Trying to organise some talks

I am trying to get back into the swing of the publishing world, having neglected things for a few weeks while we were dealing with the house. I have had a busy morning ringing round some local groups trying to arange some talks. I spoke to the Tranquility Awareness people some time ago, who meet monthly at our local church, and sent them some information by post. They invited me along to their September meeting, telling me that it was on the 15th, and that they had no bookings at all for speakers past December. I was disappointed to find that the meeting had actually been on 8th, and they had not let me know, and also that they have now booked a speaker for January. I tried to ring them again last night, but it was not a good time, and when I called back, I got the answerphone. I am wondering if I am meant to do a talk with these people, and need to branch out into other parts of Surrey, and further afield.

This morning I have rung three more groups - Friends in Focus, Dorking Awareness and Surrey Dowsers. I did a talk for Surrey Dowsers a few years ago on crystal skulls, which went down very well, so they should be interested. They do however arrange their programme well in advance so may be fully booked for 2007 already. I left a message with their organiser for her to get back to me. I Emailed the organiser from Dorking Awareness also, and spoke to the organiser of Friends in Focus. She has invited me to their next meeting and we can talk more then.

I then rang my ex employer to see if I could leave some copies for my former collagues to order! If you don't ask you don't get, and a lot of the people there would be interested if they knew who I was, and that I used to work there! They rang back and asked if could let them have a copy. They will approve it and then get back to me. That should be interesting.

I spoke to Richard as well about West Country Books who contacted me on Friday. He has things well in hand, and is trying to sort out terms and conditions to see if it is viable, what discount they buy for, whether it is sale and return, the quantities involved, how they promote the books, do they expect him to pay for postage, all that stuff. I should hear within a couple of weeks.

It is already 4.40pm. I don't know where the time goes, or how on earth I used to have time to go to work!

We have just returned from our site interview at the park home site. It was a formality to get to know us and make sure that we are aware of the pitch fees, park rules etc, and also for us to ask any questions. The main point concerned working from home, which they assure us is not a problem, as long as we are not bringing lorries and trucks on to the park with heavy loads and dust and grime. No problem there then!

I got home to find that no one had rung, so logged on to check my messages, and will probably chill out for the rest of the day. Coran has his first trustees meeting tonight, so I expect he will fill me in on all the details later on.