Here we go again, sliding past the year’s halfway point – the longest day (or the shortest day if you’re Down Under).

The Earth just clocked-up another 470 million km (282 million miles) – a half orbit of the sun – since a cold and snowy December 31st. And what’s changed?

Well… the UK is still debating whether to leave or remain in the European Union. Sometimes it feels like Groundhog Day. (Or did I say that yesterday and the day before?)

Meanwhile, Luxembourg is basking in the Europe-wide heatwave brought on by hot air pouring northward from the Sahara desert and it’s jolly hot here – pushing 40 degrees Centigrade (that’s around 100 Fahrenheit). Of course, no writer wants to bask in a humid heat that stifles creativity: I have no idea how Hemmingway, Fleming, and others managed it in their Carribean hideaways in the days before air-conditioning.

(It’s ironic that global warming is boosted by the power-station emissions to support a billion air-co devices to combat the effects.)

So here I sit, fingertips poised over my friendly keyboard, splitting my time between refining a collection of short stories to submit to my publisher next month and rehydrating. Not a good combination.

But I had some personal good news recently: I celebrated a family wedding in the UK, my daughter graduated from University, and I had a short story accepted in the next release in the best selling Beyond The Stars anthology series, “Rocking Space” (due out in August).

So… let the Earth keep orbiting (please), let my family grow and achieve ongoing success, and let even more editors see the merit in my scribblings. (Seventeen, so far and more submissions in the pipeline.)

Bibliography

Meanwhile, whatever you are reading, enjoy!