𝔞 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔩𝔬𝔫𝔤 𝔣𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔴𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔓𝔬𝔩𝔶𝔞𝔫𝔞𝔨𝔱𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔰.

What a week it has been, holy fuck.



I have worked approximately forty hours on revising and editing SPOR I SNEEN (Footprints in the Snow) and it has now become a presentable text, but omg, what an amount of hard work had to go into it to get it there. Loving help from my beta was indeed helpful, but I also had to kill so many darlings this round, I can’t even. I need to read it through one last time now and then I’m ready to turn it in for second revisions and THEN it will be ready to go into print.

Very excited about this.

The cover I ordered is also well underway and I should have it tomorrow. I’ve seen the front of it, so I’m really thrilled to see the full paperback version. I’m loving the concept and the execution, though. Really pleased. I will squee more when it’s officially mine.

It is, however, I can saw with great confidence, going to be a nice-looking book, K. will get for her advent calendar. I hope she likes it. I really hope she will like Claude and recognise the love I’ve poured into this story. I love her so much, I just want her to be well-entertained.



We did have some trouble ordering the cover this time around. There was a glitch on Fiverr’s website during the payment process and it withdrew the amount twice, but I’m hoping it’ll sort itself when we get to final check-out, because they’ll only need half the amount to pay the artist. I’m desperately hoping they’ll just give me a refund without any trouble, but… Let’s see, I guess.



As for DET MAN FÅR, we’re still waiting on the other cover artist to get back to us with the ISBN-numbered cover design. Hopefully it won’t be forever, because the ISBN will be invalid in three months from when we sent it to her, so. Fingers crossed. I’ll contact her in a week or two, if I don’t hear back soon.



Those are my Fiverr adventures, I call them. I’m honestly hoping never having to have another cover made ever, but at the same time the process is addictive as fuck and if we write the sequel to DET MAN FÅR next year, I guess we’ll eventually need a cover for that, too.

Sigh. It’s the never-ending story.



In other news, I saw my physiotherapist earlier this week and I think I’m ready to take the bus to his clinic from now on. I took the bus home last time and it went fine, so I can do that. He gave me a ton of laser treatments and I was in pain the next day, but then it’s just… kinda stopped, and I walk almost completely normally now. We went to IKEA today and I took two trips around the store without feeling tired or my ankle getting awfully swollen (a bit swollen, but nothing noteworthy) and I just feel both more capable and more mobile these days. It’s a miracle.

It feels like that, at least.



Additionally, we’re preparing for my parents to come over on the 22nd of November for dinner and coffee. We had originally thought we’d get take-out, but now we’ve decided to cook ourselves, which gives us more freedom and flexibility. I need to talk to my mom tomorrow about how spicy they can take their food and also, plans for Christmas. It’s one of the years when K. and I spend X-mas with her parents and my parents have made other plans, but we still need to exchange gifts and we’ll probably go see them in their new house the 21st or 22nd of December, right after K. has gotten off work for the holidays. I’m not looking forward to any of this, but for the sake of family appeasement, it must be done. I’m just not going to the family Christmas party or anything like that.

I simply don’t have the spoons.

I barely have spoons for the small four-person X-mas K. and her parents are throwing for me this year. I hate the turn of the year, X-mas and the holidays. Always have, but at least the terms were simpler as a kid. As an adult, no such dice.



Tomorrow, I’ll also be talking to my therapist again for the first time since last time which was strange and awkward. I’m not angry or anything about it, just… perplexed. What happened? Maybe that is what I should ask her.

So many people to talk to. So many questions to have answered and processes to have finished and I’m a bit overwhelmed, honestly.

But this, too, shall pass. Experience tells me.

I finished my advent calendar!

I wrote the last entry for it yesterday, then read the entire thing today and I am really, really satisfied. I like the interpersonal dynamics and relationships I manage to create and the development that my narrator goes through is really good, if I can say so myself. Very, very happy with it.

