Wednesday 5 February 2025: Nice and steady

Image by Georg Satzinger from Pixabay

We’ve started this 16:8 eating thing and it’s taking a bit of getting used to. For the most part, I’ll be having 2 light meals and 1 main meal in an 8-hour window, but when we’re away, it might be 2 large meals in the eating window. We started it on Friday, and by Sunday I’d lost a pound and a half.

It’s taking some getting used to because I keep forgetting that my first meal is the same as a breakfast. I want to keep breakfast cereal in the loop because of the calcium in the milk. But I keep thinking I’ll be having a sandwich or a bowl of soup for my breakfast, and that’s the bit I’m not getting used to yet.

One thing for sure, when you only have an 8-hour eating window, that doesn’t allow much time for snacking, and that seems to be our problem. Too much snacking between meals.

Yesterday morning, over my ‘dirty’ cup of tea (the poet is being Very Good and drinking ‘clean’ black coffee before noon), I refreshed my cosy mystery writing study. Now that I’m not publishing things almost as soon as they’re written, I can spend time in the future polishing and making sure the stories are the best they can be before releasing them on the world.

Apart from when I publish them in Words Worth Reading. Some of those may still be unpolished versions.

The refresher took 2 hours, but it served as a good reminder of things I’ve been missing out or doing the wrong way around. For example, a biggie for me is too many clues or too much information in the last Act. I need to get back to dropping this stuff in earlier. I need to start foreshadowing a bit better. Or more efficiently. And I need more red herrings, more suspects, more interaction.

But I don’t seem to have enough space in the 15,000 to 30,000 word-count to do everything. Then I saw that a subplot could probably be saved for the 60,000 to 80,000-word stories, and it was like a lightbulb going on. Yes, that would make it a bit easier.

The short story I wrote and submitted for 12 Stories in 12 Months last week has been well received. I thought it was a bit weird, a bit unusual. But it seems the readers are enjoying the unusualness of it. They could just be being kind, but we’re not supposed to just be kind. We’re supposed to be honest and truthful, but only offer grammar advice, and the like, if they ask for it. 

The deadline for the first market I wanted to send it to flew by with a whoosh on Saturday, which is a pity. I completely forgot about it. The next deadline is 1 March. So I still have time to polish it for that. Hopefully, the unusualness will help me there.

I’ve stepped away from the NetGalley furore. Life’s far too short. I’ll work through the books I already have and see if by the time I’ve caught up a bit they’ve either fixed the issue everyone’s complaining about or gone back to letting Kobo, Nook and Pocketbook readers in. If not, then I’m stepping away from the whole thing.

I shared yesterday’s blog post, then did some Monkey Dust admin. I had to create an Instagram graphic for their next gig plus an event on Facebook. 

I can’t remember if I mentioned last week, but I collected the next prompt and deadline for 12 Stories in 12 Months and on Monday added it to my TickTick schedule. It’s 1,250 words, and due on 26 February.

Next up was the great novella challenge and a bit of pre-writing for Book 4, The Haunted House Hotel. I’m following a suggestion to only pre-write an Act at a time in advance, but as I still had time left in my allocation, I had a go at the first chapter too. I wrote 2,179 words and was very happy with that.

My final job for the day was the client edit. But I took that into the living room to work on, on my lap, as it’s still very much first hard copy edit. This is one of the jobs I’ll be taking away with me next week, so I didn’t plan on rushing it.

I finished and scheduled today’s blog post and closed the office down for the day.

4 thoughts on “Wednesday 5 February 2025: Nice and steady

  1. The 16:8 split feels challenging Diane but clarifies the mind, from my experience. I like fasting for this spread sometimes if the food attachment gets too strong. I feel better within days. All the best with it!

    Ryan

    1. Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment!

      I did the 5:2 quite a few years ago, and it was the ONLY diet regime that ever worked. But the 2 days off was really challenging and I gave up. Plus, of course, it’s harder if only one of you in your household is doing it.

      I’m enjoying the 16:8 so far. I may not be seeing the weight benefits yet, but I have more energy! We’re certainly going to stick with it. 😊

  2. New schedules are always difficult, especially when it comes to food. Good luck with it.

    I find novellas tend to work better for me with the main narrative drive and a short B line, while novels (especially series) can weave in several additional lines for long and short arcs.

    1. Thank you! I do seem to be feeling better than usual…

      I’ll be revising the novellas/novelettes before publishing them, and I think I’ll do that then. Or I’ll give it a go.

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