So my book is still “temporarily out of stock” on Amazon, both here in the UK and in the US. That’s very odd for a book they’ve had on pre-order for weeks. They’re billing it for release in January 2021 in the States … Hmm.
The Beast Within
I struggled a bit yesterday with The Beast Within, not least because I wanted to write something for Catch the Rainbow. I think, though, it’s because I was writing the murder scene, which is at the end of Chapter 1.
Until then, I’d left Chapter 1 empty. But as I’d finished a draft the day before of the chapter where the body is discovered, that gave me a bit of a leg-up for the first chapter. I only wrote 740 words, and I only have 7,266 words written so far. But I have to remember, it really is only the first rough draft. I can flesh it out once the story is down.
I read the first 5 chapters out to the poet yesterday evening and, while I need to tighten it quite a bit, it’s sounding okay. I have to fix just the one continuity issue so far. I’m enjoying being back in Marcie’s voice.
I’m hoping to get a bit more done today. At least it’s going in the right direction, and at least it’s being written.
Prequels and sequels
Because Catch the Rainbow is itching for some attention, I’m thinking of weaving in a hint. The present-day (well, the 1997) narrative for Catch the Rainbow starts just as The Beast Within reaches its 3rd Act, so I’m thinking of ways to link both books.
I’ve also already laid the foundation for a tenuous sub-plot that will be the topic of the next book in the series, Snowblind. So all of that is whirling around my head too.
Another Marcie Craig story has started to sow itself too. This time Flowers in the Rain … (I just went to read the lyrics to that song and I now I’m tingling all over.)
NetGalley
I read a few more chapters of the next NetGalley book. It’s warming up for me now, but I’m still finding it a bit slow and I’m still at the stage where I can take it or leave it.
I will, however, persevere.
Admin
I’d already printed off all of the change-of-address notifications and addressed those in envelopes. But on his way home, I asked the poet to pick up some stamps so I can get them posted. He did so, and within minutes of him arriving home, we nipped out again to get them posted.
Jobs & clients
I’ve been checking in with clients all week and a job came in off the India client this morning. Then the job the Hong Kong client warned me about arrived too. So that means I now have 11 articles to edit. I’ll try and clear them all tomorrow.
I checked the jobs board, and there’s still nothing there I fancy. They all want their work turned around in a day, but with regular clients already lining up, I can’t guarantee that at the moment. Perhaps in the new year I’ll start picking those up.
One of the jobs I quickly ran through this morning was the competitions. They’re not taking quite as long as they used to before the board had a makeover. So it’s easy to check those while I have a cup of tea. I had to shelve it for a while, it was so time-consuming. But now it only takes minutes.
Content planning
Thinking ahead, I may start to plan blog posts in the future. Often, I just run through whatever’s in my head, but that means if I have a day off work, I’m not scheduling anything to post.
One of my own regular followers, Elaine Howlin, posted her content planning blog for December. You can see it here. She has some lovely calendar templates and I’ve saved some for myself.