Originally, I had planned for it to be 25 entries long, but as we got nearer to December 20th, I felt that I was prolonging something that inevitably had to take up less space, so I shortened it to 24 entries and that did the trick. It all came together so nicely.

Luckily, in Denmark, we celebrate X-mas on the evening of the 24th rather than the morning of the 25th, so it all fits just fine.



This week is crazy enough as it is, without the euphoria of finishing a project. I have my first appointment with my new physio on Friday. I had originally picked this physio because I could take a bus directly to their clinic, but due to renovations and such that isn't actually possible right now, so on Friday I'm paying for a cab instead and then I'll figure out from there what to do, transportation-wise. There is a bus I can take from here and than make one shift, and the next one will take me directly to the address, but I'll have to try it first before I find out whether that's feasible for me. Either way, an half hour appointment is gonna be a full-day deal for me, energy-wise, so I'm perparing for that mentally.

Then, Saturday - because I obviously know how to plan these things - I have a bunch of writing buddies coming over, so we'll need to deep-clean the apartment Friday afternoon and I am gonna be social all Saturday afternoon... I am dead just from the thought, though also really excited, it's just a lot of planning and stuff to do, stuff to buy, stuff to prepare...

Sunday, I will probably cease to exist for a little while getting ready for another full week the week after.

Like I said. I know how to plan these things, obviously.



And now I'm hit with a sudden urge to play one of the minor characters from my advent calendar. I found the perfect PB for her, too. Maybe that's tonight's project.



Earlier today, I went shopping and I wore my new winter boots and I happened to tighten them around my bad ankle too much and it was seriously pain that is only beginning to fade now, hours later. Not making that mistake again. I have to remember that my foot swells when I use it, so I gotta keep the boot looser than I need when I'm just putting it on. Very painful lesson learned.

But they're good boots and I'm looking forward to using them more!



Next stop is waiting for my beta to read the calendar and send notes back. Sometime during November, probably.

So, my week took a turn over the weekend.

K. was the one to notice it first, but I had been thinking I felt more scattered, tired, bad sleep, mood swings, all the classic signs that something was Not Well with me, but I couldn't place what was stressing me, mostly because a small selection of things are stressing me at the moment, not limited to working on the book and outdoor training every week.

However, after some discussion with my girlfriend, who is ever the wisest in these things, we settled on it most likely being the pressure from having to attend physio every week, in a group of people I don't know, group activities with weekly check-in the kind of thing I have never been able to attend, not for the past fifteen years I've been in the system. Meaning that we had to make a plan as to how to tackle it, because I need my physical therapy for my foot, but my mental health can't handle the only free offer there is.

Just deciding that I wouldn't have to go Monday lifted my spirits some, though, so it was honestly an easy thing to cut the ties entirely after some discussion with my physios. After some contact back and forth, K. had my old physio (the one I had before outdoor training) send some exercises to me, so I can try and continue my training on my own and with the help of my assisted living person, whom I'm seeing tomorrow, where we'll craft a plan for the entire thing.

Mostly, my physio said, it was important that I kept moving and kept challeging myself, just enough to experience small progressions and victories. We'll see how it goes. If it turns out I can't do that on my own, we'll have to buy private physio therapy which would suck, but of course my foot needs what my foot needs.

Meanwhile, I'm going shopping every day now and the walk with some weight is definitely good for my foot. I have also started actually walking stairs a little bit. Monday I walked all the way to our local library and back + shopping on the way, so I honestly think I'm doing the work. Especially seeing as I'm still rather stressed and slightly depressed, though I can tell it's getting better day by day after making this decision.

We'll see how it goes from here.



For a week now, we haven't heard from our cover artist, who promised to send us our updated files last Tuesday/Wednesday. I don't think it's usual behaviour from her, not reading her reviews, so I had been nervous something was wrong with our collaboration or that she'd lost interest in the project (again, it didn't seem like her at all and she has always been timely with communications otherwise), and tried giving her time to return to us, but nothing really happened.

