Deadlines are a good thing

70. Tuesday 28 April 2026

I really should set myself targets and deadlines more often. I’m driving to London tomorrow until Sunday. I decided that, today, I had to try to finish rereading version 7 again (3rd or 4th time!), starting at chapter 4, which is as far as I got yesterday after doing quite a lot of editing on chapters 1 to 3.

                Somehow, I did it. I read through about 200 pages. I know there will need to be at least one more read-through as I’m not yet bored with it! I also made more changes than I would have expected, including at least three errors. For example, I’d used the wrong dates for something (eg I’d changed the date of a funeral in the story but not changed the date in another section of the story).

                I feel very pleased with myself. I have also sent this version out to another friend, Fiona, hoping she’ll have time and inclination to read it. I have also sent this version to Chris G, who has read version 5. I know with certainty that version 7 is better than version 5, especially now I’ve halved chapter 2 and added a couple of extra threads throughout the plot. While I'm in London, I will work on my synopsis and maybe a basic template for agent letters, but I am in London for an (unrelated) appointment and then it's the bank holiday weekend.

In other news, a friend came round for a couple of hours to help with a car issue (nice to have a catch-up with him), I baked my 28^th sourdough loaf and had a lunch of hot bread with either butter or cheese, I packed, hung a wash out to (almost) dry (it was cold today!), did a few chores and, hey presto, I might even be in bed before 10 ahead of a planned 6am departure tomorrow. The photo, oil painting filter, is of the front garden shortly before sunset with the dappled green mossy lawn that I probably mowed a little too short.