Diane Wordsworth: freelance writer ● novelist ● editor ● ghostwriter ● book reviewer ● member of the CWA ● world-famous nutter-magnet
The last few months of the last year were very busy, one way or another, and I didn’t have time to catch my breath. We’re already into the third week of the new year (or the second full week), and this time I’m sticking to the plan as much as I can. I want to concentrate on just a few things while I get started. First of all, I’m awarding myself stars. Gold stars for turning up and writing on a […]
Read moreI thought I was just tired and overdoing things a bit, but an upset stomach turned into full-blown flu symptoms. Before I started to feel poorly, I tidied up a short story, Pippa & Davey Forever, and sent it off, and I prepared another partial for Night Crawler and sent that off. I cleared the copywriting job, I sent my apologies to the writers’ group, and I asked the publisher of the Cadbury book for an extension. And then I […]
Read moreThe morning went well yesterday, starting with me writing up the day’s Pomodoros. I was out on Monday afternoon and didn’t have time to do it at the end of the day. I wrote my daily blog post and I wrote up the report for the writers’ group. Then I settled in to some writing for the Cadbury book. For the morning session, I managed 1,550 words. Then the afternoon began and I spread out all of my notes for […]
Read moreThis week we welcomed Pauline back to the group after her recent operation, and she was accompanied by her husband John, who would like to come along in the future as well. Pat popped her head in to give us her apologies, as she had to be somewhere else, and Rob is still unable to relinquish recent new job duties to join us. We didn’t hear from anyone else who hadn’t turned up and hope they are all okay. I kicked […]
Read moreThe day began yesterday with a blog post, and then I was onto the client copywriting job. I located and printed off all the research notes I wanted, and collated everything together ready to go. I also started to jot down a few things. Then the phone call came in that my deadline had been moved from next Wednesday to this Friday, and could I do that. Well, normally I’d say no as I’m working on the Cadbury book. But […]
Read moreFriday morning began with some Pomodoro admin and a jigging about of each one, resulting in one Pomodoro less per day and a shorter dinner break, but longer Pomodoro breaks. I certainly didn’t feel quite so rushed by the end of the day and had more time to breathe. I wrote my daily blog post, tidied up my Twitter feed, was approved for two more NetGalley books, and did some work on the Cadbury book. In the afternoon, I scheduled […]
Read moreOctober suddenly got busier late yesterday afternoon. But it’s okay, I was half-expecting it. It’s the new writing job I was in discussion about towards the end of last week. And it’s only 10,000 words max. I can do this … Yesterday started with me writing up the day’s Pomodoros, as I hadn’t had chance to do them the day before. Then I wrote a 465-word blog post. And then I completed the screen edit for the Hong Kong client […]
Read moreOctober already. How did that happen? I have a deadline this month, and then it’s NaNoWriMo next month. Looks like I have some work to do and less faffing. Yesterday morning I did the hard copy edit of the job from Hong Kong. I emailed the client to let him know, and to tell him I’ll do the screen edit today. He already replied and told me to send in my invoice. In the afternoon I drove over to the […]
Read moreI can’t believe it’s October tomorrow. How fast has this year gone again? I have a book due in at the end of the month. I need to pull my finger out. Friday morning went fairly well. I wrote my daily blog post first, queried another publisher about whether or not they consider self-published works – but they look like a subsidy publisher, so I may not pursue them too hard – and then I went into my 25-minute Pomodoros. […]
Read moreI’m running out of steam or getting distracted in the afternoons. So I’m moving more work to the mornings and more faff to the afternoons. I’m not sure if that’s working or not yet, but time will tell. Yesterday started on a positive note with a job query arriving overnight and a big publisher agreeing to consider one of my previously self-published books. I wrote my daily blog post, did a halfhearted job-search and pitched for just one editing job. […]
Read moreOver breakfast yesterday, I finished the NetGalley book I was reading and I wrote up today’s Pomodoros. That meant the first job at my desk was a 500-word blog post and my daily warm-up. The next thing I did was write up the report for this week’s writers’ group meeting. I had 25 minutes of social media, 25 minutes of job searching, and I pitched for one ghostwriting job. Then I wrote up the latest diary of a novel blog […]
Read moreWith news from two previous members that one will be back next week and another as soon as she gets the all clear from her doc, we had another positive meeting with four in attendance. I also fed back work so far in trying to get the library as a write-in venue for this year’s NaNoWriMo. The NaNo site has had a revamp and is currently in transition, but I put it out there and I received a reply. As […]
Read moreI had a late start yesterday. I was quite tired, the poet had left early for a business trip, and I slept in. I got to my desk at around 10:30am, but I’d done my first Pomodoro’s work on the phone the night before, so I didn’t really lose anything. First job was yesterday’s writing diary blog post. This job has moved to the top of the list and I’m giving myself 25 minutes to write it. It seems to […]
Read moreWell, by the end of the week, I’d done a load of Pomodoros and got a lot of work done. Very productive indeed. I did start to wilt around mid-afternoon on Friday, though. The morning began once again over breakfast with me reading the latest book for NetGalley. I’m really enjoying this Christmas story and looking forward to starting the next. My first Pomodoro was writing up the day’s Pomodoro targets. This is really working for me as I’m not […]
