My flylady hours are a bit stunted this week. I’m still spending time doing quick and easy things, but I’m not concentrating on a room a day. But only for this week. I’m just a bit busy with other things at the moment and, with a bank holiday weekend coming up, I want to get the work shifted. The housework will still be there afterwards, but I’d like to get some work out of the way.
Yesterday started over my dirty cuppa with an email response to Assignment 1 of the currently WMG workshop, which is creating markets for short stories. It was a foundation step, rather than a writing step, and I got a nice response. This also meant that my tutor was still up, despite it being something like 1am in Vegas. And that meant that this week’s videos might also be up too. They weren’t quite there yet, so I used the time instead to catch up on blogs, emails and social media.
By the time I hit my desk, the videos were there. First job, though, was this week’s diary. I’d started it on Monday, but I’d forgotten to finish it. So I finished that next.
I settled down to watch this week’s workshop videos and to make notes. The class was a bit more dynamic in that it gave me a couple of ideas I wanted to action NOW. I was delighted to see Patreon covered, surprised to see Substack included, and interested in something else I can do straight away. I can’t go into detail because, you know, copyright. And if I blurt it all out on here, then there’s no reason for anyone to pay to join this workshop. I don’t think it’s available anyway, yet, to the public. But it may be one day in the future or as part of another paid package.
Right after the class I worked on my assignment, because it’s a bank holiday weekend and I don’t want to be worrying about this when I’m supposed to be taking a break. I’ve noticed that work has started to creep back in at weekends or of an evening, just because it’s there and my office is just across the hallway. And I took work away with us when we did the NC500 in Scotland for 3 weeks. I need to get back to setting, and keeping to, those boundaries.
Blocking single work together on its own rather than spreading it out with a load of other stuff is definitely working, and it’s less stressful too. Now I’m also contemplating bringing back my do-diddle-day of old, where I used to reserve one day a month and plan to do diddley-squat, or nothing. And, if I decided I wanted to do something, then I would. Some people do this on, say, the 26th of the month, but I preferred to allocate it to, say, the last Thursday of the month.
So I worked on the assignment yesterday, but I didn’t send it off. I didn’t want to appear too eager…It’s due in ‘before’ Monday, which means by midnight on Sunday, Vegas time. I’ll probably fire that one off today. Or maybe tomorrow. But definitely not Friday or at the weekend.
Our landline has been out of action since Saturday, which is annoying because (a) we’re paying for it, but also (b) we don’t get a good mobile signal in the village. The engineer couldn’t get here until next Thursday, which was even more annoying. But I received a text on the mobile phone (yay! there was a signal) to say s/he’ll be here this Friday morning instead, between 8am and 12 noon.
I placed an order for 2 of my own books, Words Worth Reading: Issue ZERO, because the one I have has the wrong cover design, and Ten Very Short Stories: Wordsworth Flash Fiction 1 – 10. The latter one was only published last Monday, and it’s already available to order. I order it from a book store rather than author’s copies from the publisher because (a) when you add on the delivery cost from the publisher it’s actually dearer than ordering it from a bookseller, and (b) it boosts sales and usually results in the bookseller ordering in more copies.
I also placed an order for some bamboo loo roll, because all of our supermarkets have stopped stocking it for some reason (they’re citing the supplier rather than admitting they’re not stocking it any more), and some hedgehog food, because dried mealworms aren’t really the best food for them. Both of these orders are also due to be delivered on Friday.
One of our hedgehogs was limping the night before last and it struggled to get down the step back onto the grass. So the poet went and rescued the dog’s old ramp from in the bushes to put against the step. Last night we watched 2 out of 3 hedgehogs use the ramp. Typically, it was the smallest one that chose to climb down via the step. But it got there.
I was dismayed to see yet another poorly bird in the garden. Another collared dove, this one with a bit of a gammy eye. I didn’t see the dove with the facial injury, so I hope that one’s okay. These birds are youngsters, which is very sad. I don’t know if they’ve been fighting or if the sparrowhawk has had a go at them.
I had my midday breakfast and caught up with daily competitions, and then it was back to the client edit for the rest of the day, only breaking for my 3pm dinner.
We have an early start today. The campervan goes in for the work it needs to pass its MOT, and to have the cab door seals done.
Today’s free image is courtesy of gunta.smidre from depostiphotos.
I love the idea of setting off one day a month. And i do find that larger blocks of time work better for me, rather than smaller blocks of various things. If I know I have a larger block of time, I have the room to really think, without worrying that I’m not getting anything done. Figures the smallest hedgehog would have to prove itself! Those poor birds!
It was so easy to put aside just one day a month, rather than a whole week or two. And even that one day meant I could recharge. I definitely recommend it.