Friday began with another trip to the hospital. My appointment was slightly later this time, due to the appointments confusion now remedied. But that meant I could have my full quiet hour while I had my dirty cuppa, and I could have some play time with the dogs.
While we played, the poet attended 3 Teams calls and tried not to get too distracted by us all having a bit of fun.
It hasn’t stopped raining here for months, apart from the odd day here and there and that bit of snow we had. The dogs have turned the back garden into a bit of a quagmire in places, and that mud then gets traipsed into the house. We try and keep it contained to the conservatory, and we use lots of washable mats and huge bath towels in there. But sometimes, a bit of mud does end up in the house, and on Friday, the conservatory, beneath the mats and the towels, looked like a tractor had been ploughing up and down on it.
There’s a carpet in the conservatory. I can’t understand why there’s a carpet in the conservatory. It’s not just a mat or a rug on a tiled floor. It’s a fitted carpet. So we can’t just throw a mop at it. On Friday, it was already so far gone, I didn’t even try to stop the dogs making it any worse. And besides, the poet had already said he was going to get the carpet cleaner out at the weekend.
But I still had to try and keep it contained to just the conservatory. And maybe the kitchen, which does have a hard floor that’s easily mopped.
So I had my play time with the dogs in the field of mud, and then we went off to my appointment. We decided to use a visor from now on as my cheeks were starting to look a bit red. Everything else went well, and I still made it in and out before incurring a car park charge.
When we got back, we were just in time for our midday brunch, and when we’d eaten that, I fired up the final week of videos from the advanced depth workshop revision. I did some more ebook work but gave in. Amazon had clearly done something to stop us reading our content on any device now, despite their fanfare about allowing publishers to let their readers do just that.
I reviewed the latest book, made the graphic, and scheduled the review to post wherever I could schedule it to post: here and on Patreon. And I posted it to NetGalley, to Amazon, and to BlueSky. I still had to import it to Medium on Monday. And I started to read the next book, which started off really great. I hope it continues all the way to the end.
The next book I have to review isn’t going to be publicly reviewed as I wasn’t at all impressed by it. I’ll still send NetGalley and the publisher a report, but it won’t be going everywhere else. My reviews already sound a bit snarky when pet peeves galore show up all over the place, so a negative review will just look really bad. I’ll still send it to NetGalley, though, as otherwise it will stay on my account as one book not reviewed, which affects our percentage rate.
And that was all I had time for on Friday.
On Saturday we did the shopping and after we got home and put it away, we moved some garden furniture to the perimeter. Because the (very big) lawn is all churned up, the dogs have worn ‘paths’ around and behind the bench, the bistro table, and the bistro chairs. Moving them all to the edge of the garden meant the dogs now have the entire lawn to run around, including what seems to be new grass. That should reduce the amount of mud traipsed into the house…(said she, hopefully…)
On Sunday, we nipped out to fill my car with air and petrol, as I’m taking myself to some of my hospital appointments now because the poet has some meetings he can’t attend from home or the car. When we got back, I vacuumed the carpets then he went around and shampooed them. The carpet cleaner also sucks out a lot of the moisture, so it’s almost dry when it’s finished.
***rant alert***
I also found out that Amazon has indeed done something to stop us reading books on any device: an automatic firmware update was sent out in September or October 2025 to devices, locking them up tight. And, reader, I finally gave up.
If I can’t get the book anywhere else, I won’t buy it, I won’t read it, and I won’t review it.
If any books come in from NetGalley that can only be read on a Kindle, those are going back too.
If friends are advertising their so-called *free* books and they can only be read on a Kindle, I’m not sharing it.
End of. That’s me done.
No one is holding me over a barrel and dictating how I do my reading, thank you very much. They’re not paying me, they can tittle.
And I shall tell them all why as well.
Even if a publisher has made ebooks available to be read on any device from 20 January 2026, there’s nothing on the book description on Amazon to tell readers this. (I’ve searched all over sales pages for the alleged ‘simultaneous device usage’ part and never found it.) We have to buy the book, try and open it, then send it back for a refund citing why we’re sending it back (and don’t worry, I do).
Nobody’s paying me for that time either. And my time is valuable.
Why can’t they just offer a format option? They’d still benefit from the sale. All it needs is a button…
<sigh!>
***end of rant***
On Monday my hospital appointment was late afternoon again and the poet had to get ready for a long journey south, where he was going for 3 days. He wasn’t very well, really, having caught the cough/cold I had but, obviously, much worse than mine. I started with my quiet hour and dirty cuppa, then had some reading time for the next book on the list, the one I started on Friday. The ‘quiet hour’ is for me-time; the ‘reading time’ is for books I have to review. Books I read for pleasure I read during the quiet hour.
I started today’s blog post, then imported the book review story into Medium. Completely on chance I submitted it to a publication I used to submit book reviews to before my hiatus. I believe they still publish book reviews, I just forgot to go in and check for their current requirements…
The first of 6 jobs came in at the weekend from the former Upwork client. He’s still an Upwork client, it’s just been a long time since I did any work over there. I played with the due dates for each book, moving them all from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday due dates to Friday due dates. I still don’t work at the weekend for anyone other than me. It’s best if I just give them a full week or more of my attention.
I sent out text messages asking friends and band followers how many tickets they want for the Monkey Dust farewell/memorial gig in June. I ordered some copier paper as I have a lot of work to print off and proofread at the moment. I worked on this week’s diary. And before I knew it, it was time for me to head out to the hospital.
This is starting to get old now. I’m forgetting to do things, like put my goggles on or tape over my wedding ring or remove my watch while I’m in the booth. And these afternoon appointments cut my day in half. It’s much easier to go to the hospital first and then start work when I get back. I’m much better with long, uninterrupted sessions. But this chopping and changing just doesn’t work for me. Nor does this putting grown-up clothes on only to take them all off and then put them all on again and then change out of them when I get home.
We’re 23 down, though, 7 to go. Not that I’m counting or anything…
This post appears on Words Worth Writing, Medium and Patreon.
Right there with you on the Amazon frustration. Most of the galleys I get for review or for judging are PDFs or epubs now, which makes it much easier, although Amazon makes it difficult to download onto my Kindle. I have an old enough Kindle I can do workarounds.
I hate having my day split up like that, too. Good luck on it all.
My old PaperWhite ground to a halt (I suspect, pre-programmed by the manufacturer…but I may just be a bluff old cynic…) and I had to replace it. I can still fire up my old Windows laptop, but the screen doesn’t work so I have to move the Mac out of the way to plug the laptop into the monitor. But the Kindle app on there no longer opens some of the newer books. I really hate what’s actually a dictatorship there.
Thank you!