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Well, I'm in relapse. Been here many times before and it's just pain and exhaustion so no crisis, but it does require me to adjust my goals because if I try to muscle through it'll only get worse for longer.
Three goals then:
1. Golden Triangle edits. I'm halfway through my first pass on the quick and easy stuff and have a good handle on the heavier stuff to come. I'm one of the strange ones who love editing (with a brilliant editor, which I have) so for me this is like drinking cool clear water from a mountain stream.
2. Mentoring Lea. This will continue at least until she and her WIP are ready to sub. :)
3. My writing. I've happy with the opening chapter of my secret WIP and will continue writing that. When my co-author Emma is ready I'll get back to work with her on Tasker & Glass. But I don't anticipate any record breaking daily word counts until the relapse lifts. My goal is to keep this ticking over and not lose momentum.
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I've been quiet for a couple of weeks. Here's why.
Last Monday I went for my annual eye test (only three years late) and received slightly alarming news and a referral to the Eye Infirmary. Apparently the pressure inside my eyes has risen above the acceptable level and if Something Isn't Done it'll become A Serious Problem.
Have to confess this eyes thing is scary. I'm sure it'll be okay, but the mere thought of losing my sight has brought to the surface how vital it is for me to continue writing, and how incredibly shit life would be if I couldn't do it. So the eyes themselves are a bit worrisome, but the baggage the issue brings with it is heavy.
Glaucoma's what they're thinking. My concern is that I've left it three years between eye tests and things haven't been right for a while, but there was so much other stuff going on...
(two daughters' weddings and a year later both of them producing a grandson each, not to mention my first three books being accepted in rapid succession and released by three different publishers with all the editing work and promotion etc that entails then writing two more books for one of those publishers, one of which has been accepted and the other I'm waiting to hear about, plus my health has been a quite horribly shit the whole time and you know how it is when you're in the pressure bubble and you just keep making the main things happen while everything else waits politely in its quiet corner)
...that I kept putting it off. Hopefully not too long. Like I said earlier, I'm sure it'll be all right but The Fear is still there lurking in the middle of the night.
Tuesday afternoon my GP called to say he'd heard from my optician and I needed to go in to the surgery for a full check-up with all blood tests and everything before he can write his referral letter to the Eye Infirmary. So that happened yesterday. Which brought The Fear bubbling right back to the surface.
So that's me. Oh, plus every muscle in my body is screaming in a fierce fire from the vibration of these two days of car journeys last Monday and yesterday. That's normal life for me. Which is why this new possible threat to The Thing I Do has the power to freak me out so thoroughly.
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It's the first stage in my preparation for Sebastian's Christening in June, actually. Give the hair time to grow back a little and at some point I'll shave and trim what's left of the beard into a neat goatee.
You didn't think blokes planned stuff this way, did you?
You were right. I'm under orders. :)
Oh, yeah, I'm also moving stuff into and out of the study ready to redecorate.
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Rhonda tagged me for this meme. Like her I hardly ever do them these days but, hey, she's my editor... :D
Here are the rules:
Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
Go to line 7
Copy down the next 7 lines or sentences as they are - no cheating
Tag 7 other authors
Here's my 7-sentence excerpt from my time travel SF WIP Maynard's Muse:
....
What were you thinking? She would never know what had caused Richie to drop his guard and walk into an ambush like a stupid rookie, but that didn't stop her demanding answers from the memory of his cocky smirk.
She played the four-minute CCTV film again and closed her eyes against the white pulse that indicated the incident had been parceled and sealed by the enemy. There'd be no going back to change this. It had happened and it would stay happened.
Parceling and sealing required heavy resources so there was nothing routine or random about this take-down job. It meant something to the Circle.
....
I won't tag anyone. This is fun so if you feel like doing it, enjoy yourself. :)
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Two good things happened yesterday. First, our entire new bedroom of oak furniture was delivered, unwrapped, positioned and filled. Two long low chests of drawers, one shorter and higher one (for the posh new 21st century telly to sit on), two bedside cabinets and a six-foot mirror that probably won't get fixed to the wall for a few years. All matching and lovely. We've wallpapered our bedroom with red roses on a cream background and the whole effect is delightfully country-cottage. Janette baptised it in the night when she knocked over her glass of apple juice.
