Midnight – and rather later, in fact, because it was half past three in the morning when I added the last word to Draft 1 of ATP, Tom Walsingham’s second foray into espionage and sleuthing. Hooray!

And then it wasn’t really the last word, of course. You all know how it is: as soon as I’d saved the thing and done a back-up, I had to open it again and add one more little paragraph, and then a little later an idea occurred to me, and I jotted it down in the notebook, and by then I was wide awake anyway, far too excited to sleep, so I could have gone another hour without great difficulty – but the fact was, Draft 1 was finished, and it was well past four, so I went to bed, and found that I could sleep after all…

Yes, you know how it is, I dare say.

And now it’s April, and the man-of-all-works is taking the oleanders and lemon trees out of the greenhouse, and I should begin to mind the pond… I will, perhaps, this afternoon – if it doesn’t rain – and then begin to make lists of things for Draft 2.

Because this is how it is: Draft 1 is done; let’s begin Draft 2!

***

Oh – and don’t forget that The Road to Murder, Tom Walsingham’s first adventure, is up for preorder…