Our internet is shocking at the moment. The entire village have been complaining, despite high-speed cables being laid beneath the roads in recent months. We’re getting all the upheaval of having cables laid and none of the benefit.
Apparently there isn’t a clear line of sight between us and the closest mast. But it all worked fine up until the last month or so, so I’m not sure they can use that as a genuine reason. We did also turn our internet off on Saturday while we did the declutter/re-arranging, but all the lights are on, and the booster is working too.
When the government is promising decent internet access to everyone, this really isn’t good enough. I think we’ll be contacting our provider soon to see what they’re doing about it. And if we’re not happy, then we might be shifting allegiance, after more than 20 years of us both being with the same company. (Sky, not BT.)
Anyway, back to yesterday. First job of the day was yesterday’s blog post. I should have done it on Friday but I was so busy (did I mention my glorious spreadsheet?) I didn’t get around to it. Another job I did yesterday instead of last Friday was this week’s diary. I’d already done the planning and scheduling. All I had to do was transfer it to the tangible at-a-glance diary.
When that was all up to date, the plan was to sit and work on Catch the Rainbow, but my tax return documents were still staring at me. So I went through those, highlighting everything that needs to go onto the tax return this year, then I bundled them into a neat pile, ready for me to start adding it all to the spreadsheet.
I eventually got around to Catch the Rainbow in the middle of the afternoon. The light was already waning, and I was struggling to see. But I pushed on and added more words to the running total. Then I updated my wonderful new spreadsheet. (Did I mention that at all?)
I had a play around with the Scrivener file for The Secret of Whitehorse Farm, making sure everything was together and in the right order. I have 2 templates for cosies: one is for a 12-chapter 24,000-word novella, the other is for a 20-chapter 40,000-word novella. I also have a 40-chapter 80,000-word template, but that’s only for the full-length novels. The word-counts are for guidance, really, but they’re a good target to aim for.
I finished reading Book 4 in the Dales Detective Agency series by Julia Chapman. I’m loving the location for these, and the characters. But the head-hopping sometimes drives me nuts. I’m trying to get over myself while I study these, and I do like what Chapman does with having several mysteries going on at once. They’re certainly a good study.
After tea, and before bedtime, we emptied the living room of all furniture and appliances, leaving only the internet and phone plugged in and on the windowsill. Most of it went into the dining room, but the settee and armchairs had to go in the hall. I really hope the carpet fitters don’t cancel…
On the agenda today:
- everything I didn’t do yesterday
- more tax return work
- proofread client book
- Catch the Rainbow
- 12 Stories in 12 Months (November)
- The Secret of Whitehorse Farm
- publish Paper Roses, release date 4 November
- weekly short story market work
- carpet fitters
Ooh, new carpet. How exciting!
And your spreadsheet. . . 😉
Did I mention the spreadsheet…?