A Busy Week

colingalbraith — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:05:20 +0000

Image: Heavenawaits

Busy; that about sums it up. Work, work, work but it’s been at a good pace this week so I’ve not been burning myself out as I have felt I have been doing recently. And I’m lapping up literature, which can’t be bad either.

I’ve not been sleeping too great this week. I’ve found myself getting a second wind late at night and getting back up to sit for ages waiting to get tired. Reminders of previous bouts of insomnia have come flooding back, which probably only encouraged it.

I’ve finally got caught up on a tonne of email that was trapped in my mailbox. Hundreds came downloading from the days I was unable to receive email, as well as duplicates of the ones I already had so I had to filter out all the ones I’d read from hadn’t. A hassle I could have not done with.

I discovered quite accidentally that I only uploaded a partially complete copy of my Scotland’s Treasure article for November to The Scruffy Dog Review. It will be Sunday at the earliest before I can get that corrected but I will make sure it gets done.

Hope all my American chums had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. Could have fair gone some turkey and stuffing myself, as it was I made some pasta and Bolognese (no spaghetti left) which was rather scrummy I have to say.

A new review came in for STELLA which got 4 out of 5 starts – wayhey!! You can read it online at Ghost Writer Reviews/

And to top off the week my first royalty check came through for STELLA. Pocketed! Here’s to a great weekend!

Mr Grumpy

Colin — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:03:48 +0000

Image: Waterstones

I’m still feeling upturned and out of sync; not fatigued or procrastinational (?), just … weird … grumpy. It’s a mental thing and I’m still not sure what the root of it is. Hard to explain really. I suspect an electric shock or some form of re-jig of the portions of my brain might be in order.

But then it is getting towards that time of year when reflection and a dwelling on memories gone by is due, so maybe I should just let it run its course.

I seem to be pissing everyone off just now: Gail, Laura, my sister Lindsay; only my rabbits seem to have no complaints, but then all I have to do to please them is chuck a carrot into their hutch and ruffle the fur on the back of their necks.

Ever get that feeling where all you want to do is crawl into a dark box and be alone? I’ve got that. I’m not down or anything, quite the opposite in fact. Christmas is coming, I’ve got nights out impending, a couple of gigs and meals, three manuscripts are out on submission (1 imminent), various short stories being considered and plenty of paid work on the go. Life is good; I’m just … grumpy for no reason.

While the day job is mega-busy, I’m struggling to exist alongside my colleagues elsewhere on our floor. I find myself getting wound up and bugged by the rubbish that goes on around me: mobile phones with “humorous” shouting ring tones and constant needless interruptions for things that people could find out themselves, when I’m trying to concentrate on something.

I’m aware this gives the impression I’m a grumpy bastard, and some of he time I am (with good reason), I just don’t like socialising with people when I’m trying to work. I can’t manage multi-million pound software while people try to talk to me about reality TV programmes that I never watch.

I had to refresh where I was with Blood Ties before I could do anything more on it, which as you can imagine took longer than expected. I used the time and process to update my chapter tracker, which I not only use for referring to while I am writing, but also for the basis of my synopsis when all is done and dusted.

Overall, I added 661 new words to the manuscript. Poor but at least it was something, and I broke the 37k barrier, which psychologically, might help me get back on the road good and proper. I have the opportunity for lengthy spells of uninterrupted writing tomorrow, so if I’m going to complete NaNo this year, tomorrow is that day that has to count.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all my American friends.

Blood Ties (NaNoWriMo)