Thursday, February 16

Deadlines and Schedules and Plans, Oh My!

I don't know why I feel bad for not having posted on my blog as much this year. It's not like I'm letting down paying subscribers! But still... I apologize. If anyone reading this happens to care...

We've been really busy at the office since New Year. Somehow we have about 7 books all due to be delivered to their publishers in the same time period and so there is plenty panicking about and lots of editors' corrections to type. Endless piles of "To Do" appearing on my desk and having to chop and change between books has been a little trying and not too conducive to good moods, but it's better than it was.

I haven't got much further with editing my own book. As it stands I have made on-screen changes to four chapters, but I'm putting it aside for a month or so now anyway, so I can work on my entry for Moonlit Romance's "Falling in Love" contest (see Nell's blog for details). The deadline is the end of March. I'm reworking a story I started writing about three years ago which got to 5 chapters and then died a quick death! I had a plan of how the rest of the book was meant to go, but the pacing wasn't very good at all and it was a real beginner's effort. Anyway, I've already written a rough chapter-by-chapter plan for the contest entry using the old stuff. Next up I have to go through the 5 chapters I'd written and rip out anything that I can use for the new version. Then write the rest. Then edit. Then read. Then edit. Hopefully this will all fit into the schedule well enough to allow me not to miss the entry deadline!

And so I finally met Nell the weekend before last (I think...). It was really exciting following the sat-nav directions to her house, spotting her road sign, looking at each house as we drove slowly past, waiting to see her number. She made Bloke and I feel welcome straight away and although I am always very nervous of being in the houses of people I don't strictly "know" (remnants of panic attacks), I felt really comfortable at Nell's very quickly. She was sure her house was a mess but it WASN'T! I also met the "belles" (her three girls) and they were all lovely and polite and were all wearing clothes I would have killed for had I been their age! We are already planning to meet again in April for a shopfest at a designer outlet near me. She almost hyperventilated when I told her there was a Jimmy Choo shop :) Anyway, it's a shame Nell doesn't have a picture on her blog, but you can all see what you're missing out on by looking at this picture, because Cynthia Nixon reminds me a lot of her:




Just finished reading: Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine

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