Diane Wordsworth: freelance writer ● novelist ● editor ● ghostwriter ● book reviewer ● member of the CWA ● world-famous nutter-magnet
I started Monday off with some study time. I’ve downloaded 6 free courses from Reedsy that each consists of 10 x 5-minute ‘lessons’. So six of them equal 30 minutes of reading time. By the time I’d done this, it was 10:30am and I was well into my ‘my work’ time. Next up, I veered off into ‘client work’ territory and had a quick look at the outline for ghostwriting gig #6. I sent my feedback back, I wrote Monday’s […]
Read more… and it’s not because of me. Once I’d done a load of household chores, I arrived at my desk at 10:05am on Friday. When I’m supposed to be there at 10am, that’s not bad going. Or not on recent standards. I had a bit of a whinge on a forum I belong to, and I completed about half a dozen feedback forms for them. Then I published Chapter 23 of Diary of a Scaredy Cat on Medium, and I scheduled […]
Read moreI’ve been sharing friend links to Facebook for the Night Crawler chapters on Medium religiously as I’ve been publishing them. But on Tuesday night, when I sent a friend link for the Little John article to the poet, it wouldn’t let him read it. He tried logging out (he created an account so that he could ‘clap’) and tried again, but it still wouldn’t let him. So then I asked him to uninstall the app from his phone and see if […]
Read moreImage by LukasBasel from Pixabay Monday evening finished on a bit of a surprise when the ghostwriting client sent an email asking two things: Could we make the new story 80,000 words instead of 60,000 words? Would I be able to write another one concurrently? The first one was a bit of a surprise because I’d already said that the outline needed a bit more substance. But if that can be remedied, then yes, I can do 80,000 words instead […]
Read moreImage by lucatelles from Pixabay The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau Twenty-five years ago next year, on 25 June 1997, marine conservationist and legendary oceanographer Jacques Cousteau died at the age of 87. I remember watching The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau on the telly, and also I remember that he had something to do with the whales in the St Lawrence Seaway on the east coast of Canada. What I didn’t know was that he was a co-pioneer of the […]
Read moreMonday was a good and productive day. Mondays usually are my best days for work output… then it’s all downhill from there! Before I even got up I received a notification from Amazon that I have a royalty on the way. But looking at the reports, I can’t see what this is for, so I’m now thinking it might be a glitch. Once I was at my desk, the first thing I did was go through and update my diary […]
Read moreImage by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay I forgot to mention in Friday’s post that the two publications I applied to join as a contributor both came back with acceptances. I’m really pleased about this because one of them in particular is one of the top publications and is run like a proper business. Once I’d got these two under my belt, I ducked out of the one I wasn’t very happy with. We were a poor match and their standard of […]
Read moreWhoo-hoo! While I was working away during the week, I didn’t notice that we’d limped over the 1,000 followers line. Wahay! Well done to everyone who shared, and a very warm welcome to all new followers! Actually, it’s currently 1,001 followers right now, as I write this. But by the time it’s published, that could have gone down to 999 again, or it could have gone up even more. Either way, it’s happened. I might take a screenshot of it […]
Read moreImage by Bessi from Pixabay Tuesday After my mammoth writing session on Monday, the plan was to take it easy on Tuesday. I’d finished working at about 3:30am and I got up at around 10am. I did a bit of faffing, checked social media, read a few articles, and did some housework. Then I moved to my desk and started the first of the day’s work. Unusually for me, I was still in my dressing gown, but once I’d done […]
Read moreImage by Terri Stalons from Pixabay The Falklands Conflict Forty years ago next year, on 14 June 1982, The Falklands War ended. I’m old enough to remember when the Falklands War broke out and when it ended. I personally believe that had it not been for this conflict, our then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, would have been overthrown a lot sooner than she was. I think it was the making of her and, regardless of my own personal opinions, I […]
Read moreImage by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay Despite still being busy, I finished work at 5pm on Friday. I already knew I’d be working at the weekend, and we needed to do the shopping before we had tea. So I called it a day. Saturday On Saturday I was up quite early (for me). The poet decided to go fishing for the day because I was working. Here’s how the day went: went through and removed my byline where I’d used […]
