This picture is a magazine mock-up that my Smoggie snapper (Teesside photographer) made for me when I left Corus/Tata.
The front cover image is of a blowout and I wanted to use this image on the front of a live RD&T Magazine. I was the editor and I thought it was a fantastic picture.
But the powers-that-be didn’t think we should be promoting blowouts in the steel testing industry, and so I was over-ruled and the picture lay on the cutting room floor … until Andy made this for me.
I was still Diane Parkin in those days, and the cover stories are parodies of things that were important to me at the time that I left the organisation. Particularly communication, or the lack there-of.
This picture is on a wall in my office facing the front window and over the reading chair.
Daily dog walk
Tuesday’s morning walk to the duck pond and back was easier again, and I didn’t need quite so long to recover when we got home. I know it’s only a mile, but my fitness is currently through the floor.
The walk was uneventful, other than seeing a tractor dragging a trailer piled high with scaffolding poles, and a three-legged dog.
The three-legged dog and its walkers passed us again on the way back, and the way they came suggested there might be a circular walk of roughly the same length as the one to the duck pond and back, so I may investigate that one another day.
The Life of Richard Cadbury
Back at my desk, the first job of the day was 42 pages of The Life of Richard Cadbury. So I made my ritual cup of tea and got down to some work. In slightly over an hour, I proof-read 49 pages, leaving 39 a day for the rest of the week.
I checked in with both the jobs board and the editing agency, but there was nothing I fancied. And so I carried on with my own work for the rest of the day. Well, in between power cuts, that is.
Catch the Rainbow
I finally got around to writing some more words for Catch the Rainbow. It was a bit like wading through treacle, but I think that’s because (a) it’s been a while since I last connected with the work, and (b) I’m now working on the scenes that aren’t coming so easily as the others and need more concentration.
Saying that, against a target of 1,085 words, I managed to extract 1,236 words, which has brought down the daily target from tomorrow onwards.
Diary of a Pussycat
The next job on the list was Diary of a Pussycat. According to my 10-project planner, I have 10,756 words left to hit my total word-count target, and 12 days in which to do it. That gives me a daily target of 896 words. But as it’s also been a while since I looked at this, I had to familiarise myself with what I’ve already done.
The last entry in my notebook for the extra words for this book was dated 3 April 2020. That’s not as bad as I thought it would be. However, I think I’m going to struggle to write just under 900 words a day for it.
The target total word-count also includes a date-specific appendix of live ideas for readers to try. I originally planned out notable dates and anniversaries for 2020, but as this book is so late now, I may have to draft a new set for 2021. At least the annuals, or evergreens, will be the same.
By the time I got around to some actual writing, I was running out of time. I only managed 467 words, which means my daily word-count target for the next 11 days has gone up to 935. But it’s a start.
Today’s plan (my work only)
The plan for today, then, is as follows:
- 500 words blog post
- 1,080 words Catch the Rainbow
- 935 words Diary of a Pussycat
- 39 pages The Life of Richard Cadbury
