(Cover by Gil Kane, all rights with current holder) Lesson Number One: Now that I’m watching TV for the book rather than movies, it should theoretically be easy to do lots of added stuff (working on the text being the top priority). However it’s also very easy to be distracted into non-writing stuff (email, checking FB, petting pups) which is what I normally do while watching TV. So I will have to watch out for that.
Lesson Number Two: It’s getting dark early. And as it gets darker, I need to take the pups out earlier, which will probably cut into my late afternoon writing time by December. It wasn’t this way last year, when TYG was doing most of Plushie’s walkies, because Trixie’s small and easy to lead so it wasn’t a great problem to walk her in the dark. Plush is more stubborn, harder to move if there’s any danger, so if I want to go outside our cul-de-sac, its better to do while it’s light.
Not a major problem—I can just do the remaining work after we come back inside—but it would be very easy to say “oh, skip it!” and I can’t afford to do that on a regular basis. So again, something to be wary of.
While I didn’t get my usual 40 hours in this week—I decided when I got back from Weem that I’d devote the day to necessary practical projects. Some cleaning, some cooking, getting the mail from a neighbor, baking thank-you bread for the neighbor, baking bread for me (TYG doesn’t do bread so it’s usually all mine. An Italian bread with red pepper filling, in this case), checking my bank balance, etc. In the remaining time:
•I submitted an article to Mapquest, which is recruiting writers to post content about various cities and regions. They liked it, so hopefully more assignments will follow. I’ll post a link once it’s out.
•I put in five hours work on The Schloss and the Switchblade and found the suggestions from my writing group very helpful. I now have a rough idea of the ending (some elements firm, some mutable), so the next step will be figuring a way to set it up from the beginning.
•I watched a lot of TV for the time-travel book. While it’s depressing how much there is to see, I’m constantly amazed how much I can find online.
And as usual, I had a great time at the writing group, though I wasn’t reading this week.
