Friday 25 October 2024: This n that

I started to write this with a view to publishing it yesterday, but it got longer and longer and longer and I still had to write yesterday’s Writing Prompts. So I split it and decided to post the work/day part today instead.

Tuesday

As I was closing down on Tuesday, an email came in from the editing client with the proofreader’s report on the Holocaust book. I had a quick look, and at first I thought she’d sent me the wrong file by mistake. I checked it to the end, and found something like 3 queries.

Three.

And 2 of those were just that, queries. The proofreader found one mistake in the entire book. That’s not bad work, even though I do say so myself. I’ll certainly take it.

Wednesday

I got up on time on Wednesday and spent half an hour doing the usual early morning faff, aka wake-up. Then I set my timer for 50 minutes to enjoy a leisurely breakfast. I used this time to read, catch up on social media and emails, and play 2 games.

When the timer ended, I set another for 10 minutes and used that time for morning ablutions and getting dressed. I also did 10 getting-out-of-an-armchair-without-using-my-hands stand-ups. (Apparently recommended for people my age who don’t get much exercise.) I was at my desk bang on time and I set my timer for another 50 minutes.

I don’t seem to have done a lot in my first work Pomodoro, but I was at my desk and I was working. I started my 5-minute tech declutter, and ended up tidying up my Medium. I deleted all of the blog posts on there that are older than a month old, and I added a description to the ‘Diane’s Blog’ list, telling readers that they could still see historic blog posts over here on my website.

I also wrote a very short 150-word story and submitted it to a new, to me, publication, and I updated my record of submissions. When the timer ended, I spent 10 minutes feeding the birds and did 10 step-ups x 2 using the perfectly sized step on our patio. I’m determined to get more activity into my working day.

The Medium declutter continued into the next Pomodoro, but this time I was collecting published stories and pasting them into a Scrivener file for Medium. I ended up with several folders, for things like:

Writing Prompts
Take 1 Idea
Short Work (which includes Fillers)
Features (which includes Travel and Writing)
Short Fiction
Serial Fiction
Serial Non-Fiction

I’ll gradually move stuff over to here, rather than do it all in one go.

I spent the entire morning on this in the end, and by the end of my third Pomodoro I was ready for something to eat. As I’m trying to listen to my body tell me when I’m hungry, I went and made a sandwich and took an early dinner break.

It was a shorter break too because at the end of it I watched, and joined in with, a 15-minute Walk at Home video. At about the point where I was starting to get bored, the instructor announced that we were only half-way through! I can’t see that one lasting for very long, but it’s a good workout all the same.

After dinner I was still on with Medium work and I wrote up this month’s Writing Prompts. This time, though, instead of writing a new Take One Idea story too, I just linked to one of the older ones.

A Kickstarter that was supposed to start on Tuesday didn’t seem to start. I toyed with dropping them a quick email to see if everything was still going to plan or ask if there had been a glitch, but I know they’ve been busy this past week or two and wasn’t sure they’d appreciate it. So I left it for another day or so.

I had an email from an anthology editor to whom I’d sent The Egg Thief. He apologised for taking longer than advertised to reply to contributors, said he’d already filled up one volume with submissions, and would be publishing another volume in a few months. So, not an acceptance, but not a reject (yet!) either.

During one of my afternoon Pomodoro breaks I lay down on the floor (on a yoga mat, with a cushion under my head) and did 5 exercises especially for spondylitis sufferers. He said to start with 10 – 15 and build up to 50 of each, double for the two-sided reps. I just about managed 10 of each (and double for the two-sided reps)! He said don’t do sit-ups, do crunches! Hah! It would be nice if I could do the crunches!

Phew! I’m hoping that last lot gets easier. I called it a day on the activity front then. I’d done 4 lots of exercises, taking around 30 – 40 minutes in all. I have 2 more lots I’d like to add at some point, a ‘LazyFit’ chair workout and a yoga chair workout. That will take me up to around an hour, if I get the spondy exercises up to 50. I don’t want to overdo it too soon.

I then did an online search for online printables I can use to keep track of exercises and any weight loss, although the latter will be a bonus. I just want to be able to pull my socks on properly again, or scratch a stubborn itch on my back. I used to be flexible, but I think the weight is hampering the spondy issue as I’ve started to get a tingly tailbone.

Not after Wednesday’s exercise! I mean anyway. I could be standing in the kitchen, my tailbone will twinge, and all of a sudden my legs and feet get pins and needles or go numb. Or I can be standing or walking and my back will be in agony and I have to sit down, which eases it instantly. The poet took a picture of the eczema/dermatitis on my back last week. When I saw the roll of fat around the middle of my back I asked, ‘Whose back is this?!’

Then I looked for online printables I can use for the Great Novella Challenge. I love touchy-feely-visual things that motivate me, keep me on track, or show me how far I’ve actually progressed.

Scruffy Magpie and his pals kept me entertained throughout much of the day. But when it got too dark, I closed the curtains, closed everything down, and closed the office for the day.

During the evening, both of my stories were accepted on Medium, but the new short one had a few things wrong with it before they could publish it. I tried to do it from the phone, but ended up deleting the entire conversation between me and the editor. In the end, I removed it from the publication and submitted it again. Within half an hour, she’d published it and during the rest of the evening there was a lot of activity around it.

Thursday

Aside from share yesterday’s post to BlueSky as well as the short piece I wrote for Medium, I did nothing all day other than work on a new 12-project spreadsheet. I’ve been using a 10-project spreadsheet, but it wasn’t big enough and when I imported the Excel file into LibreOffice, it broke it! I’ve been working from a single sheet since then, but yesterday I decided it was time I (a) created a new 12-project worksheet, and (b) learned how to use LibreOffice Calc.

I carried on going on this until it got dark, then closed everything down again.