Summary:

I’d still like some more paid editing work, but it’s been nice this week to take some time off to rest and relax, while also plugging away at some of my own creative projects.

 

Monday:

I was a bit worried my recent lack of paid work would affect my work ethic and make it difficult for me to get back into it again today. But I was up at 7am, actually quite keen to resume this whole working malarkey!

But I started my day by reading some more of Shrines of Gaiety for the podcast, to fill the gap between breakfast and online pilates, and started work after that.

Once I started work, I took it relatively gently, only assigning myself two hour-slots instead of my traditional three. So, I copy edited half of the opening section of the dark fantasy novel I’d given developmental feedback on a couple of weeks ago. And I also started copy editing the mountain biking memoir project that had finally been signed off last week. Two great books, so not exactly a hardship to work on!

After lunch, I logged onto the regular Monday afternoon focus session I host and said hello to the three other lovely writers who were attending. We set our goals and got on with some stuff.

I wrote the next short story in the collection I’m putting together based on Dixit cards, then sent some cold emails to various small publishing houses, from a list I’d received from a fellow editor.

Then I did some short story submissions.

In the second half of the focus session, I wrote another Dixit story, bringing my total for the collection to 21!

 

Tuesday:

I headed into town today, intending to spend a full eight hours working and writing (and also possibly reading and watching TV) at the BFI, as I had dinner plans with friends in the evening.

I started by finishing the copy editing of the dark fantasy novel opening I started the day before, then sent it back to the author for review and approval.

Then I did a sample edit for a potential new client.

Then it was back to the travel memoir to do some more copy editing on that.

Despite my ambitious plans for the day, I didn’t actually get around to working on any of my own projects at all, because two awesome friends came to join me for the afternoon and we spent most of the time talking – which was lovely.

 

Wednesday:

I spent nearly the whole morning reading and finished another chunky book, so I wrote my review.

In the evening, I watched the 1987 Barbara Cartland adaptation, A Hazard of Hearts, and made my notes for the podcast episode we would be recording about it later in the week.

And, even later, I struggled on for a bit with Shrines of Gaiety, mostly complaining about its lack of plot in my podcast notes.

 

Thursday:

I decided to stay at home today, rather than going into town to spend the day with the co-working crew, since I had such a long writing/editing day at the BFI on Tuesday. Also, since I’ve been quite overwhelmed recently in various ways, and I don’t have any plans or obligations over the next few days, I considered having the day off and really leaning into a few days of doing very little.

But – I did have a client project ongoing (even though it didn’t have an urgent deadline), so I pulled myself together and finished editing the first half of the biking memoir (which luckily, I was really enjoying).

I also wrote my blog post for the month about work ethic, and completed the next Dixit story.

Later, I encouraged myself to read more of Shrines of Gaiety for the podcast by not taking anything else out with me on a trip into central London. I did get through a decent chunk and it did start getting less tedious…

 

Friday:

I spent a lot of the day reading Shrines of Gaiety and adding to my podcast script about it.

 

Saturday:

I finally finished Shrines of Gaiety and completed my podcast script.

Dave and I also recorded the next episode of the podcast.

Later, I finished an audiobook and wrote my reviews for both that and the terrible play we went to see on Thursday.

 

Sunday:

I posted the latest episode of the podcast, which is about late-90s US college drama, Felicity.

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