Read moreImage by Pexels from Pixabay It occurred to me, after I posted Friday’s post, that I’d summed up the week without actually completing the week. I still had a whole day to go. And, as it turned out, I still had the weekend to go too. However, on this occasion, that didn’t make any difference to the ticks and crosses, as I already knew I wouldn’t be able to do any of the stuff I hadn’t yet finished. In future, […]
Read moreImage by Please Don’t sell My Artwork AS IS from Pixabay I had such plans to plough through the work before the poet got home from his work trip. And then the cat got ill. She’d spent the night in the dog’s basket, which is really unusual. Then in the morning she nipped outside for a wee, came in for a quick bite to eat, and then went back to bed. In the dog’s basket again. She also had a […]
Read moreImage by Prawny from Pixabay I might not be clearing stuff off my to-do list in the order I’m supposed to, but I am keeping busy rather than faffing. Or most of the time at least. Tuesday Tuesday was a better day than Monday, despite having a bit of a rubbish night. The poet left early (about 7am) to head south for a three-day/two-night work trip. I don’t like it when he goes away, but it does mean I get […]
Read moreImage by Flybynight from Pixabay Choose one of the topics, and then brainstorm. Fiction and non-fiction, topical but no evergreens this time. Judy Garland One hundred years ago next year, on 10 June 1922, Judy Garland was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Her real name was Frances Gumm. She died only 47 years later in London. What can you find out about Judy Garland and her childhood? How did she come to be in movies? Where did she get her […]
Read moreImage by Hier und jetzt endet leider meine Reise auf Pixabay aber from Pixabay With such a long to-do list I really ought to try and focus more. My self-discipline was not great yesterday due to my inability to ignore shiny, sparkly things. To me, shiny, sparkly things are actually neither shiny nor sparkly. They are things like book covers, or artwork, or websites, or even just a butterfly mind. I really did have a lot to do yesterday, and […]
Read moreImage by David Bruyland from Pixabay Phew! This one’s a long read. I’d go and get a coffee if I were you… I’m back at work today, after a week’s holiday and a week of part-time working/recovery before that. I had a lot of time to think about how I want to take my work forward, and I think I’ve come to another shift in my working life. I’ve decided not to go chasing editing and proofreading jobs for a […]
Read moreI’m a bit late to the June party. This is because I’m actually on holiday this week. I’ve been doing odds and sods as well, but we’ve also be taking time out. You know, holiday time. There is currently excitement afoot, however, as I just ordered my new mid-year diary! It will be here early next week. Yes, I sat down to plan the month ahead and noticed that there isn’t a lot of diary left. So I ordered a […]
Read moreImage by waldiwkl from Pixabay I’m a day late this week but, hey, better late than never. Choose one of the topics, and then brainstorm. Fiction and non-fiction; topical and evergreen. The Queen’s platinum jubilee Next year, on 2 June 2022, Queen Elizabeth II will be celebrating her platinum jubilee. Although her coronation did not take place until 2 June 1953, she actually became queen the year before when her father, King George VI, died in February. Not only is […]
Read moreWednesday Writing Prompts will be here on Thursday this week. Here’s how the month of May went: My writing Project Management for Writers – finish writing book 1 of 5 (18,000 words) ✖️ write 9,500 words for The Beast Within ✖️ step away from the self-published books ✔️ revise Project Management for Writers: Gate 1 ✖️ publish Project Management for Writers: Gate 1 ✖️ Client work finish editing non-fiction book for Yorkshire client ✔️ edit website content for Hong Kong client ✔️ […]
Read more1 May is our wedding anniversary, and this year we celebrated with a trip to one of our favourite places, Whitby. The plan was to do a 2½ mile walk, but by the time we walked from the car park to the end of the pier to get something to eat and then back to the start of the walk, we’d already clocked up much more than a mile, and we ended up walking for almost 4 miles in the […]
Read moreThis feature is in association with NetGalley. Song of the Nile by Hannah Fielding Many thanks to both NetGalley and to London Wall Publishing for letting me see an advance reader’s copy of Song of the Nile. I wanted to love this story, I really did. I already loved the cover and the title, and it did look like a nice, interesting read. In fact, I settled down for a good session of escapism. But I have to admit that […]
