… and by that I mean that, safely viewed some months away, there appears to be oodles of time to do all the things, like updating one’s website, organising events and posts, and making plans to avoid reviews***. And then time does some space-time warping Houdini act and suddenly the date is upon you, and yes there will be presents, but firstly all the things!

I have not yet done all the things, but I will. There will be some events (definitely a launch, and some wonderful bookshops)! There will b...