Of course, the guests did bring some lovely chocolate with them too…
I must admit, as much as I will miss him (honest!), I am looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet because from Wednesday to Sunday last week, we had no less than 17 different visitors (some of whom stayed over) and it was all a bit exhausting and ‘full on’.
Even Bonnie the dog (a good time girl, if ever there was one), is worn out (because it’s hard work, being fussed over by that many people). She’s lying in her bed, gazing up at me with a ‘please no more!’ look in her eyes.
If you’re an extrovert – which means, in a nutshell, that you derive your energy from other people – then you’d have thrived here, in the last few days but if, like me, you have some introvert tendencies (we get our energy from being alone), then after a while, you start to CRAVE solitude and silence. It’s nothing to do with being shy or antisocial, it’s just too draining, being with so many people for so long – and apparently it’s to do with how our brains are wired.
I wrote about extroverts versus introverts a while ago, here.
I’m writing an article about whether being introverted or extroverted is best for writers and I’d love to hear your views – and which one you consider yourself to be!
Free Plotting Webinar
On a different note entirely, someone kind has just let me know about a free writing webinar ‘What Happened Next? Plotting a Story’ from 6pm – 7pm (UK time) today, Monday 17th April, courtesy of Penguin/Random House’s The Writer’s Academy.
UPDATE: this is available now here on YouTube – so you haven’t missed out!
I have registered – eek, it looks a bit ‘technical’ (and I am not technical. I am the person whose i-phone is STILL IN THE BOX since she received it as a birthday present last October) but I might have a go as it looks interesting and there’s even a Q&A session at the end. If you can’t make it live, they are inviting you to ‘register anyway and we’ll send you the recording and slides’.
There are more details here.
If anyone’s done one of these before and can give advice (er, preferably before 6pm tonight!) please do comment!
Thanks – and Happy Easter Monday, everyone!
Blog About Writing 
I’ve not done a webinar, but I see from your link you can register even if you can’t do it live and still get the info. I might be brave enough to do that.
I signed up and I’ve just finished taking part. I hope you did, too. I didn’t think there was anything particularly earth-shattering in it, but it was a useful and gentle reminder of everything we already know, including ‘If there’s no conflict, there’s no story.’ Thanks for the heads-up about this.
Hi Julia, yes I’ve just listened to it too. Agree, a lot of it was stuff we probably already knew but it was a good reminder and I’ve ordered 2 of the books that were mentioned – Writer With A Day Job and the James Scott Bell book on plot/structure (any excuse to buy more books, eh?!). I thought the bit about varying the ends of your chapters – they don’t all have to be cliffhangers but can be ‘breathe in’ or ‘breathe out’ endings, was interesting and something I’d never heard before. There’s always something to learn, isn’t there?
Yes, an hour well spent.
I had thirteen visitors from on Easter Sunday then all three grandchildren the following day. Lovely as it was, the quiet the next day was wonderful.