Thursday 22 May 2025: Productive day

I received a number of emails on Tuesday evening, first letting me know that the blinds would be delivered by Friday, and then telling me they’d be delivered on Thursday. When I got up on Wednesday morning, there were more emails there, this time saying they’d be here between 3:30pm and 4pm today! (Yesterday!) We only ordered them on Monday evening. After the end of the normal working day too. What excellent service.

There was some garden bird food we couldn’t get at the weekend, so the poet ordered that online. His delivery was also Thursday (today). But before the morning was over yesterday (Wednesday), the box was here! He’d ordered that on Sunday with a 2-working-day delivery estimate that actually took 3 days. Still good service, and it meant the food was here before the weekend.

I’d already fed the birds for the day by then, and hung out not one but 2 washloads. The laundry basket was empty, at least temporarily. Another email I received was from the client edit author, telling me his revisions will be with me by Monday…

My first job of the day was proofreading and submitting this month’s story for 12 stories in 12 months. My second job of the day was Week 3 of the advanced depth workshop revision. My third job of the day was finishing and posting yesterday’s blog post. My fourth job of the day was starting today’s blog post. My fifth job of the day was replying to the client edit author. 

I’d had a busy and productive morning, so I decided to take my breakfast break in the conservatory, away from my desk. There’s currently a 3-piece lounge suite in there, including our 3-seater settee. We had 2 sitting rooms at the last house, and when we moved to this one, which has only 1 sitting room and the conservatory, we opted to keep the 2 lounge suites instead of 1 lounge suite and the conservatory suite. Keeping the 3-seater one meant we’d have a longer settee too on which to lie down if so desired. The conservatory suite was a bit old and knackered anyway and needed recovering. So we kept the 2 lounge suites and got rid of that. 

We’ve been toying between keeping the 3-seater or getting rid of it and moving the kitchen table out there so we can eat. We can manage a bowl of cereal or a sandwich on our laps, though, and we still have the formal dining room for evening meals, so I think we’re keeping it as a second sitting room. Somewhere to read, or listen to music, or play music, or watch the garden or the sky. Or just chat with friends and family.

The conservatory is already a digital-free zone. We have a stereo in there, so we can listen to cassette tapes, CDs or the radio. We have the poet’s practice amp in there. And we have his spotting scope (telescope). The only ‘smart’ thing that goes in there is my watch, but I’ve even changed the digital watch face on there to an analogue one. It’s the only digital-free room in the house, and that’s mostly due to lack of signal, but also because I wanted somewhere phones and devices aren’t allowed. We can read our ereaders out there, but only the ink ones, not the tablets. Besides, my ereader doesn’t even have the internet on there, only connectivity in case I buy any books from Kobo or want to sync between Kobo-bought books.

After my midday breakfast, Job #6 of the day was to format and print off the new editing job. I usually change the double-line spacing to single, change the language to English UK, and replace any double spaces with single spaces before printing off my hard editing copy. So I did that, all with tracked changes turned on, printed it, and added it to the 36-project spreadsheet. I won’t be starting this for another week or so, but it’s there now, ready and waiting. 

I had a mild panic attack when I couldn’t find the latest Scrivener file for Catch the Rainbow. Then I remembered it’s in the great novella challenge file now. Another mild panic followed when I couldn’t find the notes for the remaining book. And then I found those too, in my tall tray stack on the desk with a load of short stories and the editing job I was already working on. Phew!

While I thought about getting on with that instead of Lady Mathilda, I turned to book reviews. I was supposed to have done one book review on Tuesday, but I’d skipped it for some reason. Probably more concerned about getting this month’s submission in for 12 stories in 12 months. But that meant I had 2 to do yesterday, so I knuckled down and did one of them, so Job #7 was done.

I should have moved on to the next book review then, but the one I’d just written was for Book 3 in a 3-book omnibus. I was able to review them all separately on Instagram and Amazon (although 2 of them may still be pending), but I could only review the omnibus on NetGalley. So I went and did that, and then shared the 3-book review again on Amazon, and this one went straight through. So I had a quick look. My 2 other reviews were still there, but not ‘submitted’ and I’m wondering if it’s because the NetGalley books are sent via Amazon and they can see what NetGalley has genuinely sent us. 

This could be a problem when NetGalley work out how to send books via Kobo. Or maybe I’ll be able to review them on the Kobo books site instead. Worth bearing in mind. I might have to send them to Kindle *and* send them to Kobo…

The blinds showed up before 3pm.

Last job of the day was book covers. For the next great novella challenge book. And I ended up falling down a rabbit hole there creating covers for the 3 Rainbow books. Although Catch the Rainbow is part of a bigger 5-book series, I’m also breaking that one into 3 separate books in the same story. And I decided to title the other 2 Over the Rainbow and End of the Rainbow. Guess which one will be the chronological end…

I collected the next prompt for 12 stories in 12 months, and it’s a 1,200-word story this time, perfect for that missing flash fiction of mine. Deadline is 18 June. Then I finalised today’s blog post and promptly forgot to schedule it.

Gosh, what a busy and productive day!