When I went on retreat at the start of June, I was fresh from completing the latest draft of novel number three, and I had two fantastic new book ideas I was really looking forward to working on while I was away. That retreat week was phenomenal – I constructed a full chapter outline for […]
Category: Blog
Weeknotes – S06E30 – Getting There Slowly
Summary: Good progress on paid client work, and enough work set up for next month, which is good. Still a bit slow on getting back to my own writing projects, but gradually chugging along. Monday: I finally made it back to the cafe after more than three weeks away. Getting up in the morning […]
Weeknotes – S06E29 – Post-Covid reset proves fatiguing
Summary: Post-Covid fatigue is definitely a thing! Still, I managed to get a reasonable amount done throughout the week. Monday: I wrote some more Darkness notes, based on yesterday’s new idea. Then I got back into paid editing work, doing more on both the novel and the family history. I also wrote this month’s […]
Weeknotes – S06E28 – Won’t Let Covid Get Me Down!
Summary: A much more productive week than I expected, considering I had Covid! I managed to get back to paid client work, post-holiday, and actually made at least some progress on both personal book projects! Monday: A recent client had been through all my edits on his stories and had a few queries, so […]
Weeknotes – S06E27 – Pretty Much A Bust
Summary: We were on holiday most of the week, then came home with Covid… Luckily, my upcoming client projects have long deadlines so I don’t have to start them right away. But I haven’t worked on either of my books since coming back from retreat over four weeks ago… Monday: Dave and I completed […]
Weeknotes – S06E26 – Clearing the Decks
Summary: I finished all my current client editing projects, ready to go on holiday! I had tentative plans to work on my own projects on the train up to Edinburgh, but it turned out I’d rather play Stardew Valley… Ah well, that’s what holidays are for, right? Monday: Back to the cafe today, with […]
New Outlining Process
When I wrote my first novel, I had no idea what I was doing. I started with a 1,500-word short story and just expanded it in both directions, figuring things out as I went along, with no plan. After five years, I had a completed first draft (after a fashion) and it took five […]
Weeknotes – S06E25 – All Work and No Writing
Summary: Plenty of paid work done, not so much on the personal writing projects front… Tuesday: Lots of paid editing work to complete this week, so I put together my task list and knuckled down at 8am. I finished editing the numerology book first and sent it back to the publisher for review and […]
Weeknotes – S06E24 – Back to Work
Summary: My focus was more on paid editing this week, after last week’s retreat, so I didn’t get much done on personal writing projects. But things are still ticking over! Tuesday: I spent quite a bit of the morning doing a text-chat interview with a prospective client, which was quite complex and I wasn’t […]
Weeknotes – S06E23 – A Very Successful Retreat
Summary: Great second half to my retreat, followed by a relaxing weekend off. Monday: I had a late start today, but that’s okay – I was kind of on holiday after all! And sleeping is so important, Baldrick. Once I got settled, I put together the formatting framework for Meditations, then drafted the Introduction […]