Sunday, April 21, 2019

Easter weekend

Hope everyone is enjoying their Easter break.

I’m making use of the extra time to do some writing, obviously.

Aiming to complete what I call “revision 1” of The Long Dark. In practice, a revision is actually multiple passes through the text looking at various aspects. After finishing the first draft I let it sit for a while, then begin with a complete read through as a reader, making notes of general impressions and areas that need tightening up or expanding on. This is at a high level, to get a feel for the story as a whole. More reads on the computer, making edits as I go, then print the lot off on paper and go through it again with a red pen. Now I’ve just got a few notes left to work through.

At the same time, I’m pushing the nonfiction Breaking the Block through the critiquing queue at Critique Circle.

Back in the real world, this is the time of year we are usually thinking of getting our deck cleaned up and in use. But, despite a brief spell last month, it’s not yet warmed up enough to be inviting. Maybe next month.

Instead, we’ve revitalized a part of the garden that’s been neglected for years. This corner sites behind the garage and deck, and used to be a rather useless patch of grass. Several years ago, we got rid of the grass, built steps, path, and retaining wall, and filled it with soil but never got around to planting it properly. Well, now it’s planted :)


8 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Nice! Is that a view from the roof or the deck?
Have a great Easter.

Botanist said...

Alex, that view is from the deck, which sits on top of the garage.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Ian - that's good to have planted up the plot - always nice to see one's garden grow. If the weather's not too good - time to get on with the editing, which you seem to be doing. Good luck and here's to better weather soon ... while our coastal weather was a really hot Saturday, yesterday a bit more 'cold' wind (still 'burnable'), while today it's high cloud cover ... and will get cooler again. Ah well - England! Cheers Hilary

Botanist said...

Hilary, I'm glad we got this done when we did, we're back to damp and miserable today :( Sounds like you've had a bit of a heatwave over there!

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

It sounds like you're making great progress on your new book. Good luck with it! Sometimes, it feels like my current book will never be done, but I keep on plugging at it, anyway.

Congrats on getting your little garden planted, too. You're ahead of me. We're going away to celebrate our 50th (Holy cow!) anniversary later this month, so I'm just going to wait until we get back to dig in the dirt.

May all your weeds be wildflowers!

Botanist said...

Holy cow indeed, Susan. We just marked our 27th yesterday. I hope you have something fabulous planned for that milestone.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

It's been a cold April everywhere I think. Glad I no longer have a house to think about spring clean up in the garden!

Botanist said...

Karen, it's finally got to the point where we've cleaned off the deck yesterday. Now we need to bring our deck furniture out of storage and we're set for the summer :)

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