Sunday, February 2, 2020

So, that was January!

The first month of a new decade seems to have flown by double quick!

I guess a large part of that sensation is down to having so much going on in all parts of my life right now.

On the “life in general” front, the weather has featured strongly. My last post talked about high winds - very unusual around here, and even more unusual for those conditions to persist for a couple of weeks rather than a couple of hours. They brought a couple of lengthy power outages. Then that week we had snow. Lots of shoveling, and my body knew by the end of the week that it had had a major workout. Then rain, and more wind. And more rain. Yes, I know this is actually a rainforest, but the downpours last week were exceptional. Floods and mudslides blocking highways and disrupting telecommunications.

Work-wise, we’ve been leading up to a big IT upgrade which brought a series of issues that had to be sorted out. That, thankfully, is now out of the way and has had all last week to stabilize, but the upgrade itself took over the whole of the previous weekend.

Things have been equally unusual this month in the writing world. I’m now in the thick of editing The Long Dark, and at times actually enjoying it! This is a novelty. I enjoy editing and revising about as much as dental work, but this time feels different. In part, I think it’s because I started the month writing a number of new scenes to flesh out a couple of themes more fully. This made it feel a lot more like writing than editing. But that has given me a boost to keep up the momentum through the longer slog of reviewing existing chapters.

So, yeah, busy. Not necessarily in a bad way, but definitely in a way that calls for a slower and more relaxed February. Here’s hoping.

9 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Ian - I can see you've been busy ... an IT upgrade is always challenging; but I enjoy hearing about the weather ... and hope it remains quietish on that front as Spring approaches. At the same time - well done on methodically going through the editing process for The Long Dark. Enjoy some down time and for you I hope February is easier ... cheers Hilary

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'm sure preparing for the upgrade was a pain.
Snow would be nice. No shoveling here though. If it snows, everything in town is shut down, so no going anywhere until it melts.
And glad you are enjoying the edits!

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Well, ya know what they say. "Time flies when you're having fun." Man, we must reeeeeally be having fun, eh? I can't believe we're into February already.

I hope you weather settles down there, and good luck with the editing!

Botanist said...

Hilary, you'd be glad you're out of it. There's been bad flooding around the Duncan area last week.

Alex, Victoria doesn't handle snow too well, but things are expected to keep moving within reason.

Susan, I wouldn't really call it all fun, but it's certainly not boring.

Chrys Fey said...

I'm glad your editing feels different this time and you're enjoying it. I hope that continues!

Botanist said...

So do I, Chrys! :)

Denise Covey said...

Hi Ian. Your weather has been the opposite of our in Oz. Bushfires. Heatwaves. Drought. Now at least where I live in Queensland, we have rain!!
Hope your edits for The Long Dark are going well. I love editing. Writing that first draft is the hard part.

Teresa Cypher said...

Whew! Often, January looks much better in the rearview mirror. :-) You have been busy!

I stopped by to see how things are going on The Long Dark. So glad to read that you're enjoying the process more than usual.

I hope February brings some calm your way--in weather and in life in general. :-)

Botanist said...

Denise, I have longstanding friends down in NSW and I've been following your bushfires anxiously. Looks like the rains have finally come, though.

Teresa, things are going well. Hope to be able to release TLD later this summer.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...