Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Celebrations And The March GDR
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!!! 8 TODAY!!!
After writing yesterday’s blog I came over with a wash of determination. Determination to start the month of March off running and not be in the position I left myself last month. I have to remain positive, and if that means finding new ways to BE positive, then so be it.
There are six weeks to go until the big move and plans are already being made for the logistics of the operation now we have a date set in stone. There would be no worries at all if it weren’t for the pillocks over oat CR Smith. Why is there always something? Just when I get the good news and it seems I can get Gail to relax, something happens to get the stress level up.
I spent the morning planning my March GDR and working on completing the first of my UK Music columns for KIC. I got it finished but for a few quotes and web research, but by the end of the afternoon I had also completed the Website Development column and the second chapter of the Web Development book.
If only I had completed these items yesterday my GDR for February would have looked a little bit better.
Gail, Laura and me went for a meal after work. We celebrated three things; Laura’s 8th birthday, Laura’s name now coming under the Galbraith banner, and the sale and purchase of our new home.
After a lovely bowl of pasta and erd wine (lemonade for Laura), the waiters brought out Laura’s dessert first, dimmed the lights except for a spotlight on her and walked through the restaurant with ‘Happy Birthday’ playing over the speakers. Laura thought it was for someone else and joined in before she realised what was going in. She even gave a speech when the waiter asked her to – does “Thank you” count?
I started to work in Hunting Jack in the evening and to get back into the flow of the story I read over the last couple of issues to get into the mood. It is just as well I did because I uncovered a horrible and potentially disastrous mistake.
Somewhere along the line, from writing the issues and sending them to the editor, I deleted an entire issue and replaced it with the first version of an older issue. This has knocked everything out of sync, and also meant the previous highlights at the top didn’t match up.
I fired off an urgent e-mail to my editor advising her not to publish then I reworked them and smoothed out the crinkles. On the down side I have lost an entire issue to the scrap heap, caused a hassle to my publisher and meant although I wrote 9 issues, it only counts as 8 because one got lost. Just when I almost got back to being 9 issues ahead as contracted – doh!
On the upside though, I used it to my advantage to make Victor – the new character – into an even more interesting person so it isn’t all bad news.
This month’s GDR is gong to concentrate on fiction. Other than my columns at KIC magazine I think I have been getting side tracked by the world of freelance writing and while this is good, I am going to focus on fiction in order to get back to speed and tie up all the loose ends I feel are still flapping about.
March GDR
Fiction
* 13 issues of Hunting Jack (upped from 9 last month)
* 1 new short story
* 1 short story for Writing Magazine (Compo)
* Re-write Bill McCarthy short story and submit (needs full rewrite)
* Complete and submit Loaded for publication
* Complete and submit The Oasis for publication
* Follow up long-standing story submission to Sol Magazine and resubmit A Bond Of Faith
Poetry
* 4 new poems
Non-Fiction
* Complete Issue 2 of KIC website development column
* Write issue 3 of KIC website development column
* Write issue 2 of Theatre review column
* Write issue 1 of Travel column
* Complete issue 1 of UK music column
* Write Issue 2 of UK music column
* Write 1 travel article about Edinburgh
Marketing and Promotion
* Leaflet re-distribution for Hunting Jack
* Print off business cards
* Do more to promote web design services
Reading and Research
* Read A Friend To Die For manuscript.
* Finish reading The Prison House by John King
* Read more fiction
* Read notes on Buddhism
Technical
* Chapter 1 and 2 of Web Development manuals
* Complete design of new site for client
2 Comments:
*sniff* They grow up so fast!
One of my nieces turns eight soon - should be a fun year for all of us.