There I was lying on the dentist’s chair this morning: bright light in my eyes, that unnerving drill squealing away, trying not to think about horror films when it occurred to me that something else was unpleasantly wrong in my life.

Wasn’t I supposed to be writing for the DFB blog the week before Christmas, and isn’t this the week after… oh hell yes it is.

‘How do you balance the roles of creator and author ie artist and promoter?’ Tilda asked us. How indeed, when far more successful authors than me have already made it plain to you in this series of posts that you don’t earn actual money being an author. It’s more a really, really expensive hobby.

So it’s never just balancing writing and promotion. It’s spinning the plates of mother, wife, paid employee (to earn the money you don’t make selling books) whilst also trying to be an author and promoter.

And I’m afraid the truth is, quite often you don’t achieve that equilibrium. Instead something ends up having to give. In the past that has been time with my children, or friends, or my husband, or in gainful employment …and in this case it was this blog post.

How do I balance? As this latest oversight illustrates, I balance precariously. Sorry Tilda.