Writing

I’m not sure if I’m overachieving because I’m writing this and wanting to show off or whether I set my daily goal far too low or whether I’m just brilliant, but I got through another ten chapters today. Despite four hours being taken out by Chris and I driving through the snow for 45 minutes each way to buy provisions ahead of forecast snow and ice.

In fairness, I don't think I can claim to have overachieved when I say I made notes/minimally edited nine of fifty chapters because saying I’d do two a day really was aiming too low. That said, I know I can’t maintain nine chapters a day; I know it’s the later chapters that need more work. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy using erasable pens (purple and green) to write notes all over the printouts of the chapters I'm going through.

I converted the first eight of fifty chapters into Word (from my steno software, Eclipse) and printed them. I read through chapter one, marking anything that sounds a bit awkward or cringe, where there are errors or where words, a sentence or, more alarmingly, a paragraph doesn’t work for whatever reason.

This afternoon, I surprised myself by making a start on what I keep calling “the big edit”. “Start” in a very minimal sense though; I just reread the first four chapters and then felt a bit miserable, knowing it needs work but not being entirely sure how to go about making it into the masterpiece I envisage.

It’s a holiday in Scotland today. I’m in Scotland. However, I may be embracing and loving sitting-by-the-fire-and-eating-snacks time a little too much. I had thought I’d be head-down in editing by now, but I am at least writing this and thinking about a very comprehensive editing schedule (hmm).

I used AI for this illustration. I, like her, have short, bleached, pixie(ish)-cut hair, thick, squared, black glasses, I wear mostly black and I read, write and take notes. I look nothing like her other than that. Day 1. Thursday 1 January 2026 Where do I start? Better to have written that pointless question than had a blank page with a flashing cursor because, whoop, I've started my year of writing about writing on day 1, New Year's Day, as planned. Go me! For 2025 I wrote