Reading, Writing, Editing and Planning, Oh My!

I finished Hope’s story on Thursday, much to my relief. Because coming up to Christmas things will start to get really busy, even if I’m not working.

I’m hoping to start Grace’s story in January, because when I write, I like to keep the flow going by writing every day, and with Christmas, then New Years, there would be too many disruptions for me to keep the continuation of the story. And as I explained last week, Grace’s story is actually going to be the second story, even though I’ve written it last. There is an overarching story over all three stories, and threads of that will need to be woven in with Grace’s story and then continued on when I edit Hope’s story. This is the story of their dad, who left the girls when they were young, after their mother died. I also plan on writing a prequel novella and sequel novella to wrap up the story.

And talking of stories, I’ve headed back into Finding Sam Healey and reworked my first chapter or two. The first part of the book are letters, so that part has been edited. And now I’m into the diaries part. I’m enjoying what I’m reading and sometimes surprise myself with how much I like what I’ve written.

I’m toying with my next few stories and starting to think about my plan for next year. There will be at least two books published, possibly three, but we’ll see how we go. Planning the next twelve months will be fun.

Multiple Beginnings

So, I did a thing this week. It was rather an epic thing. If not the smartest thing I’ve ever done.

I love my job, I really do, but there is one aspect of it I don’t like, and we’ve had to be doing it since the end of last year. And that is mowing. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind mowing, but when you’re mowing a rest home. No, let me rephrase that, Push mowing a rest home lawn.

For weeks, I’ve been stressed about mowing and weed-eating the lawns. I struggle with weed-eating, because it hurts. I have tennis elbow which started about the same time we started mowing the lawns. Anyway, I know what stress looks like in my body, and my eyebrow was starting to twitch. I also noticed that my multivitamins weren’t working quite like they used to, so I brought more vitamin b to help me with my stress.

But it all came to a head on Tuesday, when we were supposed to mow. I hadn’t had a lot of sleep the night before, and to be honest, I was looking for a fight. So, I started one, with my boss.

And then I quit. I told her where she could stick the job, and I told my boss in Auckland as well.

To start with, I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, and after talking with my immediate boss (who is an absolute sweetie to be honest,) she made me promise that I would think it over before I made a final decision. After an epic walk home, I had a sleep. I literally slept on it.

That night, I wrote a formal letter of resignation to my bosses. If there was a chance of not mowing, I probably would have stuck around, however, that wouldn’t have happened anytime soon.

While I’m sad to be leaving my job, I’m looking at this as an opportunity to move forward, find something new to do, and look at doing part time work so I have more time for my writing and other business ideas that I have.

And while I’m nervous, because I don’t have anything lined up, I’m also confident that something will come up that will make me as enthusiastic as I was about gardening.

And talking about new beginnings, I also started writing Hope’s story, the next character in my Racing Harts story, and I’m already 18k in. I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo, and so far, I’ve clocked in over the daily limit to get the story done by 30th November. I’m quite excited about this story, and even though it is the second story in the trilogy, I have a feeling that it will eventually become the third story, so I am kind of aiming it that way as well.

I hope you all have a good week out there. Think of me, and if you know of any part time work, let me know.

Creating New Things

Hello there, how are things? Well, it’s been a busy week. What with work, and stuff.

Actually, work has been quiet lately, I’ve been busy with writing, planning and editing, and it’s been a lot of fun.

I was planning on writing Hope’s story next in the Racing Harts story, but I’m not sure now. The reason? I had a dream the other night, and have a plan for a sequel to my ice planet story – oh, sorry, Shards of Ice. It’s based in the future from the original story, and it’s their son, who’s an arrogant so and so, but he’s redeemable. The story idea is just about all there, but then, so is Hope’s story. And then I have my Dragon shifters story that I need to get back to, but I have a feeling that story might have to be written, divided up and then edited and published in one big heap…only because at the moment, it seems to be a neverending story, and I really want to split it up with different characters in each story. I guess this needs more planning.

I’ve also been working on a personal project for my partner’s sister, I started it two years ago for her 50th birthday, and then ended up in lockdown, so didn’t get to give it to her. I’m revamping it and making it better than it was, and I have to have it finished by next week, because my partner is heading up north to see her.

I also have another personal writing project that I want to work on, it’s a non-fiction book, and it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. It is something that would benefit all creatives, not just writers. This is still in the planning stages, so won’t be happening anytime soon.

And I’ve also been talking to a friend about websites and colours, and I have some new colours that I want to try out on my website, make it a cohesive site, bring the fonts and colours and covers together. I think it will work, I have the colours, I just need to find time to work on the website now.

I love being creative and having creative time, what about you?

Take care out there.

Catherine