Highs & Lows

Today I received an assignment back from Kirsty Brooks, my lecturer for the module concerning my AKL manuscript. So far this year, every assignment (in both modules) has gathered a B grade. Today, my assignment reached an A.

It contained excerpts from AKL which got very positive feedback, so I was over the moon.

Time to get to work and knock off the remaining assignments for this semester.

In other news, I received a rejection back for Spoilt Rotten - but a nice rejection. Apparently the editor has had few in a similar vein. He did remark that it was well written, but I'm guessing it wasn't the best of a large bunch (my assumption, not his). With two months to go before deadline, I do have a lead on another story, but I'm guessing I won't be the only one with that lead either...and I don't want to write a new short right now.

I've finished plumbing the new vanity unit and the silicon has firmly attached the top to the carcass. Only some tiling and painting left to go in the bathroom - two jobs I don't particularly enjoy. Still, renovations are moving forward which is a good thing.

My day job has started to seriously ramp up. Two projects I've been after for years have been approved within a day of each other. Today I had the pleasure of spending tens of thousands of someone else's money. Next week begins probably a solid three months of work.

The bad point here is the influx of projects will completely kill my writing time at work. This will, in turn, increase my need for writing time at home, meaning less time for anything else. That won't fly, and I don't blame my wife or kids for not allowing it. I can be obsessive with my writing to the point of spending six hours a night, every night, at the keyboard.

So, there will be less writing done over the coming months as life gets in the way. That's okay. I know what's coming so I'm prepared for it.

I have no new stories currently under way. I do have a couple outlined and sitting on the sidelines waving at me, and there's the lead to replace Spoilt Rotten, but I refuse to commence work on them (currently). The Salisbury Writers Festival and associated competition is fast approaching as well, but it looks like I'll be missing it this year - the contest that is, not sure about the festival - have to wait and see what the program has in it.

I need to concentrate on assignments and AKL. My initial deadline for AKL was the end of next month - 7 weeks away. I'm approximately 48,000 words short of finishing it. It's NaNoWriMo over two months instead of one, but I know I won't make it - but I will get close.

Starting now...