Chapter 46: Friday 21 October
The rain returned yesterday, with a vengeance, and promptly started to pour in through the conservatory. I reported this at the end of last month, and it was acknowledged on 1 October. Since then we’ve heard nothing. It’s okay when the weather is dry, which it has been apart from an occasional shower here and there. But now it’s properly gushing in.
We have towels on the windowsill and on the new carpet, but they’re not lasting very long at all. And it’s also splashing onto our furniture. The poet opened the window and the deluge ran out instead of in. But we can’t leave the window open indefinitely, and certainly not at night as it’s a security hazard then.
The poet had a go at reporting it again and they told him to go ahead and make a temporary repair until they can send someone out. But we asked for that in writing before he was accused of ‘bodging’ the job and rendering the maintenance accountability obsolete.
I was once more glued to the news for the best part of the morning until I was rewarded with a prime minister’s statement at just after 1:30pm. Our current revolving door of prime ministers and chancellor of the exchequers is a joke, a massive joke. We need either a general election now or an emergency coalition, because I for one do not trust the judgement of the conservative party or their members.
In between watching news, I did do some work, but it was a big list I was working through. I did publish the last book in my publishing challenge, but at the last moment I changed the cover.
Also at the last moment I noticed that the credits at the beginning of Five Short Stories for Autumn in which this story also appears were incorrect as it listed the wrong original publication for The Bonfire Party. So I had to go in and fix that as well, which I did.
Then I went into the draft post for the end of the publishing challenge and changed 2 of the old covers for fresher ones and I added the cover for The Bonfire Party.
And that was it for my publishing challenge!
I wrote and published yesterday’s blog post, and I outlined the Toni and Bart story. But when I went into Scrivener to start the ghostwriting, Scrivener did an update, so I had to wait for that, and by the time I’d gone in and structured the remaining ten chapters and the bonus short story, a message came in from the client with the revisions for Part 3.
If the revisions are in, then I’d rather do those first in case they impact upon the next part of the story. So the ghostwriting job was all shunted along a day, because by now I didn’t have the energy to start the revisions. To give the right side of my brain a rest, I had an hour of editing. That left only the brainstorming for the next story on the list, which I set to percolate during the evening.
I also planned on reading during the evening. I’m currently reading a novel for review, and a short story writing work book.
Here’s how yesterday’s jobs went:
- Outline new Toni & Bart short story ✅
- Brainstorm short story for online workshop assignment (set to percolate during the evening)
- Prepare and publish Book 54 (whoo-hoo!), The Bonfire Party ✅
- Reconcile daily diary with planners ✅
- Write [yesterday’s] blog post (didn’t get around to it the day before) ✅
- Write and schedule [today’s] blog post ✅
- GW1/11/4 write blurb ❌ (moved to today)
- GW1/11/4 write Chapter 28 ❌ (moved to today)
- Copy edit hard copy history book (continued) ✅
Not bad and, as I say, a few more ticks than I’ve been managing of late.
And here are today’s jobs:
- Outline short story for online workshop assignment
- Draft new Toni & Bart short story (#1)
- Reconcile daily diary with planners
- Create the graphics for Monday’s publication
- Write and schedule Monday’s blog post
- Next week’s diary/planner/schedule
- GW1/11/3 revisions
- GW1/11/4 write blurb
- GW1/11/4 write Chapter 28
- Copy edit hard copy history book (continued)
- Weekly scan and backup
The new ghostwriting job is supposed to start on Monday, but at the time of writing I still hadn’t received the contract, the deposit, or the job, so we shall see how that pans out next week.
Have a great weekend.
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We’re having a leak issue on the porch, too. I have a feeling it won’t be fixed until spring. We shut off the porch for most of the winter, but still, it could be a big mess.
You’re getting a lot done, and congrats on completing the publishing challenge. It will be fun to watch all those releases gain traction.
Yeah, definitely be cautious about the ghostwriting job until the contract and deposit come through. Not a good way to start on their part.
Have a great weekend.
As it’s a new ghostwriting client, there’s no trust built up yet. But saying that, with the existing ghostwriting client, I still don’t start anything until the relevant contract had arrived.
Spring is a long time to wait for a leak to be repaired. Surely winter is when leaks need to be fixed?