Friday 28 March 2025: Off to the theatre, darling!

After getting up early on Wednesday, I slept in a bit on Thursday. I was only 10 minutes after the alarm, so not too bad. But I was tired. I’d had a dream that I was visiting someone in prison but after stepping outside for a moment, the only way I could get back in was if they processed me as an inmate. With that kind of choice, I went home. But I had to wake myself up first to stop me arguing the toss for AGES with the prison guards.

I made my dirty cuppa, fed the birds, read a daily newspaper, and shared yesterday’s blog post to BlueSky. Once at my desk, I also shared the Diane’s Gig List post, both to my profile and to the band’s, and I started today’s blog post.

The first writing job I settled down to was The Ace of Swords. This is the third ‘tarot tale’ featuring one of the 4 main characters in the Horvale/Stevie Beck series. Each of the 4 aces represents one of the MCs but it’s their backstory before they arrive in Horton Magna. 

The Ace of Wands was Stevie Beck’s backstory, leading up to her identity change and safe installation in the town. The Ace of Cups was Maddy the Mad Vicar’s backstory. Maddy had a name change earlier in life when she was adopted by her foster parents. The Ace of Swords is Fal’s backstory. 

Fal’s name was changed in his backstory and now he’s back to his real name. The Ace of Pentacles is Vanessa ‘Honey Monster’ Vickers’ backstory. Vanessa doesn’t undergo any name change, but the story should explain why she is how she is and why she acts towards Stevie in the way that she does.

The original plan was to carry on with the tarot theme, but I don’t know enough about the tarot to write a whole series. Yes, Stevie does dabble in the tarot in her new life after she was gifted a tarot bible to go with the tarot cards she found in the back of a shed. I thought about having Stevie learn it as I learn it, but it just didn’t ring very true and caused quite a major blockage. Once I removed that blockage, the stories started to tumble out thick and fast, and with all constraints lifted, it’s turning into a fun, light-hearted series. (Said she hopefully.)

Some of the novellas I’m writing for the great novella challenge are Horvale stories, as are some of the short stories I’m writing for 12 Stories in 12 Months. Equally, though, Marcie Craig is getting some short stories to go alongside her novels. And now I have Mavis Braithwaite to add to the collection, but I think Mavis will only get short stories. 

The Ace of Swords is now just over 1,800 words, which is a decent length but it’s the shortest of the tarot tales so far. The Ace of Pentacles will now be percolating at the back of my mind. I’d like to add this one to Words Worth Reading Issue 4 in July. The Ace of Swords will be in Issue 3 in April. 

Once they’re all published as standalones, I’ll collect them into a boxed set. I won’t be making any of these permafree as that doesn’t really make sense. The only thing that links them, apart from the tarot Aces, is where the 4 characters all end up. Although Maddy and Stevie did know each other growing up.

I collected the next prompt for 12 Stories in 12 Months. The length is 500 words exactly, and the deadline is 23 April. These very short stories are actually the hardest for me because they don’t fit in any series so they have to stand alone, and that means character work and world-building.

And then I spent the rest of the day on The Christmas Tree Mystery, and I’ll be doing the same today. It’s due in on Monday and I don’t have the entire weekend to work on it.

Here’s yesterday’s task list: 

1. share Thursday’s blog
2. write and schedule Friday’s blog
3. continue writing The Christmas Tree Mystery
4. revise The Ace of Swords
5. client edit
6. share Diane’s Gig List post

And here’s the rest of the week’s task list:

1. share Friday’s blog
2. write and schedule Monday’s blog
3. continue writing The Christmas Tree Mystery
4. proofread The Ace of Swords
5. weekly backup
6. next week’s diary
7. theatre visit
8. mother’s day meal

We’re off to see A Streetcar Named Desire, then we’re taking the mother-in-law out for dinner and 2 of the kids are coming with us.

Have a super weekend!