Yesterday, I shot her a new message, kinda sharp in its tone, because we would definitely understand if she was busy or something has come up privately, but we'd like at least an update about it, saying that we had a deadline by end-October and would we be able to have the finished cover by then? She sent a slightly frantic message back last night, almost half past midnight (she's in my timezone), and apologized profusely for the lack of communications/lack of updated files and swore she'd have them ready for us tomorrow - things have been rough on her end (of course she didn't go into details or anything, but it was nice knowing that my feeling was correct, this wasn't standard behaviour from her).

She also offered us any of her premium features extras, as a thank you for being understanding and patient with her. I'm thinking of maybe getting the social media kit, but it depends on how much extra time that would cost her. Also, I need to make sure we still have an agreement about the ISBN number when we get it, that she adds it to the cover at that time. Either way, I'll write her this morning and tell her we still completely trust her work and we're happy to see the order to its finalization.

Can't wait to have a cover for our book!! Finally.



I signed up for ladiesbingo, got my card and have actually written the first entry already. It'll be all Marie-Claude/Sasha stuff, mostly, I think maybe one Marie-Claude and her spin doctor, Birgitta, too, depending on how much of the card I end up filling. Working on a vertical line right now. It's an experience, writing Marie-Claude's narrative in English after having written the whole novella in Danish. I think it fits her voice, but I also have to fight in places to get the tone right and still not sure I'm hitting the exact notes, but I'm trying and it should get better the more fics I wrote, I guess.



Still working on some DIY stuff. I have an aim of ten bookmarks before the week is out and then, beginning on 7 postcards with a similar design over the weekend/into next week. The wax seal is the common motif and I really love it. I have four bookmarks made, so six more to go. I'll be working on the backsides of them today. The postcards should be a tiny bit easier, because the envelope motif on those is square, so easier to cut out.


Today is another day off, then tomorrow I have assisted living and Friday I have therapy, which comes at a good time, I suppose. Not much feeling like it, last time was a tough one and the feelings from it are still clinging to me somewhat, but I'm trying to go into this new session with a clear mind. There are definitely things to talk about. Over the weekend, we have a meeting with my local writer's group on Sunday and K. is going too, if she still wants to and wouldn't rather have a day off a home by herself. Either way is okay for me, of course.


Friday is also Marie-Claude's birthday, and I still have to figure out how to celebrate this. Since I use Instagram now, I was thinking of making a character introduction/spotlight kinda post there, maybe a new page in her daily planner (could even be September 12th, if it's free, can't remember right now if I've already filled it). Not sure. I have a couple of days to find out something still, so I won't rush with anything.



I've also dipped my toes back into DWRP, currently voicetesting Marguerite Gautier from The Lady of the Camellias, because I love a tragic historical heroine. And that book is my favourite. I've read it so many times, since I originally bought it more than ten years ago.



Some things never change. Just because others have to.

I had a fine plan today, which was to go downtown to pick up some medicine and since I was downtown anyway, buy some artsy postcards to use for my future creative endeavours to make merch and promo stuff for DMF. It didn't go quite as... planned. Well, as you can see above, I sure got the cards!

I didn't get the meds. Because I had no open prescriptions available and had to call my doctor to get it renewed and then, I couldn't actually pick the stuff up until after four in the afternoon, so there went my grand scheme.

But I got the postcards and they're beautiful - and I can't wait till I get to cut them up and glue it all back together in new, interesting and hopefully aesthetically pleasing ways.

So far, the plan is to make bookmarks and homemade postcards primarily, but I'm also thinking of doing the cut-up technique on some of the letters from the book and make poetry that way, some of them could go on the cards, too, I guess. It would be an interesting exercise, to rethink the text like that.

I did it when I self-published last time, in 2019. I was a good way to stay in the process, even as the actual writing was done. I think it could be exactly what I need right now, too, when I'm 30 pages from being done with my, so far, last reread and editing round.

