Keeping a grip on the day...
I might have lost some of mine in the Antarctic
Today is a free day!
While my book editing deadline is looming VERY large, I found myself with an entire day today, Wednesday 24 April, free of meetings, no outside commitments, only one parent taxi service required at 4.30pm. A HUGE chunk of time to properly edit the first three chapters of my book. So how much have I done?
Yep, you guessed it.
NOTHING.
Like many of us, I could write an entire book on procrastination. In fact this is one of the ‘humorous asides’ that I removed from Breaking Waves when I was doing the ‘cut’ edit yesterday. It is in my chapter about ‘Fear’.
I’ve left my editor’s comments in…’CS’ is my commissioning editor, ‘ES’ is me!
“Back at the residential library, I fall down a rabbit hole of googling great white sharks… that’s an easy way to lose a couple of days, and a marvellous procrastination tool. Maybe I’ll write a book on ‘How to Procrastinate’ along with a helpful index of suggested rabbit holes. I have many. How ‘not’ to procrastinate is sooo yesterday.”
[CS1]Doesn’t add anything to the main text
[ES2]Agreed will remove
(yes, that’s how dry the edit back and forth can be)
So what have I been doing?
Well I had a delightful period earlier this morning interacting on here, chatting with
and through their wonderful series of letters to each other. That has resulted in me drafting a letter to Anna to publish on here about whether we hold social responsibility as writers, the dual existence of kindness and honesty, resisting the need to be ‘liked’ and all sorts; so that is in progress.I then dipped into the sparkly world of
and engaged with her ‘notes’ experiment - so you will see I have written quite a lot of notes today, and engaged with quite a few, which has been brilliant. I’ve especially enjoyed interacting with and making new connections through Claire’s brilliant community 💕 but that ate up about an hour or so…Meanwhile in my own Substack world, I’ve been engaging with the response to my note on the book edits I made yesterday, reflecting on the 8000 words that have been cut, reducing my manuscript from 76000 words to 68000, creating a document to store those ‘darlings’ for potential retrieval later. (I’m not ruthless/brave enough to just let them go). I’ve drafted a Substack for my Book Deal Diaries series about the edit process, going into a lot more detail about what I’ve learned, so that is also in progress. This has inspired some great chats with Substack friends, so obviously that took a bit of time…! And then there may have been a short instagram and tea break.
Two friends emailed me pieces of work this morning asking for editing advice on their pitches to agents, so obviously I dropped everything to do that. I need to be liked, remember? Another ‘five’ minute job that actually takes an hour, but I love doing it so that’s ok, and good things will happen to me because I’m being helpful in the Universe.
At 11am, my eldest daughter, Fiver, called to ask me if I fancied meeting her for lunch on her work break. Well…I need to eat, I have a dog to walk (I dog sit for income as writing isn’t really cutting the mustard financially yet!), and that also gives me a chance to continue listening to my podcast: ‘Ice World’, about life in Antarctica.
Wait…why am I listening to Ice World?
Well because yesterday, I got offered an interview for THAT job in Antarctica. Sshhhh…I’m not telling anyone… It’s not real.
For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, I refer you to my previous:
I did apply for the job, and I did tell them that I couldn’t take up a position for 3-5 years. I was VERY clear about that both in the application and the covering letter, and they want to interview me anyway. I almost feel compelled to go back and say ‘but you do know I’m not available this year’…but hey, I’m going to assume they have actually read the application.
I’ve told my key relevant ‘others’ which has obviously resulted in a few conversations and suggestions like ‘presumably you’re not going to tell the girls’. Actually, my girls were the first people I told.
Taz thought it was brilliant, although she had to double check that I’m not thinking of going anywhere this year (she is 15). ‘No!!! Absolutely not!! Not a chance until you’re in Uni.’ She thought about it and said ‘I’d miss you loads and it would be weird having Christmas without you, but you’ve got to go for it’. When I told Fiver, who I was slightly more nervous about due to her anxiety, she blew me away: ‘Mum, you’ve had 2 careers that you love taken away from you due to illness. If this becomes an opportunity, and you’re well enough, you absolutely have to take it. We’ll both be adults by then, and it’s only for 6 months. I really hope you get it, but just don’t lie to them about your health.’
