quick update before i potter off to dad’s

Lili is 100 percent back to normal, thank goodness. She definitely has more problems digesting chunks than paste so she gets special food, and I’m sticking to the several meals a day thing too, although it can only be as regular as I can make them, and he boys don’t understand why they get left out. It’s good to have her noisy and bossy again.

I’m definitely the laziest writer I know. I write “in format” and I never see anyone else do this—although I’m sure people do, it’s just that all the people I’m privileged to shared manuscripts seem to write “normally” e.g. spaces between paragraphs etc and i write from the first in the format that I’ll be sending it to the publisher in. I suppose it’s because I know I’m going to be going through the damn thing so many times from starting it to publication, that I want to save myself at least one sweep while I take out all the paragraph breaks, putting it into double spacing, changing the italic formatting, etc.

I was a bit down in the dumps yesterday, so I wrote nothing, despite it being “A day off” so I have to knucke down for the next 3 days. If I can do 1200 a day that will be super. It doesn’t sound much, does it!

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one of the best things I’ve read this week

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Click to read at the webpage. I think an anti-dickhead league is in order.

In other news – I’ve received my Carina contract for Muffled Drum (omg ee!!!) and I’m already panicking about blogging on the Carina blog when the time comes. Yes, I panic that far in advance, pathetic isn’t it. I have all these ideas for professional ideas for blogs and when I need to write one, my mind goes entirely blank.I probably didn’t need the agent to give the contract the once-over, but probably better that way. There’s one amusing clause though. “all statements and materials contained in the Work that purport to be factual are accurate and true.” BWAHAHAHA. Good luck with that one in historical fiction! OMG  - the battle of Gitsin wasn’t likely at all he way I’ve written it. All one can do is hope you get a flavour of it!

Today I made home made cottage pie (which is beef, as opposed to shepherd’s pie which is made of lamb). I never really understood that distinction, you’d think it would be called stall pie, grazing pie, herdsmen pie, cattleman’s pie, drover’s pie. Or something. Why cottage? Stupid English. Smites it.

I’ve just spent two hours reading a friend’s mss and making notes. Somehow the file got closed, and when i reopened it, there were only six pages out of 225…ARGH. all that work gone! *keels self.*

Had some good news when I got home – I’d been really worrying as to how much Retirement Homes cost – as I had NO IDEA, I didn’t know whether they were 1000 a month or six thousand – i had no clue.  I sent for some brochures today, and the first one I got is much much less than I anticipated – it means that if and when Dad does need to go into one (and he’s considering it, although obviously changes his mind every day) it’s within his budget and we won’t need to sell the house to finance it. PHEW. I am planning to rent out his house, which will pay the fees, then he has his own money as well. I’m hugely relieved.