Friday 22 September 2023: Where’d the week go?

Whoosh! And another week went by, just like that… How can it be Friday already? Well, actually, it’s still Thursday for me as I’m writing this yesterday. Even so…

Yesterday started with me printing off the three lots of additions the author has sent, post-first-proof-pdf, for the client edit. I negotiated an extra fee for the extra work, for which the author has been recharged. I still have to raise the invoice, but I’ll do that once the work is complete.

I had a quick mooch around social media, removed a few people I follow but who don’t follow me back on various platforms (my news feeds were starting to get a bit long), and started today’s blog post.

I had a poorly poet at home. His boss had apparently told him to go home early on Wednesday, but he didn’t. However, he did agree to work from home on Thursday. He’s had a Covid test and is negative, but I still struggle to understand how older test kits can identify the newer strains. I’m not actually convinced that they can.

I was supposed to be posting my September wrap-up post today as we have next week off, but we’re not going away, which means I’ll still be around, dipping in and out. So I changed the date on that to next Friday instead. I’m updating it, ticking things off, as I go along.

While I made a pot of tea, I also made a jelly and a blancmange for a strawberry trifle. We get three days’-worth of puddings out of one trifle and it’s the poet’s favourite, so it’s always a go-er.

Back at my desk I sent some information off that might help Probate, and I sorted out ID and stuff for the house sale, scanning in my driving licence and two proofs of address. I had to set up my laptop with the webcam on, to prove ‘liveness’. I’ve spoken to them three or four times on the phone and we already did a lot of this ID stuff when we appointed the Probate/Conveyancing teams. It’s taken three days for me to get the ID site to work. They had to send me an email as the text link wasn’t doing it.

The liveness check worked first time, for a change. My driving licence took two attempts, as did one of my proofs of address. But at last everything was accepted and I could stop worrying about one thing at least.

Then it was back to the editing. This job truly is a long, hard slog, and it isn’t only me who’s been in constant discussions with the client. The publication date has now been pushed on. I do still need to shift it as soon as I can, though, for my own peace of mind. For a start, I have a lovely new edit waiting in the wings that, so far, looks like a breeze compared to this one, and indeed many of the others I’ve recently worked on.

I reconciled my Focus To Do with my Click Up. They really do do two different jobs, but they also work in tandem with each other. Not automatically. That would make my life far too easy. But it has helped me focus on the job(s) in hand and I’m adding a lot more ticks to the to-do list.

This morning, despite still feeling rough, the poet has gone to finish some stuff off at work before we break up for the week. I have to dash and pick up his repeat prescription before they close. But much of the day will be reformatting the magazine, making the Word file and the cover for the ebook, and whatever of the editing job I can face.

Have a super weekend. I’ll bob on when I can next week.

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