I've always been dreadful at just whiling away time. It's something I've never really got the hang of.
Don't get me wrong, I love moments of leisure. Sitting by the river, watching a cormorant fishing, or the ducks swimming their endless circles, finding the corner of a pub for a quiet pint, or just strolling through the wonderful Devon countryside, they're all firm favourites. It's just that while I'm doing any of that, I'm usually thinking about some idea for a new book, or how to write a particular scene, or maybe some element of teaching work. My mind just doesn't idle well.
I was reminded of this at the weekend with a strange little quirk of my character. I've made a resolution to get better to grips with this modern world thing, and try to use the new fangled internet and all its social media rather more effectively.
I am on Facebook, now have more than a hundred friends (which I'm very proud of - almost all of them I even know!), but am trying to get into the habit of using it more. I don't think I'll ever be continually updating what I'm doing, as some people manage, but I have found a few little features which I fancy.
One is the quotations page, where you can leave a few words summing up your current thoughts, feelings, state of mind etc. I've always been a sucker for some finely drafted lines, so I'm going to try to pop some on my profile.
I've never much used quotes in the tvdetective books - I think they can be a little exclusive, alienating more than bringing people in to the writing, and even too highbrow for my style - but now I see an opportunity to quote galore!
So, back to the point of this blog, which was my inability to waste time. Up in my study is a dictionary of quotations, which has been fished off the shelf, dusted down and placed in the smallest room of the house, for me to peruse for long forgotten quotations while I go about my shaving, ablutions etc.
Told you I was no good at wasting time!