Thursday 18 January 2024: Getting on with it

We had a lovely meal on Tuesday night to celebrate the mother-in-law’s birthday. She was delighted to have her son, all of her grandchildren, and their partners and families together in one place. The service was atrocious, and when we asked where our puddings were, instead of an apology we got ‘There’s only me on’ and ‘There’s another table too’. Well, two tables, eh? No wonder she was so slack.

We wouldn’t have minded if she’d checked in with us just to let us know we hadn’t been forgotten. But it wasn’t just the puddings. They were slow with the drinks, leaving one person gasping long after everyone else had theirs. They were slow with the starters. They were slow with the main courses. And there were definitely more than one person serving. I counted four.

So, we may think again before going back. It’s a big chain, and restaurants are still struggling at the moment. But telling a group of hefty-paying customers that ‘there’s only me’ isn’t really the customer’s fault.

Because of the slow service, it took us two and a half hours, nearly, and while the food was still delicious, it was too late for me to eat and then go to bed. So we sat up and watched a couple of episodes of YELLOWSTONE. (We’re still catching up, having only recently discovered it.) And a late night meant a late start in the morning. We both slept in, but I slept in a bit longer than the poet did as he still had his 90-minute journey.

He got there bang on time, though, which was good, but he wasn’t relaxed as he’d had to rush around and then got stuck behind a slow-moving tanker. (Not the tanker’s fault and the driver did pull over to let him pass as soon as he could.) I poured hot water on the drinkers for the birds again (every day this week) and fed them, caught up on some emails, and replied to some blog post comments, all before, during or just after breakfast.

Then I logged in to watch Tuesday’s sci-fi mystery writing workshop videos (on Wednesday) while I did my weekly scan. The scan worked this time, so I took time to go onto the forum to see if I’d had any replies to my query, and I had. I don’t know why we don’t get an email when someone replies. Perhaps it’s in my settings. I replied to them, thanked them, and let them know that it worked this time.

Halfway through my second sci-fi mystery workshop they dropped the third assignment. And, guess what? Study along folk get an *extra* 24 hours to turn the assignment in. I don’t know if that has anything to do with me saying the time difference left me a bit short on time or if they were planning on doing it anyway. But part of me thought Wahey! I can send Assignment 3, and another part of me thought Oh, I’d best do it then.

Even if it has nothing to do with my problem this week, I do still think I ought to just buckle in and do it. I’ve not really been invited to do it anyway, and I doubt very much that I can do Assignment 2 as well. But I do think he’s made a bit of an accommodation and the least I can do is make the effort.

I had a play around with world building first. Our second assignment, the one I didn’t have time to do, was to do with world building and I wondered if I might be able to use it as a basis for my first 12 STORIES IN 12 MONTHS story. They don’t suggest spending a lot of time on world building. Instead, they suggest writing an exploration story to discover the fictitious world.

I had a play around with covers and I started a new Scrivener file. All of the research material I’d found on the internet went into the research folder as individual websites along with a Word document I created with pertinent information. I itched to do more, but I reined it in. Then I turned to Plottr and started to brainstorm 12 STORIES IN 12 MONTHS.

And then, I just got on with it.