That’s what my life seems like these days — a series of random happenings with little rhyme or reason and even less focus.

But as June ends, I can see that there is going to have to be a concerted focus on Spence and Sadie all during the month of July. This will be interesting because I have to go to Seattle for 5 days in the 3rd week, and I have grandsons and their cousin coming the week before to go to sports camp.

I need to get 5 pages a day done in order to have some semblance of a rough draft by the end of the month — let alone a finished product. So, wish me luck.

Today, of course, I was distracted part of the day watching Germany and Argentina and then Italy and Ukraine in the quarterfinals of The Men in Shorts. Commentators were saying that Argentina were the better team and bemoaning the fact that they lost. It seems to me that some of the same commentators were complaining that Mexico were better than Argentina when Argentina won that game, but they never complained about Argentina winning. Hmmm. At least the Germans are happy. And well they should be.

Italians are happy, too. And while the Ukrainian team is undoubtedly sad that they lost (and frankly it seemed much closer than the 3-0 score indicates, at least for much of the match), you did get the feeling that they were just extraordinarily happy to be there at all. So, hooray for them and for Shevchenko who pretty much got them there. I hope they’re back in 2010.

Tomorrow England and Portugal and then Brazil and France. I need to get a lot of writing done tonight and then again tomorrow night if I’m going to watch both of those matches. I wonder if Spence and Sadie can be programmed to contribute through reward conditioning. Like, if they get 5 pages done tonight, then they (and I) can watch England-Portugal tomorrow. And if they don’t . . .

Nope, don’t want to go there. Just want them to get their pages done. Besides, I have to watch Beckham because I know my editor will be.

Have also just begun reading Janet Evanovich’s Twelve Sharp. I know I shouldn’t be reading anything, but I need to have a book going — even if I only get as many pages read a day as I am writing. Life is not complete without a book.

Just finished writing up a small piece from Theo’s point of view — the hero of The Santorini Bride. In July our monthly feature for the Harlequin Presents Authors site is to take a main character from an upcoming book and do an “interview” with them. Various interviews by such authors as Sandra Marton, Kate Walker, Trish Morey, and others (and me!) should be posted sometime in the coming week on that site. Check it out if you want a glimpse into some future fun reads from Harlequin Presents.

With all this attention being given to Spence and Sadie, Theo and his lady were feeling a little like they’d been left out in the cold.

They, after all (they informed me) have a real, honest-to-God book under their belts which is more than some people can say. And now they have a date in the production schedule to go with it.

Their book, The Santorini Bride, is coming out in North America, according to the editor in charge of these things, as a February 2007 Harlequin Presents. It will be a paperback Mills & Boon Modern the same month in UK. Also according to said editor, it has “a beautiful cover.”

I am pleased. And, in my best behaved fashion (because I’m trying to set an example for Spence and Sadie aka some people) I DID NOT say, “is it a cover I’ve had before?” You will recall (or not) that I have had the same cover on two of my previous books, albeit in different countries.

I trust this will not be that cover, although there is a beach in the book. Oops.

Anyway, I’m delighted to report that it is actually in the pipeline for both the US and the UK (and sundry other places as well, no doubt). Maybe it will be a source of inspiration for Spence and Sadie. I’m happy to report that she has finally emerged from the ladies’ room. She rather hopes she looks cool, calm and collected whereas in fact, I think she looks about ready to brain him with her portfolio. Er, perhaps I’d better go supervise.

On an entirely different topic, has anyone else seen the film Seven Girlfriends starring Timothy Daly? And if so, what did you think?

I’ve sent Spence and Sadie to their own rooms. They can’t be trusted with the computer in a room together, obviously. They bicker and fight and send messages to each other. And to the blog, apparently.

I certainly can’t enjoy watching the men in shorts if they are going to be upstairs fighting with each other.

The trouble isn’t that they fight — it’s that they fight while I’m downstairs. And the minute I come up, they clam up. They scowl. They sulk. And if they talk at all, it’s to me. not each other — so I can’t write it down. Not when it’s pithy stuff like Spence saying, “It’s all her fault!” And Sadie saying, “Not all my fault!” And him saying, “Is, too!” And her saying, “Is not!” And him saying . . .

Well, you get the idea.

It does not make for good dialogue. It makes me crazy. And then, as soon as I leave the room, they start in again with the real stuff, the nitty-gritty stuff, the stuff I need to get down in the book.

So I’ve had it. I’ve separated them. I’ve put them each in solitary confinement until tomorrow morning. And since there will be no men in shorts tomorrow morning (no men in shorts until Friday. Sigh.), we can spend the day with them behaving better. I hope.

How about Zidane’s goal? Amazing or what? Probably not, really. All in a day’s work for him, I suppose. But definitely fun to watch. And that nifty little blip of a dribble over the outstretched arm of the goalkeeper that Ze Roberto did when he scored for Brazil. What talent. And the Ghana team were great. I thought they played more like a team than Brazil did.

Teamwork, that’s what we need. I hope Spence and Sadie are listening.