Busy writing, editing, proofreading …

My own work has become quite lax of late, with me either feeling very sorry for myself (tooth extraction) or concentrating on work for other people once again. (And I have toothache!)

Last week I was busy finishing a “heavy proof” for lovely-already-client, and a new edit came in from lovely-new-regular-client. I was also approached by also-lovely-new-regular-client to see if I could fit in the next in his series of stories, and a brand new client asked if I’d like regular work off them too.

These clients are currently based in England, Greece, Australia and Hong Kong. So we’re also working around different time zones.

But it’s great, it really is. I do like to be busy, and I’m enjoying all of the work – very much.

To ensure I at least attempt some work of my own as well, though, I’ve – of course – recently joined the new Goldthorpe Writers. We have a meeting this afternoon, from 2:30 until 4:30, and the theme is “the old man”.

However, because I’m already working on plenty, I’ve rattled off a few hundred words for them this morning onΒ The Fool (about 800 words) but I’ve also printed off the first few scenes ofΒ Catch the Rainbow as well as the current cover mock-up.

As regular readers will know, as a writer, I’m currently “orbiting” several “worlds”:

  • The Fool (a pocket novel) – contemporary world
  • The Beast Within (a sequel to Night Crawler) – 1990s world
  • Catch the Rainbow (a sort-of sequel to Night Crawler, but also a historical) – 1990s and 1970s worlds
  • Whitehorse Farm (a cat-rom that may turn into a pocket novel) – contemporary world
  • The Life of Richard Cadbury (a biography) – late-1800s world

The biography needs to be in later this year. The original date was 1 September, but as the contract took two months to come back to me, that will also be pushed back. (I won’t start contracted work until the contract is here – call me old fashioned …)

Some of this morning’s work included reading another chapter on Richard Cadbury. I also read another chapter of my next NetGalley review book. And I printed off the Greek client edit and packed a work bag that contains:

  • the Greek client edit (in its entirety, and in my “editing folder”)
  • the first few scenes of The Fool
  • the first few scenes of Catch the Rainbow
  • an exercise book
  • a small notebook
  • a pencil tin (that also contains a “current WIP” memory stick)
  • the laptop/notebook/switch (it doesn’t have Word on, but it does have Scrivener and OpenOffice)
  • various chargers and cables
  • personal stuff

Before I head off to the writers’ group, I need to raise an invoice for last week’s work (hurrah!), which we delivered at the weekend, and I’ll have something to eat.