Summary:

I started work on my fourth novel! This is very exciting, and suggests I have actually managed to find a balance now between paid editing and my own writing projects.

 

Monday:

As I worked on Sunday, I had planned to have the whole of today off, but a short, urgent task came through from a regular editing client, so I did that early on.

I had my accountability call with Claire from CP’s Day Off, which was insightful and illuminating, as ever.

And then it was off to meet a friend for lunch and relax for the rest of the day.

 

Tuesday:

Another full day’s list of editing/writing tasks today!

I started with feedback on the last two essays for the Chinese education group, then edited a short blog article that had come through overnight.

Then it was back to editing the historical drama, to complete the first third, which I submitted back to the author for review.

I took a break from paid stuff to give feedback on a short story for one of the TL;DR writers.

Before lunch, I got started on one of my own projects – the expansion of an existing short story, to fit an upcoming submission deadline. This had been on my list to work on since December!! But the deadline was finally approaching (end of August) so I prioritised it over other stuff and finally started work on it.

Then, I did a review of another outline for one of my new clients – this was for the first in a paranormal fantasy series, and I really enjoyed working on it.

I did a bit more marketing for Spectrum, ticking off the last few items on my plan.

Last task for the day was another scoring sheet for the Ink & Insights competition.

But then I got another potentially ongoing blog editing project, so I did the first one as a test for both sides.

 

Wednesday:

I was going to take today off from paid editing projects, but a short job came through overnight from my most regular client, so I completed that first thing (this was apparently becoming a trend).

I got another article through from the new management blog client during the morning, so I did that too.

Later, I went through this month’s Writing Magazine and added some submission opportunities to my rolling spreadsheet. I also wrote three reviews – one of the source material for the latest podcast episode, one for an audiobook and one for a paperback.

In the evening, I recorded a guest slot on The After Show podcast, promoting Spectrum – the episode is due to go out on 10 September. It was really fun and I think I’m actually getting the hang of this interview business!

 

Thursday:

I started out with a quick job for my marketing client, then went back to expanding my short story. I got to the end of a draft and posted it up on TL;DR for feedback.

I had a meeting with a pair of existing clients about a long-term project we’re working on. I was worried about the amount of time it was likely to take and not being paid enough – but they said the editing I’d done so far was excellent and they were happy to pay more to ensure I was motivated to continue at such a high standard – woop, woop!

After lunch, I did the next scoring task for the Ink & Insights competition.

 

Friday:

Back to my favourite cafe for an all-day session!

I started with a new job from my most regular client – the online casino reviews site. Then I did the next marking task for the Ink & Insights competition.

Next, I went through the feedback I’d received on Scribophile for my YA environmental sci-fi story and revised the original version, then submitted it to a new publication opportunity.

Before lunch, I brainstormed ideas for an upcoming flash fiction competition on the theme of ‘genius’. I used my writing tarot deck and an online story generator to come up with some weird and wonderful things to combine together, then set the subconscious crew working on the story.

Then it was back to editing the romantic suspense novel.

To round off my cafe session, I did some more brainstorming, this time for a horror/dystopian anthology call that someone had posted about on the TL;DR Slack.

Then I went home and started work on editing the latest podcast episode.

 

Saturday:

I completed the editing of the latest podcast episode.

I negotiated with a potential new client and completed a sample edit for him. 

 

Sunday:

I started out with the next section of the Haitian drama – which actually turned out to be the beginning, because the client had originally sent me the wrong file to work on. This helped the story make a lot more sense!

Then I completed the editing task from my new client of the day before, though I had to negotiate a higher fee, because the file had doubled in length since our initial discussions!

Next up was editing the first part of another new contract, which turned out to be quite fun, so I was looking forward to receiving the rest of it to complete next week.

My last task before lunch was to complete the next section of the Haitian drama and submit it for review by the writer.

After lunch, I turned my attention to my own writing projects and did some more work on the horror short story I started thinking about on Friday. I started a first draft and put down more than 1000 words straight off, which was very satisfying.

Last on my list for today was embarking on what would hopefully become Novel Number Four – currently titled The Great Machine. I read through the original short story I was planning to base it on, and made some notes in a new A4 notebook, especially designated for the task. It was exciting to start a new long-form project, and I planned to work on it every ‘working’ day, to keep up my momentum.