Writing:
I have two weeks to catch up on here as I didn’t do my usual update post last Monday, as my head was still buzzing from the UK Meet on Saturday 23rd. I blogged about that here, in case you missed it. However, I did do some other things in the week leading up to the Meet. I was pleased to finish my story for the Charity Sip call, Last Chance, and managed to submit it a scant three days before the call ended. I also began work on my story for the College Daze call and managed to write the first 6766 words of Tailor Made. It was fun to meet my characters properly for the first time, although I was a little perturbed to discover Andrew was a lapsed Catholic – not something I’d planned. I hope this story ends up keeping to a lower word count, or I’ll never get it finished in time.
This last week has been a bit of a write-off, though. I came down with a nasty virus on Tuesday which sapped all my energy, and then LiveJournal’s problems meant I had to spend a fair amount of time loading all my usual blog feeds onto Google Reader instead (I’m glad I did, though, as it’s much easier to use than the LJ friends page)
What I did manage to do, though, when my head was up to it, was to start arranging my Barging Inblog tour (so far I have a week booked up around the release date, with a couple of things before and another date in October), get to grips with picnik.com so I can start creating my own simple graphics and covers for my free reads, and to get my website moved over to a new host. Of course, some of my pages have gone missing in transit, lots of links are broken, and a few features supported by WordPress.com need to be accessed via optional plug-ins on WordPress.org, but I’m sure I can get it all back the way it was, then gradually start on tweaking the CSS until the site is exactly the way I want it. It’s a steep learning curve, but I love learning new skills 
I have also started on some research for my next novel (in the same series as Barging In), which I plan to write in the half term running up to Christmas. So far, I’ve ordered some BDSM handbooks I’ve been recommended, but I also need to find behind the scenes info on being a West End dancer and research road mending. An interesting mix going into that one…
Real Life:
Just being ill and reading lots. The garden is looking lovely, though, as is Daisy.
This week:
It’s the school holidays now so I know I won’t be able to keep up with the regular blogging – not if I’m ever going to get Tailor Made finished in time. Expect a reduced service until school starts up in September – just my Monday updates, a word of the week on Wednesday, and some Boatsat the weekend. I’ll post links and thoughts at other times, though, should they occur to me.
I’m going to write as much as I can of Tailor Madethis week – but I really don’t know how much I’ll manage. 8k might be doable – we shall see. I suspect I shall have to try writing in the evenings once Daisy has gone to sleep.
I also aim to have the website all sorted out by the end of the week. Oh, and beta a 53k novel for JL Merrow. Hmmm… I may be giving myself a bit too much to do there, but sometimes the less time I have, the more productive I am!
Oh wow, good luck with all your plans!!!! Sounds like you’ve been really hard at work.
Love the pics of Daisy and the garden – so cute
Glad to hear you are feeling better and Congrats on getting your submission done in time. All the switching over work sounds exhausting and I wish you the best of luck for it *HUGS*
Yay – you’re here! Thanks for all the lovely words – I’ve actually found it enjoyable sorting out the website stuff today, as I’ve started to make some sense of it all and am already getting an idea of how much more I can customise the site
How did you find it leaving a comment over here rather than LJ?
Testing, testing.
I have put you on the email update thingy
(I was on my phone earlier, couldn’t make it post)
Hey, you’re here! Hi there, hon
I’m still finding my way around the dashboard here, but I’ll check to see if there’s something I need to activate to allow you to post by phone – what type of phone/software is it you’re using?
*lol*
Love the ‘reduced blogging service’ with photo. Thanks for letting us know
I agree, Daisy looks cute – and is that a sand pit she has?
Your garden looks great with a lot more flowers that the picture you showed some time ago.
Good luck with your projects. Whatever else happens, keep writing. Life is so good at elbowing in and distracting both muse and author!
Daisy is a real sweetie, isn’t she? And yes, she has a picnic table sandpit in our very tiny garden – it’s a great use of the space and it looks much more attractive than having a load of plastic stuff out there
I’m having a three hour writing session tomorrow morning and one on Friday morning – I’m really looking forward to them! Life does demand a lot of attention, but so does my muse…
Let’s try again, on the phone again and there IS a comment button this time
Yay! I must have done something without even realising it – there are so many new things I can do with this site – it’s mindboggling
Hello Jo
I too came down with a nasty virus on Tuesday last week, and the weekend was horrid, so I’m behind a bit. How did you load your feeds into Google Reader? I’m so happy I was able to find my way to your blog 
It’s so much easier to navigate!! The pictures are so lovely, especially with Daisy 
I hope you get loads done today!
HUGS
Tame
*Hugs you* Colds are horrid, aren’t they? I hope you’re feeling better now
Google Reader is so simple – have you used it before? Basically, if you want to load an LJ feed in there, just go to the “add a subscription” button on the top left and put in the link to the LJ, adding “/data/rss” (without quote marks) onto the end.
I’m glad you find the WP site easier to navigate. Now I’ve got used to WP I much prefer it to LJ, although LJ does have certain strengths in some of it’s more “friendly” and fun features (like those userpics so many people adore)
Jo x
Let’s try this again…
Okay that seems to have worked. I admire your productivity in the face of feeling yuk, and still need to pick your brain on blogging and blog tours at some point.
Hmm, my reply seems to have been eaten…
Glad you could get on here in the end! And pick away about the blogging – I’m no expert, but I might have picked up a few useful tips