Read, write and cwtch the cat day

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Well, this is the last day of my two-week break from my day job. But, instead of getting all down in the dumps, I will look back on how I have used this break from the grind and what I have achieved from it.

Since this post, written at the start of my break, my meds seem to be slowly aiding my condition, and I am at last starting to see an improvement in my health. Fingers crossed, Methotrexate is finally the drug to get me back on my feet again...

Reading-wise, I have slowed down a little these past couple of weeks. But the current book I am reading, Guy N Smith's Death Bell, is one of my favourites of his so far. And I want to savour it, especially as I am so far ahead in my reading schedule this year :)

My biggest achievement over my two-week break from the day job is the progress I have made on Cold Comfort. I have now ploughed through most of the second draft of this, my longest novel, and am now a whole three months ahead of schedule. Instead of completing this second draft by the end of June, I now aim to get it completed by the end of March 2023. I will then take a few weeks break from Cold Comfort to work on the second draft of the vampire novel I wrote late last year. I hope to get the second drafts of both of this year's novels completed by the end of June. This will give me a solid six months to complete the third and final drafts of both novels, as well as produce my third Explore Gower guidebook.

So, all things considered, today is not a day to dread the coming of tomorrow and my return to the drudgery of earning a living. Instead, it is a day to celebrate the hard work I have put in these past few weeks to not only keep my creative spark alive, but to turn it into a blazing bonfire! 

Time to chill...

Setting up for a Saturday sesh

Saturday, February 25, 2023

I came downstairs this morning to find this precious furry girl waiting for me to crack on with my writing.

Pwscat Interuptions

February 24, 2023

Cold Comfort - Ploughing On

February 16, 2023

 As I noted in yesterday's blog entry, I did not find enough time to keep up the writing pace I enjoyed on previous days this week. Still, I managed to accomplish work I'd previously allotted five days to accomplish today, so I am not complaining. :)

Cold Comfort Update

February 15, 2023 

With thirteen days off work from my day job, I have cracked on with the second draft of my 150,000+ word horror opus, Cold Comfort. I have divided the book into five parts and am currently working on section 4. Whilst I have given myself until the end of June this year to complete the second draft, I am hoping to make enough progress over the next couple of weeks to hopefully get this edit complete a lot sooner than that. 

Two days into my much-needed break from the job that keeps a roof over my head I have already completed the work I had given myself two weeks to complete so I am pretty happy with my progress thus far. Unfortunately, I have to have my first blood test tomorrow to check how my body is coping with my methotrexate medication. This will take up much of tomorrow morning so I won't be able to get so much writing done on day three of my holiday. Oh well.

Talking of my health, I have suffered a few side effects from my medication  this week, most notably stomach upsets and certain tingling sensations inside my lips and tonsils. So far, I haven't had any ulcers actually break out but I definitely have that tingling associated with a impending breakout. Fingers crossed I can stave off an actual breakout as I think that would signal my consultant stopping the medication. Anyway, so far so good, but the methotrexate dose increases on Friday so it's definitely a case of wait and see...

Taking my mind off things

February 02, 2023

Had to take a day off work today as I was no good to anyone. Hoping to see my specialist again tomorrow and maybe starting my next treatment early...

Cracking On...

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Guy N Smith Books

Having read x3 Guy N Smith books during January, I thought I would ease up on reading in February. It's a short month, and editing Cold Comfort is requiring more work than I originally envisioned. My target for February 2023 is now to read just x1 Guy N Smith book and to edit x3 more chapters of Cold Comfort.

A busy week ahead...

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Got a lot of reading and writing to do over the next week...

A Busy Week

January 13, 2022

It has been a busy week, which I spent reading, sorting out our attic room and continuing editing the second draft of Cold Comfort, which is coming along to schedule. Unfortunately, the sheer length of this novel means that it won't be ready for publication until the final quarter of 2023 :(

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Sunday morning ~ words are formin'. -Thankfully, as I've given myself one hell of a task of completing both a second and third draft of a 100,000 novel! Still, I'm enjoying it at the moment as I really can't remember from one page to the next what i going to happen next. A quarter of a century has not been kind to my memory.

Cold Comfort

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Twenty-three years ago, I decided to write my first novel, Cold Comfort, in the gap between discovering I had landed myself a new job and taking up the position. I believed that in taking the job, the likelihood of me finding the time to become an author would be restricted. And so I sat at my old computer, typing at the keyboard every day until my fingers were sore, determined to complete the story that had sat in my head for a long, long time. My determination was such that I completed the task before the drudge of a 9-5 life engulfed me. And the printed manuscript was put in a drawer - where it remained for nearly a quarter of a century. 

The other night, I dusted down the old stack of paper, expecting to throw it in the trash. But the writing was pretty good, and the story better than I had remembered. And so, I decided to give the thing a polish. The digital file was long since lost, but I found an app that allowed me to photograph the pages and get them converted into an editable word doc, and so here I am, finally bringing the beast into the light of day once more. Hopefully, 2023 will see it finally published, twenty-four years after it was first put to paper 🙂