It was Oxford's turn today. Sadly, I live in the road parallel to the start of the torch's "journey" today. I felt like it was more than just a parallel road, more like a parallel universe. The klaxons started before 7am - WHY? What sort of person has a klaxon? Why does it seem a reasonable thing to use in the early morning in a residential area?
I set off to work on my bike assuming that the part of the road where the torch was not travelling would be open....silly me...it wasn't! I limped along with bike for some of the route then decided to get on and ride off as normal. There was a brief moment when I felt like a celebrity with crowds lining my way but they soon disbanded and the madness moved on...I rode off to work wondering why there were crowds on the streets....what were they actually watching? supporting?  B'ah humbug!

I am listening to the Archers omnibus as I write. It appears that, contrary to expectation, the characters and cast have managed the week without me! Fancy!

I have returned from the world of Arvon at The Hurst in Shropshire - wow!

When my eccentric and garrulous electronic travelling companion told me "you have reached your destination", and it read "unknown road" I got out with some trepidation. The worries about what would happen in Ambridge without me sunk down my list of priorities.
A smiling face rushed out to greet me and I found myself within the Arvon embrace. Somehow it didn't matter that the room was full of "unknowns", somehow they were already known to me on some level. It was extraordinary what an easy atmosphere it was and how easy to engage with everybody from the very start. I am sure this just does not just happen - the staff steeped in the Arvon ethos create it.
I am finding it hard to generalise about my week. It was storytelling gone mad. Some had arrived with their head already deep into the novel they wanted to write whilst others just wanted to write A novel. I had a story to tell but no clue how to tell it.  As I heard and got to know a cast of real and fictional people I was sucked further in. I will, I sense, always know these fellow journeymen/women. It was the same with our fantastic tutors Jane Bailey and Joe Treasure who we all got to know along with fellow students. They were generous with their time, their experience, their expertise and so much more.  
We spent mornings looking at aspects of the novel from structure to "voice". We practised and shared our pieces. The afternoons were spent in 1:1 tutorials, writing and cooking (if it was your turn). After dinner we spent the evenings listening to our tutors writing, having a guest speaker talk about her writing and, towards the end of the week hearing each other's work that they had written during their stay. I look forward to seeing everyone's name in print before too long.
I have started my novel based in 1970s "dirty" Soho. When not trying to plot and bring my characters to life by naming them, I spent my time inhabiting the clubs in Soho of the time and trying to think of names for them (Barbarellas sprang to mind).  Normally I would have gone straight online but without internet access I have had to search my imagination which has been so much more fun! I have also lost sleep pondering what slang was used at the time. Any ideas gratefully welcomed! I have, at last, taken some ownership of my plot and have even written 2000 words - so only another 68000 or so to go...
It rained for the entire week at The Hurst. As the week drew towards its end and we sat talking in the kitchen nobody seemed too worried about the thought of rivers bursting their banks and being forced to stay and continue our writing without access to the outside world. I suggested that maybe this is what Writers in Residence meant - last week's writers that refused to move on for the next week's course...If only...

A busy day of packing for Arvon. I have quickly discovered that going by car makes a mockery of "less is more" - no chance of car sharing. I am sharing with my wardrobe, all the books I might read, all the books I might need to refer to, a copious supply of codeine-based medications, laptop and its various accessories as well as other items on the "Things to bring" list....
I feel that..."walking boots or stout shoes" may not apply to me...I feel like the longest walk I will undertake (or not) will be the one from the car park to the house! Even the thought of walking on any uneven surface is painful so I am hoping that I will find inspiration from something other than the beautiful countryside.
"A torch" - Hmmmm...wonder what that's about..I am reading it as only necessary if you are someone taking the outdoor footwear.
Ditto for "a waterproof jacket or coat"
"Paper and pens" - at last something that I have in good supply
There are of course bigger things to worry about:
I am growing ever more anxious about lack of internet access. With 2pm and 7pm being times I will be busy, how will I be able to keep up with the problems at Brookfield and Ambridge whilst I am away?  I reassure myself that amongst a group of writers there will be others in the same fix and we may find a way to catch-up!

Then there is also the niggling feeling that I can't find any mention in the course literature about the supply of wine and wonder what this may may mean

As my foot FINALLY begins to heal - 6 weeks after falling down some stairs, I realise that in that fall, I lost my ability to multi-task. I have been plunged into a world of tunnel vision where not only is it impossible to do more than one thing at a time but I now can only even think about one thing at a time. It is all very strange. The plus side is that my one focus has been Bombus books the downside is that the fridge is not as well stocked as usual and dinner has become a more haphazrd affair! Now the website is up I hope to find less excuses for actually writing something - with my Arvon course looming on Monday my distractions may be even further diminished as we are told there is neither phone nor internet access....just writing then....
http://www.arvonfoundation.org/courses

Distractions are over - England left the Euros last night so I can put my writing head on again. I need to prepare for the Arvon writing course I have signed up for (in Shropshire) on "Making a start on your novel". I am madly panicking about what this will be like alongside reading the work of Jane Bailey - a last minute tutor for the week and am half-way through "Tommy Glover's Sketch of Heaven".
It is our Oxford Inc writing group meeting this week (7 of us) when as well as having our first session of writing for our new project we will also discuss the birth of Bombus Books and how the world will hear about us.
It is also my reading group meeting on Friday this week. This also has 7 members -  I guess good things happen in 7s. This week the meeting will be at my house so it is my turn to choose "the next book" - I am ducking and diving on this - lurching from a big, fat summer read to something more classic. Such a responsibility. Still a few days left to make my mind up.

Publishing your own books takes a lot of time (and thought). We have to do everything from book content, design and proof-reading to sales and marketing. I now need to put together some press releases and we need to start "selling". Telling people about us and getting them to part with their money for our books is about as hard as it sounds! All this, alongside the "day job" of course, provides endless distractions from sittiing down and being a writer! ....and of course Euro 2012 continues...and Wimbledon starts on Monday

I have spent the past half hour looking at the programme for the Edinburgh book festival - not that I will be able to go but as a publishers it seems as though we should be sizing up the competition!

So...this is not exactly the beginning of our adventure but the first recorded evidence of "a" beginning.

It is some years since we all met at a creative writing class in Oxford and began to write together. Since then we have set up our own writing group (Oxord Inc) and now our own publishing company, Bombus Books. We have a smattering of expertise between us - publishing experience, years of working in business, marketing and an eclectic selection of links to the trade along with a dusting of optimism. We are, more importantly, committed to writing and to producing the kind of books we would love to see on sale.

The adventure begins amidst Euro 2012 so having introduced us I will return to Czech Republic v Portugal...whilst desperately reading the end of the new Lynda LaPlante book "Backlash" More anon...