Down a dark hole

(Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay) (I love this artist’s work!)

Not a rabbit hole this time, but it does feel as though the week has vanished down a dark hole!

Anyway, look at this! I’m creating my first regular blog post on the new site and I didn’t have to make sure I selected ‘classic’ from the menu first. That’s not going to take as long getting used to as it did remembering to choose it before.

Thank you so much to everyone who has either shared my move or subscribed to the newsletter. You can sign up here if you’re interested and haven’t already. I’m doing this because I haven’t found the ‘follow’ feature yet, and I don’t want to lose any readers.

So, how has it been this week?

Well, the migration to here took a bit longer than I thought it would and I also had quite a few technological issues, which didn’t help. But I’m pleased with the result and look forward to learning more about self-hosting a blog. I’ve already learnt loads.

Ghostwriting Book 6 Part 3 has stalled a bit in that I keep running out of steam and I also keep confusing the storylines and the characters between Book 5 and Book 6. I thought Part 3 was due in tomorrow, but it’s actually today, so that also crept up on me a bit.

There’s no way it’ll be done today, and unlikely that it will be finished by the end of tomorrow. So I’ve let the client know, and hopefully it will be with him some time during Saturday at the latest.

We’re also filming Part 2 of the alphabet adventurers at the weekend, and that will be weather-dependent.

BUT… back to this week.

I’ve also been negotiating a new ghostwriting gig that will start on 12 September. My next book for the existing client should also start on that day, but I think it will be easier running these 2 together because they’re totally different types of novel.

Anyway, so far I’ve signed the NDA for the new gig and we’re having a bit of a re-jiggle of the actual contract.

I’ve been reading the latest book for NetGalley, which I’ll finish and review today. But I’ve also been researching paid review jobs. I feel as though I’ve done a bit of an apprenticeship with NetGalley and now it’s time for some real money – and real, thorough reviews.

I’ll carry on with NetGalley, if only to clear the enormous backlog I have. I just checked and I have 189 books waiting for me to read and review plus the one I’m finishing today. But I would like to add paid reviews to my income octopus if I can.

And that’s it. That’s all I’ve done this week.

I still have proofreading to do, but at least the proofreader’s revisions are in now so I can consolidate those with mine and the author’s.

I still have Ghostwriting Book 6 Part 3 to write, and Ghostwriting Book 5 Part 4 to start, as well as the beta reader’s revisions for Parts 2 and 3 of Book 5.

I still have Project Management for Writers: Gate 1 to proofread and send off to the beta reader.

I still have Twee Tales Twee to proofread and publish in paperback…

Oh, and that reminds me. Since adding my paperbacks to Draft2Digital, I’ve actually started to receive royalties! So while my books might be collecting dust in Amazon’s POD system, Draft2Digital are actually selling some.

I still have this week’s Wednesday writing prompts to do (but I might do another bumper double next week).

I still have a short story and a previous Wednesday writing prompts to format and send to publication on Medium, and I have D is for… Danby Castle to format for my own publication on Medium.

Oh yes, and I have to duplicate this post onto Substack so that it goes off in the newsletter. (Don’t forget, you can sign up for that here!)

I’ll go and update the diary and Asana with the new projects, I want to prepare some kind of blog diary, because I only noticed today that I missed the July wrap-up and the plan for August. And I want to give more thought to the magazine and newsletters.

I’d best get on with it.