Wow. Those girls really are growing up.
The Ice World podcast is fascinating, even if you’re not contemplating working in Antarctica. There is a possibility that I could be biased in that, but I think everything about the place is extraordinary. In prep for my interview I have connected with some people who have worked out there, have started researching for the role itself as a Radio Operator (a reminder below) as well as downloading the podcast which is all about living and working on the ice continent.
I still don’t think that this will actually happen in a million years, but I’m going with the flow…
On my walk up to meet Fiver, I learned this fun fact of the day: the sea temperature in Antarctica only varies between -1.8 (its freezing point) and +2 degrees. This extremely low but highly stable water temperature is hugely significant for the living creatures that inhabit those waters. What is particularly interesting is not so much how the wildlife has adapted to the cold, but how this very stable and narrow temperature range has greatly impacted their ‘plasticity’ - their ability to mould and adapt. This means that even the smallest temperature variations are potentially devastating to wildlife here as they have very limited capacity to adapt to fluctuations. I have also learnt a lot of delightfully nerdy weather facts but I will spare you those.
I will stop before I become a premature snow bore.
Back to planet earth
After a lovely lunch interlude I realised that half my day had disappeared, but buoyed by the Substack community, I popped into my local Waterstones on the way home to see if I could buy ‘Sins of My Father’ by
and something by - but which book to choose?!?! Anna - which book should I read first?! I was looking forward to a good browse, but sadly my local Waterstones had neither author in stock which I was very disappointed by, so I have queued ‘Sins of My Father’ and ‘The Imposter’ by Anna Wharton to my audible queue. I can’t wait to listen to both of these.[Aside: it just goes to show the power of Substack - I have bought several books just by connecting to writers on here that I didn’t previously know at all.]
Waterstones, however, is my kryptonite. I am not capable of leaving without buying something. It’s a bit like IKEA in that sense, but far more pleasing and less sensorily overwhelming. As I’m off on a short trip next week with Himself to Marrakech, I decided to treat myself to a little something for the journey. And as they’re on ‘buy one get one half price’, buying two books is imperative. I think it’s the law.
I’m very pleased with my purchases - and the cover of ‘Abroad in Japan’ makes me sooo happy - my favourite colour palette. This reignites my excitement about my own forthcoming book cover, and leads me back to my cover designer’s website for a delicious browse upon my return home. (More on that to come)
So here I am.
It is now one hour until I have to start the gymnastics taxi service for Taz and the rest of my day will disappear into domestics, driving, dinner and everything else life brings.
I still haven’t edited one word.
All is not lost: I have managed to draft 3 Substacks, do a lot of community engagement (which I want actively want to prioritise as it is so important to me), walk a dog, meet my daughter, listen to a podcast, do interview prep, help two friends, work out what we’re having for dinner, devise a GCSE revision schedule, write this piece and think through countless other tasks…
…and I still have an hour!! A whole hour. So rather than re-read and edit this fifty times like I do with every other post, this is it.
I just felt the need to share my day with you 🤣 and I wonder if you can relate to my effortless procrastination. It’s been a pleasure being sidetracked.
Now to the edit…although I might just make myself a cup of tea first…
How’s your day going so far? Have you accomplished what you set out to do? Does it matter? What unexpected ways has your day unfolded?
I’d love to hear
Love & lemons 💕🍋
Em xx
I thoroughly enjoyed your day! Thank you.
Sounds like a lovely day! And gosh, do I know about procrastination. Chocolate rewards help, I find.😊 I couldn't help but think of Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple with your Antarctic dreams. That was quite a read, although it sounds like you have prepped your family MUCH better than Bernadette. Fun post. Thank you!