Tuesday 14 January 2025: The thaw begins

Over the weekend I’d kind of decided to take the pressure off myself and only write an assignment for the space opera workshop if something grabbed me. I’m really not a science-fiction writer in any way, shape or form, nor even a reader, let alone space opera. I used to watch Star Trek when I was a kid, and maybe some Lost in Space. But that’s about it. 

I don’t mind the occasional challenge, though, because writing out of my comfort zone sometimes pays off, and it’s good to exercise a different writing muscle every now and then. And I enjoy it once I get going.

I was a bit late with the planning for this particular workshop and it sneaked up on me somewhat. I’d completely forgotten it was in January, so I didn’t check in to collect any reading lists until, well, January. What little bit of reading I had time for only reinforced my belief that perhaps I’m not yet ready to try any actual writing. Most of what I read went completely over my head, some of the rest bored me rigid.

So I decided to only attempt the assignment if I felt so inspired, but I’d still watch the workshop videos. I was disappointed in myself, because this was the only study along workshop planned by the publisher as the last two were cancelled due to poor sign-up for the in-person workshops (and if there’s no in-person workshop, then there’s nothing to study along with). Which I fully understand. 

I’ve worked for a training organisation and they’re there to make money. So if they’re not even breaking even, then it’s best to cut their losses. But it meant a lifetime membership I’d paid for, albeit in a half-price sale, wasn’t giving me my money’s worth. I wanted to participate in the space opera workshop because I’d paid for it, and also because I’d be learning something new.

And then, on Saturday morning, an email came in from the publisher announcing five new workshops in the future, which all include a study along class: 

• 5 – 8 May 2025 Gothic Workshop
• 13 – 16 October 2025 Time Travel Workshop
• 12 – 15 January 2026 Adventure Workshop
• 4 – 7 May 2026 World Building Workshop
• 12 – 15 October 2026 Detectives Workshop

Well, that’s more like it, for me at least. I’d probably feel more at home writing in all of those areas. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that they’ll all go ahead. 

It’s more likely they’ll go ahead as the in-person classes are now taking place in the company’s new headquarters in Vegas, so they don’t have to hire off-site conference facilities. That means they need to earn less to see a profit, or even break even. And their in-house conference facilities are smaller, so that means fewer in-person class members. 

I’m going to pencil them all into my diary so I don’t forget to check in every so often, and maybe collect any reading list that needs a couple of months to read. I’ll still watch the space opera workshops, but these five new classes have lifted the weight from my shoulders.

Grand-doggy #1 arrived Friday afternoon and on Saturday we went and did the shopping. I spotted a gnawed hole in one of the fascia boards outside the house on Friday night and on Saturday the poet blocked it up. We’re still getting noises in the area, but we think now it’s something trying to get in and giving up. 

On Sunday the poet made a ‘black and blue’ fruit pie (blackberries and blueberries), and we nipped out to see his mum as she managed to blow the lights in her house. (It was just a trip switch due to a lightbulb blowing as she turned the lights on.) I found another smaller hole in the fascias, in a different location, but we decided not to worry about that one until it gets bigger. If it gets bigger. Then Son #2 came to collect the dog and take him home.

By Monday morning the temperature outside had risen and the snow was finally starting to melt. I refreshed the drinkers and bird bath in the garden, lifting a solid lump of ice the size of a football (soccer ball) from one of them. The birds are back down to one feed a day as they can go grubbing in the edges now that the snow is going. 

First job of the day was sharing yesterday’s blog post everywhere. Second job of the day was starting today’s blog post and writing up the weekend. Third job of the day was Monkey Dust admin. Yay! Quite a few things, though:

• I made posters for the next 2 gigs
• made a poster with the year’s gigs on
• added the next gig to Diane’s Gig List
• created an event for the next gig on Facebook
• sent the posters to the next 2 venues
• sent the gig list to a potential new fan
• changed the location on the 2^nd poster and sent it again (venue requested the change)
• chatted with the potential new fan for a bit
• shared the poster for the next gig on Facebook
• shared the event for the next gig on Facebook
• created an Instagram graphic
• shared the Instagram graphic on Instagram

Phew! No wonder time runs away with me when I do that! I’ve also started to monitor jobs on Toggl. I checked the stats for this job and I spent 1 hour 10 minutes and 57 seconds on Monkey Dust admin. That’s 20 minutes longer than one of my Pomodoros. [rubs pretend whiskers on chin]

Fourth job of the day was a quick update to today’s blog post while the poet made us both a cuppa. I had a quick break, and then it was back to the grindstone.

We’ve started our social media wind-down, although one of them was taken out of our hands.

We found out last week that the poet’s Instagram had been hacked and we think someone was after his followers (he had thousands). But the account is unavailable now, so it must have been flagged as spammy and removed. (The profile image, which is all we can see, was a large-breasted lady…😳) The password has also been compromised, apparently, so he can’t use the same one anywhere else now. (Not that he used it a lot, just for certain things.)

He’s going to use only the Monkey Dust Instagram now, and he’s talking about deleting his Facebook and using mine for Monkey Dust stuff. So I have to keep my FB going. I only joined Instagram because he was on it, and I don’t know now if I will keep it or not. It doesn’t really serve much of a useful purpose for me, as I know everyone somewhere else anyway. My Twitter is virtually gone, and his will be too. And we’re both going to delete our LinkedIn, which has never really served any purpose for me, other than one friend who uses it to send messages.

So we’re certainly going a bit darker on social media and I’ll make the necessary changes to the back matter in my books as I go along. I should have used LinkTree sooner.

When I tried to log into Monkey Dust on Instagram, I was told that the password there had been involved in a data leak too. So I had to come up with a new password on the spot. The poet tried logging in on his phone, and it wouldn’t let him. He tried to log into my Instagram on the phone, and it wouldn’t let him do that either. So he uninstalled the app. I had to keep reminding him to reinstall it again. If there’s a bigger issue, then we need to know and we need to notify Instagram.

We had bagels with cream cheese for dinner, followed by a banana, and it was back to the desk. I stared at my to-do list and decided what to do next: I reminded the poet to reinstall instagram again! He was working, of course, but he had time to do it. It took him straight to the Monkey Dust account and let him log in. So there must have been something wrong with his app.

I had another go at choosing a job from my list, and the winner this time was the bookazine. I collected and read through the third instalment of Night Crawler and inserted it into the file for the January issue of Words Worth Reading.

Another message came in for the band, which I fielded. Then I moved on to the pre-writing for Act 1 of Fallen Angel, Book 3 in the great novella challenge. 

I went and collected a load of books for review, downloaded them, added them to the Trello board and did the conversions so I can read them on any device. I noted the publication dates and made those the due dates. I’d like to start getting them all read and reviewed in good time before I start working my way backwards through the backlog.

That took a lot longer than I’d planned. I really need to keep on top of this in future. I sideloaded the most recent books onto my Kobo, updated my reading log for 2025 (one of the space opera books was a DNF), and signed off.