Read moreI was surprised at how much work I got through yesterday as Thursdays are usually rubbish. I generally wake up tired and often don’t want to get out of bed. Perhaps having a goal is helping. The day began at breakfast, funnily enough, with me reading the next NetGalley book. It’s a Christmas story and I love Christmas, but I’m enjoying the book as well. Always useful, that. My first Pomodoro of the day was deciding what to do in […]
Read moreSo yesterday, this happened. I finished my 14 Days to a Solid Writing Habit FREE course from WritersHQ and I was rewarded with this shiny new badge to display on my blog/Facebook/whatever. I do like a nice badge to display on my whatever. It was a good morning yesterday. I started with my first 25 minutes on social media, emailed the Australian client with a niggle (I had a niggle, the client didn’t …), wrote up and posted this week’s […]
Read moreWe had a few more bodies turn up at the writers’ group this week, which meant we needed to find somewhere in the library that we wouldn’t disturb the other library users. We were given one of the interview rooms, which was a bit cramped for five of us, but made it very cosy and friendly. We welcomed new members Georgia and Martin, and we welcomed Pat back. Rob couldn’t join us again this week as he had some interviews […]
Read moreYesterday was a very good day. It’s as though Tuesday is the new Monday. I’ve always been more enthusiastic and productive on a Monday and then it’s generally all downhill from there. But now Monday afternoons are taken up, all of that has changed. I started the morning with just one Pomodoro (25 minutes) on social media, running down Facebook and Twitter, hiding the stories I’d seen, muting the retweets I don’t really want to see, and I had a […]
Read moreDespite various promises from various people, there were still only two of us at the writers’ group this week. Not that we mind, we get one-to-one feedback on several extracts or pieces of work in one go. But it would be nice to see a few others start to attend as well, especially those who promised that they would. Pauline is collecting her memories together, hopefully into at least several sections if not several volumes. Material she has already written […]
Read moreI’m starting to feel quite pleased with myself and the progress I’m making in Scrivener. having to reinstall it so many times (not Scrivener’s fault this time) is forcing me to learn to do the things I like much quicker. If I have to do one more reinstall, for whatever reason, I swear I’ll be able to tweak it to suit me in my sleep. I’m not sure I’ll be teaching any masterclasses any time soon, but I really am […]
Read moreThanks to my Monday afternoon writers’ group I’m being forced to work on the pocket novel. We’re supposed to bring something new to every session, either something we’re working on or something set to a theme. As I’m working on so many different projects, I decided to use this as an excuse to crack on with The Fool. It’s taking a while because I have to do other stuff in between, like edit client work or write my contracted biography. […]
Read moreI didn’t do so well on the word-count yesterday. My morning was pretty much wasted due to me waiting on something Really Important in an online game I play. I’m trying to curb my time on social media anyway, but this game is turning into a real time-sucker. Recently, I’ve been looking at it over breakfast and setting it off for 8 hours, or 4 hours if I think I might have a go at dinnertime or if I’m working […]
Read moreYesterday was a good productive day. My morning session was 10am to 1pm and I managed to write one blog post, schedule one blog post and I started the collation for a new non-fiction book, another writers’ guide, Diary of a Non-Fiction Book. I also did the first exercise of the day for 14 Days … which was logging time spent on social media. In all, for the morning session, I wrote 2,196 words. My afternoon session was 2pm to […]
Read moreThe schools still weren’t quite back on Monday when we met after the August bank holiday, and while there were three of us present this time, one of us, the librarian, had to help with staff training. Pauline and I are qetting quite used to having the whole 90 minutes to ourselves! Fortunately, Pauline had pretty much sorted out most of her technical issues and had managed to write something new for this week. She kicked off with A Bird in […]
Read moreI’m getting used to the electronic diary, but it’s taking time. I keep wanting to look at something in my physical diary and then remembering that it’s on my phone or on the desktop. I finished the quick editing job yesterday morning and sent it back explaining that while I’m quite busy for the next few weeks I can still fit in a few quick, short jobs. This morning, a quick proofreading job landed in my in-box from him … […]
Read moreI was supposed to drop by a week ago last Friday for an update, especially as we were taking the bank holiday week off. But I was so busy, by the time I remembered, it was already past our bedtime. And then, well … and then I had a week off. I left you with news of a visit to Birmingham regarding the Richard Cadbury book. I had a great day. It was lovely to meet his great-granddaughter. We had […]
Read moreTuesday’s writing contributions were mostly admin, and mostly fielding emails. The big thing this week is confirming appointments and meetings. I confirmed today’s meeting in Birmingham, and I confirmed next week’s meeting in London. I also responded to emails regarding photographs and illustrations, and I sent emails regarding the same. Train tickets were booked, paid for, downloaded and printed for next Wednesday. I also had to clarify licensing procedures for the forthcoming book. It’s all been Richard Cadbury, it’s all been […]
Read moreAs expected, I was the only one at this week’s writers’ group on Monday. Fortunately, I’d received apologies in advance and was able to go prepared. I said I’d go to every meeting, even if no one else was expected in case someone unexpected turned up. I took some work with me and cleared thirty-odd pages and several chapters of editing work. We’re not meeting next week, due to the library being closed for the bank holiday. And I have […]