Read moreImage by Nicole Pankalla from Pixabay I skipped a week last week, so here’s a bumper crop for this week. With the new regime, I don’t have a lot of time to go into detail, but I think you have the gist of things by now. Simply choose one of the topics, and then brainstorm. Fiction and non-fiction; topical and evergreen. Oscar Wilde One hundred and twenty-five years ago next year, on 19 May 1897, Oscar Wilde was released after […]
Read moreIt was my mom’s birthday at the end of April, and so we went to see her for the first time since Christmas. On the way home, we dropped in at Kingsbury Water Park. Kingsbury Water Park near Sutton Coldfield is a place we often visit, although I’ve probably been there more times in the 17 years I’ve lived in Yorkshire than I ever did when I lived just down the road. There are several short trails to choose from […]
Read moreImage by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay So everything went as planned with the whole operation feeling as though it was taking place on a conveyor belt. I was the last one down. I think they were concerned about me suffering a reflux during the general anaesthetic. I was back home not long after 8pm on Wednesday. And while I haven’t really suffered as much pain as they led me to believe I would, I have felt really ill and weary. Fortunately, […]
Read moreSo the big plan was to pre-schedule a load of posts to auto-post this week. But I literally ran out of time. I go into hospital tomorrow – it’s only a day visit, but there will be a general anaesthetic and recovery will take weeks rather than days and apparently it will be painful. I had my pre-op assessment last Wednesday, I did the shopping on Thursday, we went out on Friday to run a few errands, and I had […]
Read moreImage by David To from Pixabay The time has come, the walrus said, to pull my socks up. Okay, the walrus didn’t actually say that. I did. But it’s true. It’s now time to properly stop faffing and to properly start working again. And when I say working, I mean writing. I already do enough work. Which, of course, is a great place to be. But you know what I mean. I’ve been in contact with one of my favourite […]
Read moreImage by Alexander Lesnitsky from Pixabay With the new regime, I don’t have a lot of time to go into detail, but I think you have the gist of things by now. Simply choose one of the topics, and then brainstorm. Fiction and non-fiction; topical and evergreen. First wireless telegraph One hundred and twenty-five years ago next year, on 14 May 1897, Marconi sent the first ever communication by wireless telegraph. What do we know about Marconi? Where was he […]
Read moreThis feature is in association with NetGalley. Pug, Actually by Matt Dunn Many thanks to both NetGalley and to HQ Digital for letting me see an advance reader’s copy of Pug, Actually. Well, what can I say? When I started to read this book and saw that it was written in the present tense, I wanted to hate it. Despite that, the story, or rather the narrative, drew me in and I was hooked. I loved this story. I love […]
Read moreImage by alan9187 from Pixabay I worked until 10pm gone on Friday, but I did it. As usual. I wrote my 11,000+ words, checked it over as I finished each chapter, and sent it off. By the time I surfaced on Saturday, payment had been approved and the next instalment contracted. Honestly, if I did that every day, apart from having to be peeled up from the floor I’d have a completed novel every … week! Obviously, though, that’s unsustainable, […]
Read moreImage by nile from Pixabay As usual I’m working against the clock to get the first instalment of the 4th ghostwriting gig submitted in time. Deadline is today, and at the start of today I still had just over 11,000 words to write. Why have I left it so long? Well, this time I can’t blame faffing or book covers or self-publishing schedules. This time I’ve had appointments here and there as well as various interruptions. I’ve also had editing […]
Read moreThis feature is in association with NetGalley. Legacy by Nora Roberts Many thanks to NetGalley, Little Brown Book Group UK, and Piatkus for letting me see an advance reader’s copy of Legacy, which is one of three recent/soon-to-be releases with ‘legacy’ in the title. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, which starts when the main character Adrian (female) is only seven years old. It touches on her life for the next ten years, and then the following ten years in more […]
Read moreImage by falco from Pixabay With the new regime, I don’t have a lot of time to go into detail, but I think you have the gist of things by now. Simply choose one of the topics, and then brainstorm. Fiction and non-fiction; topical and evergreen. These are all evergreens this week, and there are no November throwaways yet, as I haven’t had chance to examine November in detail. Liberation Day: Jersey & Guernsey Sunday 9 May is Liberation Day […]
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