The Spoons That Are My Ears!

My farming life came to a premature end this week when I was castigated because I finished work half an hour early to take a walk in the mountains. I decided to leave the following morning rather than accept the conditions the bosses wanted to impose. The word 'exploitation' has been ringing in my ears since I first went to the Finca Rio Pradillo. I left soundlessly very early on Wednesday, before even the roosters were up, and the walk back to Cercedilla and freedom was one of the most pleasant parts of the whole experience!

Ah well, we live and learn! Now I'm back in Madrid and debating what to do next, apart from writing stories, of course. I always write stories, wherever I am and whatever else I'm doing! I've started a new cycle of absurdist tales involving a character called 'Don Cosquillas', using ideas that came to me in the mountains, and I'm very pleased with the results so far, but it's only light whimsical stuff before I get down to more serious projects.

I'm not used to getting paid for stories on the web. But I got paid for this. A pleasant surprise! Money is the eternal question... Rosa and I have been debating the possibility of briefly going to Africa for a few weeks in January, probably to Algeria or Senegal. I'm very keen, but need to earn more money to make such a trip feasible. So: more stories and more sales! I've sold plenty of work to anthologies recently and need to continue doing so!