I wrote the following a few days ago and then hit a wall of poor atmospherics that killed the mobile signal. I’ll post it now and update after the weekend…

It is Wednesday and life is good. The sun is shining, the sea and wind playful. I sit outside my tent on the stoop of the cottage waiting for the first walkers to arrive. Before ten in the morning and after five in the evening, it is rare to see anyone. Even then, it is not unusual to be alone except for the occasional holidaying couple strolling by between the hours of eleven and two. Every now and then, I find myself enjoying the isolation too much and must remind myself that without people, Dreamwords is nothing.

Thankfully, I am not a hermit. I do love meeting people and particularly enjoy seeing their reaction to the concept behind the Honesty Edition. I have been here sixteen days now and begin to wonder how many readers might have finished the book. Although I have a figure of six weeks in my plan as a reasonable expectation, I know from previous drops that the occasional reader rips through the book in hours. Might there be a cheque or two in the box in Glasgow? I am tempted to take a day off to go and look, but I must be patient. To find it empty would tell me nothing and yet fill me with negative thoughts. No, I must concentrate on what I am doing, enjoy the craziness of it, the fabulous people I meet. I am constantly offered money and although on the rare occasion I relent to avoid insult, I seldom accept.
As an adjunct to the experiment, I left a couple of small displays high on the path from Lochranza. I am told by others that someone has left a payment on the ground beside one of them. It has now been there three days and I expect it will still be there when I climb over the hill tomorrow evening. Knowing that puts a smile on my face.