Party time

I am going to the work's Christmas party tonight and looking forward to having a good time. It's about time I went and enjoyed myself as it's been a bad year for me and my family health wise. Also here at work I have had a confrontation with a colleague (who wasn't in today) and her attitude to certain areas of work have really stressed me out or wound me up in the recent past. It is people like her that makes me feel that I so want to give up work and write full-time, but I know I can't afford to do that just yet. I shall have to grin and bear it for now and see how it goes. My supervisor has emailed her a long reply to an email she was sent, which I have read, and I am not looking forward to seeing and hearing her reaction when she reads it on Monday. Never mind. I shall try and forget about it all at the party and over the weekend.

Well, must go and get ready for the party now.

First draft finished

I finished writing the first draft of Allie yesterday and it was a good feeling. All I have to do now is to type up the rest of it (a chapter and a bit), print that off then start editing from the beginning. I know I have a lot to cut out because so far I have typed it up as 58,000 words and I want it to be only 45,000. I more or less know what I want or need to cut so that's a start. I might start doing that next week and have a break the rest of this week from writing.

I have decided that come the new year I want to write more stories and letters than I did this year. I have ideas for one of the magazines I subscribe to for stories, one of which is already written and probably will send that off in the new year. I also want to work on a story I had previously entered for a competition which didn't get anywhere and enter that for another competition, oh, that is as well as working on my novella Checkmate. Seems I am going to be busy writing over the holiday, but I don't mind because that is what I want to do.

Well, must get back to work now. See you soon.

What a day!

It's been an odd day. It started off badly when the train I got on this morning to work developed a fault at the next station and the driver terminated the train and chucked us all off. I ended up 15 minutes late in and had to phone work to cover for me until I got in. Then at lunch time the fire alarm went off just as I'd got into writing Allie, so that was disturbed. Thankfully I managed to write some more when we finally were allowed back in. Then whilst my colleague was at lunch, my mum phoned me to say that the placement office dealing with my dad's care home plan had phoned to say that the hospital wants all patients in Dad's ward out for Christmas so we had to find another care home. She gave Mum the name of one right near us which Mum went to see and quite liked. The home that we liked hasn't got back to us yet. The officer said that she has now been told the rooms won't be ready until after Christmas and maybe not until Jan or Feb. I tell you, what are they playing at? I just hope that this home will take Dad and he gets in there before Christmas. Then we can declutter the house ready for Christmas as all the rest of Dad's belongings we have in our house, including his armchair which is taking up space in our living room. Watch this space.

Let's hope tomorrow is a good day with better news.

On the last chapter

I started the last chapter of Allie today and have to confess that I've forgotten some of the names of her team in the book. I will have to browse through all the chapters I've printed so far to find the names. I can remember her first 2 helpers but not the other 2. Ho hum. I will need these to continue the chapter tomorrow because I am writing Allie presenting her team with their awards. Then I have to think of names for the main award winners and their prizes. What fun writing for children is. You can think of names and incidences and more or less get away with it.

My weekend went quickly. Saturday I had my hair cut, then straight after I got home Mum said "What do you think about getting Dad a digitial tv for Xmas between us? Could we got to Comet today?" I said, "OK," got changed and tidied up then off we went in my car to Comet. I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap they were and we picked one out for Dad which will be delivered this Wednesday and they will take the old one away. In the afternoon I typed up some of Allie. In the evening we went for a meal. The food was quite nice but the atmosphere of the place and staff seemed disorganised and rushed after a while, especially as they took Mum's glass then dessert dish away before I'd finished mine, which we both thought was rathre rude. Unlike the staff to do that.
Sunday was Sainsbury's in the morning and in the afternoon I finally got to working on my novella Checkmate again. I had to read the last chapter I'd worked on to remember what I'd written and what was going on. I know now. All in all a very busy weekend for me.