It feels like I just started the week, to be honest. February is tomorrow and I feel like it’s still mid-January. Though it means I’m moving faster towards moving out … I hope the rest of the year isn’t a blur like 2020. When I’m working more, maybe it’ll feel a bit slower.

I didn’t do too bad this week. I finished the second edit of X and then even did a third comb. I’ve been doing a bit of plot work on it but am saving that for the fourth edit after it’s been read by my partner. The issue now is a way to read it. On one hand I don’t want to print all the pages and on the other hand, I know how much easier it is to read an actual book. And he also likes to read as he goes to bed, having made a habit of switching off from devices and spending an hour or so reading … Which is something that I really need to join him in doing. The problem there is that my energy seems to pick up around 10am, peak around 4pm and for writing it particularly goes off around 6pm.

My ability to write rolled to a stop yesterday and I sat swivelling my chair side to side trying to think of what I could do. Normally I write uninhibited when there’s no one in the house, but I just didn’t have it in me. I think yesterday’s problem was knowing that what I want to work on at the moment needs a complete overhaul and the prospect of having to do that is a bit de-motivational. So, instead of not writing at all, I started putting flesh into the worlds so that I can be more confident when I dive in to start re-writing. I love the notes process but usually drop off it once I’ve started writing a significant amount. Writing out plot-lines, synopses and character sketches are the easiest part for me, and often the most fun. It’s the joy of building up something I was thinking about. And then the hard part comes: stretching that right out into something substantial. Like taking the ball of wool and then having to now knit it into a scarf that I don’t know the proportions of just yet.

I feel better than I had the previous couple of weeks and I can’t tell if I can write because I feel better or if I feel better because I can write.

One month down.