Summary:

Paid editing work is a bit thin on the ground at the moment – but I used my extra time well this week and wrote a ton of flash fiction!

 

Monday:

I had no paid editing work scheduled for today, but I was up early so I decided to try and treat the day like a ‘work’ day anyway.

I spent quite a lot of time trying to wrangle my inbox into submission – mostly planning out upcoming expenses and professional development – as it had spiralled out of control again.

I also wrote a review of Castles of Tuscany, a board game I’d played for the first time the day before.

One of the members of my writing group had asked for feedback on her novel opening from more people, so I volunteered to do that and prioritised it before lunch.

After lunch, I typed up and expanded the short story I wrote the first draft of on Saturday, so it was long enough to fit in with the rest in my planned collection, based on a deck of Dixit cards.

Then, I wrote a draft of the next one, based on the idea I’d had the day before.

Later, I added to my workshop series notes, fleshing out the basic structure and coming up with different focus themes for each iteration.

I also did some minor editing of my current novel, A Wizard Calls My Name, based on early feedback on the first draft.

Then, I checked the latest issue of Writing Magazine for any interesting submission opportunities and worked through a bit more of The Book of Good Times.

Much later, I decided to give up on the book I was reading – Arcadia by Iain Pears – so I wrote my review. First DNF of 2025!

 

Tuesday:

I had a leisurely morning, mostly reading, as I didn’t have any paid editing work to do (a chunky project is coming my way at the end of the week, though, so I wasn’t stressed about it).

During the Revision Club focus session after lunch, I wrote another Dixit story, as well as expanding an old piece of flash fiction to fit the next card prompt.

I also listened to more of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and made notes for the upcoming podcast episode about it.

 

Wednesday:

I finished my current book – A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern – and wrote my review.

I also listened to a lot more of Watchmaker and added to my podcast notes.

 

Thursday:

I headed into town early to join the co-working crew, with a new, urgent piece of work from my finance client whose book I edited at short notice last week. I completed that first (it was pretty tough and took longer than I anticipated) and sent it back.

After that, I went back to the Dixit short story collection and wrote the next story.

After lunch, I wrote the next Dixit story, bringing me to a total of 16, which hit my tentative target of eight per month. I contacted my editor, Leslie, to let her know I was ready to pay for developmental feedback on the first batch of seven. My plan is to keep writing eight per month, and pay for feedback on seven per month, giving me a growing buffer over the course of the year, though paying for the feedback will obviously depend on cash flow…

I also started what I hope will be my final training course to achieve Professional level membership of the CIEP – Proofreading Level 2.

Later, I submitted an application to join a freelance job platform that one of the co-working crew recommended.

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