Another month has raced by.

I can’t believe that it’ll be June on Monday.

What have I achieved this month?

I’ve written an average of a thousand words of fiction a day in May, which is pretty good going. It brings my total for the year so far to just over 100,000 words.

As well as publishing one short story on my Substack each week, I’ve completed enough new content in both series to continue publishing them in June. If that wasn’t enough, I’ve also written most of the posts about my writing journey that intersperse them.

Substack is where I’m leaning towards, as the future of my social media efforts. I have plans for my presence there, more about them later.

Meanwhile, you can catch up with my Substack by clicking this link.

Richard Dee | Substack

Retired Master Mariner and ship’s Pilot. Multi-genre author. Living the dream in sunny Devon. Writing whatever comes into my head.

With all the short stories I’ve been writing, work on my part-finished novels has again taken a back seat, which is disappointing, but I can only write what I can see.

In other news, I’ve managed to tidy and clean my man-cave, a job which appeared so daunting that I’d put it off for a long time. I filled several black sacks with rubbish and sorted out a load of stuff to take to any charity shop that wants it. I must admit, it feels a lot better to be in here now.

I’ve also done a fair bit of gardening and walking in nature. Particularly early in the mornings. At that time, there’s a beauty about the cliffs, and an abundance of wildlife.

Like this deer,

I didn’t spot it at first, then it moved, and I just grabbed this close-up. Fortunately, it was away from the sun, and I managed to get a lighter picture.

Not only that, there is a freshly dug entrance to a Badger set. I saw an old Badger early in the morning a while ago; he gave me quite a look. It was as if he wanted to know why I was in his world. Then he ambled off, quite unconcerned at my presence, just before I got my camera working. Yesterday, I found where he might have been going. Today, more fresh earth was piled up by this burrow. And there were two new ones, spaced out along the bank.

We’ve also had a cream tea to celebrate my wife’s birthday. Cream first, of course.

Incidentally, I made the scones.

Find the recipe here.

A new recipe. Scones, with a twist.

As some of you know, I’m a keen cook and a confirmed foodie. Living in Devon, it’s easy to take advantage of some great local produce. It’s been a while since I posted a recipe, here’s one for some very tasty scones, ideal as part of a cream tea.

And, finally, as they say, what’s the plan for June and onwards?

The simple answer is that I have no idea. With my commitments covered, I’m free to see where my imagination takes me.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do.

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