Wednesday 24 April 2024: The Undercover Project has begun

The first job on Tuesday morning was to feed the dog, give him his medication, and feed the birds. The birds have been making a bit of a mess, recently. It must be chick-feeding time, or egg-warmer feeding time, even though we have at least 2 baby robins who are already feeding themselves. The garden birds have been frantic, but they have been messy. So I only tossed a few mealworms out for the robin.

I read quite a bit over breakfast. I IS FOR INNOCENT is growing on me as I get into it and I’ve just started to get to that page-turning stage. Then I read a chapter of HOW TO WRITE A COZY MYSTERY, and a chapter of WRITE NOVELS FAST. I got a bit carried away with the reading and ate into my writing time again. Tut, tut.

Saying that, Tuesday was more productive than Monday. Once at work, I did quite a lot from my to-do list and schedule, all of it in the comfort of the living room. I’d got up on time and made myself comfortable, and didn’t want to tear myself away from the bay window, through which a bright sun was shining. Useless for anything on a screen, but perfect for longhand work.

I worked on the Undercover Project. I didn’t get to do anything on that on Monday due to losing some of the day, so it started yesterday. I set a Pomodoro and got as far as starting the journal for this story. I’ve jotted down some plot notes, started my world-building, and begun work on the characters.

In my Pomodoro break, I filled the dishwasher and put it on and I sorted the washing into piles and put one load through. Then I did some editing work for just over one Pomodoro. I would have left it at the end of the Pomodoro, but I only had a page and a half to do for the current chapter, so I stuck with it and cleared 14 pages in all. Not bad for about an hour’s work.

In my next break, I went out into the front garden with the dog to bring the wheelie bin in and replace the liner. He was over on the other side of the house, so I went to get him, only to be shouted at by a robin perched on the bushes where the blackberries grow. He was making such a racket, I thought I must have found his nest. I said hello to him, he chirped back, and I called the dog.

Rufus and I went back in the house but before I’d even closed the door, the robin was there again. Sitting on the gate, shouting at me. Surely he didn’t have a nest on both sides of the house? (It’s a wide house and a wide garden.). He fluttered over the gate and into the back garden, so I went through the house to the garden to see what was wrong with him, expecting to see a predator in the garden or something.

Nope, no predator. But the robin was sitting next to the empty food tray still shouting at me…Well, that was a first. Never before in my life has a robin shouted at me to feed it. I went and got some sunflower hearts, and he hopped up to the tray, cocked his head on one side, and hopped back again, giving me the full benefit of one of his beady eyes. I went and got him some more mealworms, and he stuffed his beak and flew off.

How wonderful! And how clever.

Back to writing work, and this time it was planning work for FALLEN ANGEL. I’d already done a bit of a stream of consciousness for this short story and it was time to organise it into a workable structure.

Another Pomodoro break and I changed out the washing, putting one load into the tumble dryer and the next one into the washing machine. And then it was thinking time for my 500 words for 12 STORIES IN 12 MONTHS. I’m taking the poet for an extraction this morning, but I need to crack on with this today as it’s deadline day.

I didn’t get around to any learning this week, as I’ve been concentrating on the Undercover Project and the short stories. I can’t see me doing any in the coming week either.

Before I knew it, the day was over and I was putting a chicken in the oven for tea. The poet was on his way home from the south, but his eta had gone from 6:50pm to 7:40pm, thanks to the traffic. I wasn’t happy with the way the chicken smelled, though, so the jury was out on whether we’d have that or something else.

I want to do some more editing today and I have work to do on KILLER QUEEN, so it can go off to an anthology at the end of June. Yup, I’m giving this one the full 5 weeks at least, and I still have time to spare.