Update from the morning walk . . .

What I’m currently up to and what’s coming

The morning walk with Kota. A time when he gets to run free along beaches or among woods and tracks and I get to think about the days, weeks, and months ahead and what I need to be doing to achieve my aims.

There is, as always, the writing. The editorial requests from Penguin and the deadlines they have given for my latest novel The Kill Chain. The ongoing work on some other fiction that I’m also in the process of writing. A series of short stories I’m actually racing through, enjoying the difference in pace and production this new-to-me format provides. Then there’s the posts, articles, and updates that I promulgate on various platforms. I’m also helping other people who are writing books of their own, providing tips and suggestions gained from my own experiences to help them on their own writing journey.

I still also keep my hand in with a bit of consulting work for specialist intelligence or military organisations and have several periods coming up where I’ll be conducting these. It’s quite flattering that, even as I approach official ‘old fartdom’, my skills and experience are still valued enough to attract interest from aforementioned organisations.

Earlier this year I secured a business mentorship program, whereby I have access to key professionals in all fields of business development with an aim to building my current writing business bigger and better. This is a lot of hard work but an absolute privilege to be a part of. And what it’s also identified is areas where I should be expanding and offering far more to people interested in my writing than I currently have been. Admittedly, this has mostly been down to time constraints with most of the international work I have been involved with in recent years lending very little free time with which to concentrate on other matters. But having scaled back on these deployments, I now have the opportunity to focus more on this issue. And that’s where this business development program comes in.

My mentors are all individuals at the top of their game and, as such, are not only excellent at delivering instruction and training, but in ensuring I have challenging assignments to complete, all aimed at growing and expanding my current writing platform. And, while I’ve never not completed any of the tasks or assignments, a dim view would be taken if I hadn’t bothered to apply myself. Like I said earlier, I feel very privileged to have access to such a program and never take it for granted. So, in a nutshell, I will now be providing far more content than I ever have before and, particularly as I’m now under the Penguin Random House umbrella, will also have a far bigger international exposure.

Cloak & Dagger is just one of the new initiatives I’m developing with my mentors. Entertaining and interactive presentations from myself and individuals from across the spectrum of clandestine operations in the military, police, and private sector arenas. Think undercover police officers, former intelligence operatives, former special forces, kidnap & ransom negotiators, hostage rescue etc, etc . . .

We’ve been working hard to pull all this together and I’m pleased to be able to say that we have the first trial run next month to an audience of business professionals. Intimidating? A bit, considering the audience demographic. But intimidating in a good way. I’m a process driven individual by and large, plan everything out, assemble all the parts and elements required for the task. But if things don’t progress fast enough, I also need for things to just get going, kick the project off and work out the kinks along the way. Which is how I initially thought about this venture. Book a venue, advertise it, see who shows up, deliver the presentation, learn from it, rinse and repeat. And that might have worked. Might have. But having been guided by these mentors for the best part of the year, I now have no reservations and know that it will work. And work well.

And that’s what was filling my brain on this morning’s walk with my trusty canine companion. Writing, writing, writing, consulting, and presentations. Platform building, marketing, advertising, venue hire, reviews integration, interactive media, content management, and delivery. I’m a very busy bee at the moment and will be for the foreseeable future. Which is good, for me and for anyone interested in my books and writing.

So my morning walks with Kota have a twofold benefit really. One, of course, is the enjoyment of the coastal walks and happy companionship of my canine buddy. The other is that hour or so of coordinating everything in my head, so that once I’m back in my office, it’s head down and crack on with the plan. A plan that now, is moving from theory to reality and is as exciting to me as the day I dedicated myself to writing that first novel all those years ago.