The Meerkat Muse: 11th of February, 2026
We’ve finally escaped January! Woohoo! However, make no mistake, Britain is still very-much in winter’s grip, and what are meerkats not fond of? Winter.
Too Good to be True?
A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a marketing firm about my books. This is nothing new; I must receive a dozen or so emails every month along such lines, and they are all scams. What set this one apart from the others is that it came from what appeared to be a legitimate business. In fact, as near as I can gather, it is a legit company.
What’s the problem then? I mean, this is a book marketing firm, offering an interview about my book, which means publicity, which is the aim of the game, right? Well, the issue lays with the cost. I don’t expect to get anything for free, of course I don’t, but unsolicited contact (well, someone – I don’t know who – allegedly referred my books to them), and having them approach me, would suggest a reasonable offer is incoming, right?
In fact, unsolicited contact and a request made of me for an interview would imply I am a guest, so why should I be paying at all? If by some miracle chance a media channel wants to host me, is that not entirely their decision, and why would I pay for that? I certainly won’t be paying £899!
Bunged Up
Whilst the worst effects of the cold had faded by the start of this Muse cycle, they had not entirely abated. A persisted bunged-up nose meant it was hard to breathe, and nothing seemed to be clearing it. Where I was clogged up, I also had something of a foggy head. The pharmacy in town sells a nasal spray to clear the nose, and that worked wonders for helping me sleep, but I ended up running out, and the new one I bought I gave to my wife.
Cold Dreams
There’s a small chance that this dream was inspired by the new Starfleet Academy TV show, since my dream was set in a school, and Starfleet Academy is a sort of school. However, in the dream I did not have the fortune to be a Starfleet cadet. Instead, I was an average schoolkid, though some of the teachers were a bit weird. One was some kind of ice creature, only in an ironic twist he ended up being frozen by some tiny ice crystals, unleashed in the school carpark as a prank. I woke up shortly thereafter, with no idea what the dream was supposed to mean. Nothing new there!
I had another dream which involved going to a shopping centre with my wife, and discovering a railway line that was running directly through the shops. In the midst of this I discovered I had covid, which I kept under wraps. To be clear, I don’t think this cold is covid! It has certainly persisted though, which has been very annoying!
Welcome News
It turns out that whilst my friend and colleague faces a serious situation, it’s not as bad as first thought. There is still the prospect of several weeks with numerous days spent lone-trading, which is hardly a joyful set of circumstances, but it may be more bearable.
Still, the desire to leave remains, and there is now less guilt about continuing the job search!
The Wild!
My wife took this photo of a fox that was lurking near the path as she brought our daughter home from school. By all accounts, the fox was not shy, and actually came along and sat nearby for a bit. My wife and daughter happened to have a bit of food on them, and gave the fox an uneaten wrap. Needless to say, a fox does not need a second invitation to gobble up an offering of food!
There’s a reasonable degree of wildlife around these parts, though ‘wild’ might be a stretch. This is a suburban area, one that has drawn in the likes of foxes, who no doubt find human activity a blessing and a curse. They profit from our excess and our waste, but equally suffer as we rip apart their natural habitats, destroying ideal locations for dens and safety. Some people are not fond of foxes loitering in our streets, but if we continue to encroach upon their territory, they will continue to encroach on ours.
Tedium
I get the necessity of training, but sometimes training can stretch on and on and on, with no end in sight, and when this relates to adhesives and the like, the boredom factor can quickly wipe out my interest. I am doing my level best to concentrate more, but I won’t lie, I find it difficult, and when the subject matter does not interest me, I find it even harder. There’s only so many ways to say ‘this stuff sticks stuff in a different manner to this stuff’ before my brain goes ‘nope, this isn’t for me’, and my imagination carries me off down a river of random thought.
I guess that speaks to a fundamental part of human nature: we are more inclined to focus on matters that intrigue and interest us. The necessities will hold our attention for a time, but only for so long, before our minds desire to return to more stimulating matters of personal importance and desire.
The Naughty Step
My employers aren’t happy with the showroom’s sales performance over thw January period, and I get why, but this isn’t the first time a faceless corporate entity has failed to value the human factor. We are a small showroom, with no parking, hamstrung by a much larger branch nearby. One of our small team is in the midst of a serious health issue that will see them out of action for several weeks in the near future. The service that we have most struggled with is also the most expensive service, and we’re hardly the only store in that boat. Of the quotes I personally put together, one never responded to follow-up queries, and the other flat-out declared we were too expensive.
Some of the issue stems from a lack of hunger, which I freely admit to. I also do not have a tremendous degree of confidence in how the office handles this particular service, and there have been several problems with deliveries. Without faith in a service, how am I expected to sell it?!
Speaking of the naughty step, someone in another resigned the other day, and they decided to do so in as public a manner as possible. They sent an email to every single showroom (and quite possibly head office), lampooning the allegedly sexist and racist behaviour of their regional manager, and they fired off a few other comments as well. I don’t especially expect to be kept in the loop on that one, which is a bit of a shame, because it’s rather juicy!
More Wacky Dreams
For reasons that escape me, I had a dream last week where I was Matt Murdoch, aka Dare Devil from the titular Marvel TV show. One of the curious elements of the dream was that Murdoch’s friend, Foggy, was alive, and in the dream, I knew that he wasn’t meant to be. Somehow, I became aware that I was a character in a show (well, sort of). Within this broken reality, I became a werewolf, and then woke up.
Psychologists would love to study my dreams. They would be a treasure trove for them to analyse.
Slow Weekends
With the big winter sale over, the pace at work has slowed. There is a big part of me that doesn’t mind this. I am weary of tasking, and thus a bit of peace and quiet is a welcome relief. That said, boredom is the other end of the spectrum, and with boredom can easily come complacency. Having a few customers about to drop cash in my lap would not go amiss! Alas, a slow weekend translated into a slow start to the week.
In fact, it’s been something of a slow Muse cycle (do you see what I did there?). Not a lot has happened, unless you count the strange dreams, and on that note, I learned that people who have vivid dreams are apparently more likely to end up with dementia. Great. Mind you, I’m probably halfway there already, considering how scatty I can be.
Slow Progress
I’ve been continuing to inch along with my writing projects. The lingering lethargy from the cold has dented my efforts, but I am gradually ramping up to a reasonable level once more. I’m at around 26,000 words with the story with my brother-in-law, so it feels like progress is being made. What I need to is knuckle down, but my brain doesn’t tend to work like that. I swear I am more skittish than usual, and I wish I knew what to do about it.
Hungry for Games
Suzanne Collins is a world-famous author, having written the sensational Hunger Games books. Her stories have captivated readers everywhere, and then her stories did it all over again, when The Hunger Games books were adapted into thrilling movies. It is therefore highly unlikely that the person emailing me claiming to be her was actually Ms Collins. For starters, I don’t think she would be making basic spelling errors. Secondly, I don’t think an author as renowned as she would ever actually email me to ask questions about literary journeys!
I normally ignore such emails, and I did report it to Ms Collins’ agent (as Ms Collins herself has no obvious point of contact on her website), but on this occasion I decided to have a little fun. What would ‘Suzanne’ have to say?
Well, as is now the norm for these spiels, there was some initial fawning, so to speak, and then the inevitable query about marketing strategies. Somehow, I don’t think an author with a net worth of around $90 million would need to sell me a marketing strategy. I soon grew bored of our conversation, and ceased replying.
It’s with this experience that this Muse is drawn to a close. The next Muse should, with a bit of luck, be more exciting!
Oh, I should add that for the first time in a long time, there’s a video Muse to accompany the blog!
‘Kat Comments