In the evening, my co-author Emma and I enjoyed a marathon plotting session on the phone. This weekend our Big Push starts. We aim to have our first 90k sf novel ready to send out to a small and select group of agents by the end of May. As well as her finishing her final contracted book of a series and getting married in April and me editing Golden Triangle with Rhonda sometime.
None of which is looking like much fun today because the low-grade ear infection I've been carrying all week exploded into a painful fever overnight and this morning feels like a truck had rough sex with me all night.
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I've reached the end of my rope with Facebook and just deleted my account. This is the latest in a long line of nonsenses from the company and there's no reason to think they'll ever call a halt to the crap, so my pages will be visible for 14 days yet but I'm gone from there.
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Hooray! Yesterday afternoon my editor Rhonda let me know Carina wants to acquire my UF novel Golden Triangle, which is Quarter Square's sequel and Book 2 of the Wild Times series. I accepted the offer. No release date yet but we're probably looking at early 2013.
I'm over the moon about this. Wild Times is my first series and I suffered a sophomore slump while writing Golden Triangle, then worked hard on Rhonda's brilliant R&R and finally got the offer. What a relief!
Joe and Min's second adventure spans England, Wales and North America and sees them mixing with werewolf bikers, modern mercenaries, old-fashioned sea pirates, warring British Iron Age tribes, wise women, wizards, angels, Cornish piskies and elves, an injured bigfoot, a fierce mermaid and a Green Man of the forest.
Happy David! :)
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Jake had diarrhoea all over the living room and kitchen floors last night, including on the Indian rug our daughter Heather and her husband Ian gave us for Christmas. We didn't know anything about it until Bev got up at 6 this morning. This could be the final indication the vet warned us would come, but it's come so soon. We're thinking there's a chance it might be his new arthritis medication rather than the neurological condition. Hoping so, anyway. Called the vet at 9 and he's prescribed a 3-day course of something to bind Jake's stomach. We'll take it from there.
The pic is from happier days.
As you can imagine, not much of anything else is happening here. :(
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I kind of stalled on everything except Lea's mentorship last week, but that's as it should be because getting her off to a good start was always my priority. Btw, here's her brand new Twitter account. She's a natural. If you feel inclined please follow her and say hello.
Waiting on two important subs has put me in limbo. Yes, I know they're all important. But you know how some have the potential to change a career? That. Two of them at once. I won't hear about one for several weeks yet but the other (Golden Triangle, important because it's Book 2 of Wild Times, which is my first ever series) is imminent-ish. Maybe this week. In the meantime I haven't felt like starting either Full Circle or Maynard's Muse, because if one or both of the subs are accepted I'll have edits incoming, while if Carina reject Golden Triangle it'll cancel Full Circle (Book 3) anyway.
The weekend was full of peaks and troughs rugby-wise, soaring high when Wales beat France to win the 6 Nations championship with a Grand Slam then very grumpy about Ireland's loss to a thuggish England in the final match of the tournament. So Saturday evening I retreated to the study to use that emotion and make a start on Maynard's Muse then followed Janette to bed and caught up with this week's new NCIS. Slept like a log until 6.30 Sunday morning, when I got up to fill the living room with flowers for her first Mother's Day as a grandmother. All the kids came around to ours for the day (and for a beautiful roast pork dinner) and we had a delightful time.
Today I was up at 4am looking over Saturday's work on Maynard's Muse and setting the mood deeper. Onwards.
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Sad news from the vet on Saturday when Bev and I took 9-year-old Jake and 2-year-old Elvis for their annual check-ups and booster jabs. Jake has a degenerative wasting condition on his spine that can't be cured. We're not grieving yet. The vet says he has a way to go, so we're enjoying the time we have left together. As you may imagine he's getting lots of cuddles and he's milking it for all he's worth. I love him.
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