Summary:

I got back into the swing of paid editing work and also made good progress on my own projects – so a good week all round!

 

Monday:

Last week, I approached several of my writer friends and asked if they’d be interested in doing a twice-weekly drop in/drop out focus session – and most of them said yes!

The first one was this morning and it was lovely to start the week with some friendly faces on a video call, encouraging each other to be productive.

I worked on two client projects – a queer contemporary novel by one of the editors I met towards the end of last year, and the contemporary novel from my new publisher client (now that the questions about my approach had been answered).

I didn’t get as much done on my own projects as I’d hoped (what with giving blood, meditation class and having to pick things up from the pharmacy) but I did write Stanley’s blog post and video scripts for February, so that was something.

It was good, at least, to get back into the swing of paid work!

 

Tuesday:

My morning routine went well and I was ready to start work by 8:45am.

I worked on my client projects – the queer novel and the contemporary novel – in the morning, getting a good chunk of each done.

After lunch, it was Revision Club and the group critiqued some sections of my fifth novel, Dividing the Darkness. It was an awesome discussion that led to quite a few ideas for how to improve certain aspects I’d been wrestling with, so I took plenty of notes. Then I spent the second half of the session adding more notes into the outline for the revisions, and got quite a way through what was left.

Later, I finished an excellent book and wrote my review.

 

Wednesday:

I was due to go to a lunchtime CIEP London meeting today, but unfortunately it was cancelled at the last minute.

So, instead, I recorded and edited all of Stanley the bear’s Instagram videos for February and also wrote my GYWO discussion post for the month.

After lunch, I worked on putting together my work experience record for moving up the membership ranks of the CIEP. I managed to input over 100 hours of copy editing for ‘traditional publishers’, which is all they accept as eligible, since April 2021, which is just enough to apply for the next rank up (though I need 500 for the one after that…).

 

Thursday:

I carried on with both client novels today, and also did a critique for one of the other Revision Club writers on an extract from their novel.

I also had an online chat with one of the editors I’ve connected with recently – with the outcome that I have joined my second business mastermind group – this one with more of a focus on discussing specific strategies for different aspects of our businesses, rather than goal-setting and accountability. I think the two together will be a good balance – and it’s so great to be forging close relationships with other editors!

Later, I wrote a review of the awesome musical we went to see the night before.

 

Friday:

I worked on both client novels again (really enjoying both, which is always a bonus!) and also set up all the background admin for the newsletter I’m planning to start soon.

 

Saturday:

Today, I took the reasonably lengthy trip to Fleet for my first in-person writing workshop in a long time – Claire P’s annual year-theme workshop. It was so great to see Claire and meet another couple of people I’ve only seen on Zoom before. And the workshop was great, as ever.

Later, I finished a book and wrote my review.

 

Sunday:

I did some marketing for my new monthly newsletter, posting about it on various places.