I had a very busy week last week. Most days were 12-hour days, minus 3 x 1-hour breaks, so I suppose 9-hour days, but they were still long and busy. It was a good, productive week, though. And even if the only thing I finished was a project management reboot, it was still a good week.
Friday
We were both up early on Friday because we had a dog with us and he wanted out. We think he’s accustomed to morning walks and early nights, because he’ll take himself to bed of an evening, aka go and get on our bed!
My first job of the day was to finish the pre-write for great novella challenge Book 8, Christmas at Whitehorse Farm. I’m writing it alongside a live June workshop on the Christmas novella, but I haven’t so far made it to a Zoom call as they’ve been at 9pm UK time. This week, it’s at 8pm, but that’s still just as we’re sitting down at the dining table.
I did have a question, though, so when the workshop leader posted up a second Zoom link on Friday, again at 9pm (on a Friday…), I let her know I’d be watching the recording, but asked if it was okay to ask a question for her to address in Friday’s Zoom call. Another workshop attendee gave me her take on what I was asking, which was really helpful, but the course leader said that yes, she would go over it during Friday’s Zoom.
I watched the recording while I finished the pre-writing because some of the other things they talked about in the live meeting also applied to what I was doing.
When that was done, I did the Week 4 applied depth workshop revision. I did this workshop in July last year and it’s a good refresher. He gives us access to 2 books so we can try and apply what we’ve learned for the assignment. For some reason, I only had one of those, so I downloaded the other one as well. I didn’t do the Week 4 assignment last time, but I think I will do it this time. Especially as he’s gifted us 2 books with which to do it.
I synched a few more books between Google Play, Apple Books and Kobo, and I chose a guided short story writing book and a guided mystery writing book to dip into in between chapters of the current book I’ll be reviewing.
Then I sat in my reading chair and read through Project Management for Writers: Gate 2. I should have read some of this on Thursday too, but didn’t get around to it. I was supposed to be making revisions to that yesterday, so I decided to read it over the weekend as well.
Our next-door-neighbour came round to ask if one of us could pick up an injured baby bird from her garden. She thinks it flew into a pane of glass before landing on the floor. She’s one of those people who can’t touch birds, so she came to ask us for help. The poet went and got it, and we put it in a ‘hospital’ nest, but a few hours later it died. Such a shame, but there was something wrong with it as it couldn’t stand up properly. The dog was great with it, just gave it a curious but gentle sniff. If it had flapped its wings and tried to fly, it might have been a different story.
Ah well, we can’t win them all.
The weekend
The idea was to take the weekend off and perhaps do a few odd jobs around the garden.
First thing Saturday morning, we returned the dog to his humans and had a good natter putting the world to rights before heading back via the supermarket. Once we’d done the shopping, we dropped in to see the mother-in-law, and had a bonus because the poet’s uncle and aunt were there too. We spent another hour putting the world to rights and then went home. But before we knew it, the day was over.
We didn’t do much again on Sunday, but we did go out to replenish the garden bird food situation, and we popped to the van to pick up shoes we’d left behind and a tool kit. I was shattered, for some reason, and went for a lie down on the bed. Two hours later the poet was asking me what I wanted for tea! We had pies, potatoes and veg, with berries, yoghurt and meringue nests for pudding.
The magic bakery
A few years ago I stumbled across a book called The Magic Bakery by Dean Wesley Smith. Originally written in 2017, this book turned on a lightbulb inside my head and enabled me to see copyright in a whole different glow.
One of the first things I did, after reading this book, was start my own magic bakery. And in one 12-month period, I published around 56 books: short stories; collections; novellas; novels; and non-fiction books. Fifty-six of ‘em. I’ve added to them since, but those books now provide me with a steady trickle of income. Passive income.
Well, the magic bakery is back, but this time Smith is updating it, chapter by chapter, first on his website, then in a class, and then in a new and updated book. Here’s chapter three.
I’ll carry on linking to the chapters, as they appear, so that you guys have some understanding of what I’m banging on about when I persist in talking about my magic bakery. And I’ll repeat this bit of blurb every time for first-time readers.
For those of you who’d rather read them as Smith posts them himself, rather than when I get around to it, you can go straight to his website here.
I’m sorry to hear about the bird. It’s always hard.
You’re doing very well, cracking along there. Well done! And I’m glad you had fun with the dog!
We weren’t expecting the bird to survive, which helps. But it would have been nice to be wrong.