Back in the Saddle

It’s been a bit intense, but I’m starting to make some calm out of the muddle that was my backlog of work. I’ve caught up on a few things, dabbled in some new projects and continued fielding phone calls.

The biggest job this week is the editing job for lovely already client. But I’m on track to finish that by the end of tomorrow and get it invoiced.

I’ve caught up on a couple of book reviews for NetGalley, including one for 52 Books in 52 Weeks. And I’ve started the next two – one mystery and one writers’ guide.

I’ve also done some design work on the potentially new project. I’ve been playing with some cover ideas and might try to write a story for each issue based on the cover image I’ve chosen. (Too much of a hint, perchance?)

The other thing I did was stack up the remaining books for 52 Books in 52 Weeks. I’ve put them in some sort of reading order, saved the covers as jpgs, and numbered them 40 – 52. I wanted to do this because I’m ready for the poet to start designing a jacket for the book version.

Usually I buy a picture from a photo library for the covers of the writers’ guides. But I couldn’t find one that worked for this one, especially as I wanted to feature some of the books I’ve reviewed. So I saved all 52 jpgs for the poet and he’s already started to have a play. Watch out for the cover in the “coming soon” part of the side bar.

Unfortunately I had too many books in the end and have had to discard some. Can you imagine there being more than 52 books on writing? I reckon it could go on for hundreds and hundreds.

I also added an extra 477 words to the actual book. (Keep an eye on the word-count meter in the sidebar to see how I’m doing for my monthly challenge.)

Once I’d finished reviewing the Mark Billingham book for NetGalley, I wandered down the list on my virtual bookshelf and I selected the one that’s been there the longest. They go into archive after a certain time on NetGalley, but you can still give your feedback and still post reviews wherever it is you post your reviews to.

I’m really enjoying reading these books as it’s giving me the opportunity to try out some new authors. One has already made it onto my “read again” list – the author, not necessarily the book.

By the end of this week I hope to have another two books in the bank and ready to post.

Finally, I have been having a mess with my online presence, but I hope I can stop tinkering with that by the end of this week too.

As soon as I’ve finished this post I’ll be working on the diary for next week. This will form the basis of tomorrow’s post, perhaps with a mini-roundup.