The lurgy has arrived

(Image by PIRO4D from Pixabay)

On Friday and all over the weekend I worked on the novella Mardi Gras.

The plan was to split it into two and either serialise it in Words Worth Reading or make two separate stories out of it.

I trimmed it down from around 49,000 words to around 43,000 words and decided to keep it all intact.

It was added to Words Worth Reading in its entirety.

This means that Words Worth Reading is currently sitting at just under 70,000 words. By the time I’ve finished the last two stories, that might be closer to 75,000 words. And that means it will be the length of a full-length novel.

On Saturday, during a Monkey Dust gig, the poet started to get sick. The previous Tuesday he had been with a work colleague who tested positive for Covid on Friday. On Friday, the poet tested negative. By Sunday, he was positive.

Everybody connected to the band apart from the bass player and the poet had had Covid. Their wives and kids have had it. Two of the poet’s three kids have had it. Now he has it.

On Sunday we had to let everybody know.

So far, I’ve tested negative. Yesterday I dashed out to get some supplies, while I’m still negative. (Masked and hand sanitised.) We’re both double-jabbed so in theory I shouldn’t have to self-isolate. But as of now, that’s what I’m doing.

At the moment, I seem to be coming down with a heavy cold. We reckon if I’m going to get it, I’ll have it by Friday or Saturday. I’ll test again on Friday, or sooner if my symptoms worsen.

Now I’m frantically trying to meet all of my weekend deadlines. Once the current deadlines have been met, I’ll warn the clients. Hopefully, I’ll still be able to function as the work colleague who tested positive on Friday doesn’t even have any symptoms beyond sneezing.

This morning I rattled off a short story to send to a competition that closes on Thursday. I’m about to write up the last two short stories for Words Worth Reading. I’ve been thinking about them for a few days and yesterday I wrote up the outlines.

Once that’s done, I’ll carry on with the two ghostwriting gigs. Words Worth Reading is due out on Friday. I have a ghostwriting deadline on Sunday and another on Monday. So I’m doing them in order.

After three days, the poet is starting to feel a little better and his temperature is coming down. Let’s hope he’s feeling better by the end of the week, when we may have to swap roles.

2 thoughts on “The lurgy has arrived

    1. Thank you. He has to test for work every day so, fortunately, we’ve been on top of it. Unfortunately, we’re both great sharers, so it’s likely that I’ll get it too.

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