Read moreI finished the latest book for NetGalley and will be writing my review later this week. I really enjoyed this one, so much so I (a) bought a copy of it for the poet’s Kindle, and (b) bought the author’s first novel immediately after I’d finished reading this one. I printed off the latest version of The Fool to date, in case I needed something to read out at the writers’ group, and because I like to see the full, latest […]
Read moreI spent most of Friday doing client work. I currently have two in, and both need to be finished this week. But I also did quite a lot of admin work on the Richard Cadbury book. I’m meeting Richard Cadbury’s great-great-granddaughter on Thursday of this week, and so we had a chat about that on the telephone. I’m also hoping to arrange an appointment in London to see some more primary research material that belongs to the family. I spoke […]
Read moreYesterday was mostly spent doing the “heavy proofreading” job. It’s an interesting subject and I’m enjoying it very much. But it’s going to take some time. The new job that came in is correctly written, but it isn’t my favourite type of narrative and I’d like to change much of it or send it back to the author to do. But this one has to be back by next Friday, so I’m going to put my personal prejudices and opinions […]
Read moreNot one but two jobs failed to arrive yesterday. One was probably delayed by the current riots in Hong Kong – they’re disrupting travel arrangements by the sound of it. The other was just late in at the writer’s end. Fortunately, I had some proofreading to start. But if I hadn’t had that, I would have done some writing. The proofreading job is going to take longer than I thought, but at least I made a decent dent in it. […]
Read moreApparently, we have one or two new members coming to join us in September. We should also get some of our absent members back too. I don’t know how Pauline and I will cope when we have to share our 90 minutes again! The more the merrier, though. And we’re looking forward to hearing and discussing more work. Pauline had another technological disaster in the week. Word wouldn’t let her do anything to any of her files. She has fixed […]
Read moreWe had a good session at the writers’ group on Monday. I’ll be writing a report just as soon as I can fit one in. Yesterday was a very busy day. The morning was spent doing admin for the Richard Cadbury book. I’ve arranged to meet his great-great-granddaughter in Birmingham next week and I had to do some jiggery-pokery to ensure that the poet will be home in good time for the dog. He may even be able to work […]
Read moreFriday was a good day, even if I didn’t manage everything I wanted to do. I did a NetGalley book review and posted it to here, to Amazon, to Twitter and to NetGalley, and I started the next book … and wow! I feel as though I’m reading a fast-moving thriller movie along the lines of John Wick. I’m loving it. I also managed a writing diary update on here. But that was about all the writing work I got through. […]
Read moreMuch of Tuesday was spent doing the client edit. I had promised it back by Tuesday, and he was going to get it back by Tuesday. I’d completed the hard copy edit the day before, apart from the last few pages, which I then read over breakfast. Once I got dressed and to my desk, I managed a little writing work. Namely, I took stock of where I was at and I wrote a writing diary blog post. I also […]
Read moreAs there is likely to be just the two of us for a few weeks, we both agreed to either finish something else that we’ve started or else continue in a similar vein. “R” had promised to leave something at the desk for us to read, if he had written anything during his absence, and as there was nothing passed on to us, we simply launched into a discussion about various writerly things and what a bad week we’d both […]
Read moreI’ve had a bit of a busy week where my own work has suffered – and some of my clients’ work. But I’m sorting a few things with my dad’s estate that have finally come to fruition (it’s only taken a year …), and I’m amazed at how complicated it all is and how unhelpful some folk can be. It’s in hand, though, so I can get back to work. I wasn’t completely idle, however. On Friday 26 July, I […]
Read moreThe theme for this week’s meeting, for everyone, was “finish something”. This is because we had all started something for each of the various themes so far, or even just as ongoing work, and now it was time to have a finished product, or part-product, as a result. “P” was first to kick off with a merger of the two stories she wrote for the previous week. She joined the two shorts together so that she had one product of […]
Read moreI’m late to my desk this morning, following last night’s terrific storm. The dog didn’t stop shouting at the shouty sky until looooong after the sky had stopped shouting, and that disturbed the night really. (The poet was away.) I did enjoy watching it, though, until the lightning got too bright and I had to pull the blind and draw the curtains. That means my writing work today will be at a minimum as I need to crack on with the […]
Read moreOnce again there were three of us at the meeting, plus one apology. We wish a speedy to recovery to our member who is currently getting over a recent operation. The theme for this week’s meeting, for those not already working on something, was “this is the end”. One member had also been set at least one of the previous themes prior to her coming along. “P” was first to start, with her contribution entitled The Old Man. It was […]
Read moreI got through quite a lot of work in a short time yesterday. It was a busy day. First of all I read the last few chapters of the NetGalley book. That means there will be a new review posted in the next few days, hopefully tomorrow (Wednesday). I wrote 816 words for The Fool into the original Scrivener file. I have a Save the Cat template set up on Scrivener now, but I’m still transferring the old version of […]
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