in the evening our friends Chris and Natalie came round and we had cheese on toast and home made apple pie (made by my amazing husband). Now, Chris and Natalie are the same age as our eldest daughter, Amy. She thinks we are trying to replace her by having them as our friends but I have explained that they like to hang out with us, ‘cos we is cool! Standard.

Anyway, the next day John and I trundled off down to Zumba in Smarty Pants (our huge car – think about it) and threw ourselves in an ungainly fashion around the village hall for an hour, after which all good intentions of housework and such like evaporated out of the window as we both collapsed on the sofa in exhaustion, to watch the rugby. Thighs!

Sausage and mash with Amy and partner Philip and of course Sam (who manages to fit us in around his busy social life of ‘drifting’ round corners and doing ‘drive bys’ or something like that at Lakeside) and our day was pretty much done. Apart from my weekly dose of Downton. Lush.

So, all in all, a pretty busy couple of days. Onwards and upwards!

It’s very rare that I go to an event and not know anyone at all. I’m here at the International Fundraising Congress in The Netherlands and apart from Gavin, who asked me to attend and speak, I don’t know anyone. It’s quite refreshing actually as I am using all of my networking skills to motor on in on other people’s conversations. As yet, nobody has punched me. Always a good sign!

The workshop I am delivering is ‘Getting Your Message Out There’ which is interesting as this is what I am doing right now with my book blog. It’s an international audience, although I have not met anyone yet who doesn’t speak English, but many do not have English as a first language so I need to be mindful of that when I am speaking.

Also, there are people from all sorts of organisations, big and small, from all over the world. As you can imagine, it is quite tricky to be able to suit everyone. My philosophy, however, is to keep it really simple, but set an expectation at the beginning of the session that I will be asking all of them to identify one thing they will be taking away from the workshop.

I have done hundreds of presentations and workshops over the years. I still get nervous though and I am glad I do, because it keeps me on my toes. I get a real buzz out of doing them and love that moment when you are talking and everyone in the room is quiet and totally into what you are saying. It’s almost as if you are just having a conversation with them. I tell stories to illustrate points.

Maybe that’s why I love writing. It’s just telling stories but to a bigger audience. Wish me luck!