Work has been dire this week. I’ve been on call, but not actually called out since Sunday. As I only get paid when I’m called out, that’s made for a disappointing week where I haven’t really been able to plan anything. Still, we’ve got the wedding plans largely paid for and done. There’s just a few little details to tidy up and then we’re done. But of course, there’s always minor details that will be found to do right up to the day!

I’ve passed 85,000 words and I reckon that there aren’t too many left to go. I’ve got a real handle on the ending, and it’s just left to right the stuff and tick all the boxes. I’m really pleased with this book and the way it has turned out; it’ll be the best yet. No, really! Zoë has finished editing the first 25,000 words ready for their sending off to the agent. She seemed pretty blown away and impressed, which is a very good sign. What was an even better sign was that her red pen marks were very few and far between which means the story cannot be too bad ‘straight from the box’. Tonight we still need to write the synopsis to go with it. That’s something I never look forward to. I hate writing synopses, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the greatest at them. But Zoë is going to co-write it, so hopefully we’ll end up with something special that will make the agent call back within the hour and offer a five figure advance. Or something like that. Maybe. Well, hey! I’m allowed to dream.

I’m going to take a much needed break now. I’m going to play Carcasonne with Zoë. It’s a great little game, and we’ve really enjoyed it lots since we first got it. I cannot recomend it more highly. I find it great that I can stop for a break and my editor will play board games with me. (Well, she is shortly to be my wife!) Actually, that leaves me on a pondering note: I take it we describe each other as each other’s wives? I’ve never really looked into the etiquette of civil partnerships.