Also, I very much need to get back to making calendar/daily planner-pages for Marie-Claude! I keep wanting to and then this rereading thing gets in the way, but tomorrow! Definitely. My parcel from the DIY store should also be arriving then, so I can get started on all sorts of creative things over the weekend.



Heard back from our cover artist and she said she'd get the updated files to us tonight at the latest, but nothing yet, so I'm guessing she might be working on it or hasn't gotten around to it yet, she has been swamped with gigs the past two weeks. Since we don't need the cover acutely, I'm not too worried about it, but it would be a nice thing to finally cross off our to-do list, definitely. Hoping I will wake up to a notification in the morning.

Meanwhile, I've really taken to Instagram and am using the platform to promote the book as much as possible, while we work towards completing it. K. and I have agreed that we're publishing it at some point between November and January, so that gives us a horizon to work towards now which does help the lethargy that as definitely been a thing the past couple of weeks. Just tired, that's all. Just tired.



While doing this creative stuff side by side with the editing and read-throughs, I was reminded that ladiesbingo exists and will open for sign-ups soon. I'm definitely thinking of signing up and write some "fanfiction" for DMF. I was originally thinking of writing it in Danish to fit the book, but I miiiiiight do it in English to make it accessible to my online friends who won't have any other way of engaging with the novella. So, might do that. We'll see. Or I chicken out and write it in Danish regardless, LOL.

K. got the ingenius idea of making us curry dressing-pasta salad tonight which is such a simple, but very filling and delicious dish and we ate and we're full and tired and there were almost no leftovers, we were that hungry for it. Now she's playing the piano (earphones on, so no actual music) and I'm writing this entry and in five minutes I will go back to my read-through and finish this thing. Then, there's only left for K. to go through my comments on the parts that are hers and then, we can send it off to our fourth and final beta.

Who has promised to be done before November, so that's a least a time frame to work with.



Both really beginning to anticipate being done with this novella and at the same time, looking forward to keep working on it, too, in all these different ways. At least, I know we have something new within the universe lined up and waiting for the new year, when we're ready to go through this sort of process again.

My foot is sore. I used it today. I hugged trees and climbed tree trunks. I balanced on sticks and stones. I got balancing homework to do for the rest of the week. I really need to start utilizing my balancing board. I also walked most of the way to the woods (the distance not covered by bus) without crutch - and all the way back home afterwards. It's no wonder it's complaining now, truly. But it does keep me chained to the sofa for the time being.



I also finally caved in and called the self-publishing service my girlfriend and I are using to get a final answer to how to use their cover calculator and afterwards had to contact our cover artist to correct a miscalculating mistake I'd made that gave her a wrong number for the spine width. I hope it's relatively easily fixable. I really could use this whole cover business over soon, the excitement and nervousness is eating me alive.

However, I got to say - I love the cover we have got out of it! Our artist did an amazing job, both our design concepts were exceptional and it was so difficult choosing just one, but we have and it is the perfect cover for our book. Our novella. I can't wait to see it actually in print. To hold a book between my hands. Our book.

It is going to be the best feeling. I just know it. Not just because I've done it before, published or printed a book, but because it will be something we share. K. and I.



I also can't wait until I can show you the final cover result!! Stay tuned.



Tomorrow, I'm expecting a slow, low-activity day, to give my foot some time to recuperate. So, I will probably reread the novella with the latest additions and then, beta read the things I've got waiting in line in that regard. All in all, a chill day, waiting for the final cover stuff to tick in and to be able to approve it, so that part is done.

I also have a Discord event in the evening: writing tragic scenarios. Pretty simple concept, only write about the tragic stuff that happens in your story, work with it, milk it, feel it. Right now, I'm not feeling this one myself that much, but tomorrow is another day. I'll be ready.



Wednesday, I have therapy.

Friday, cleaning the apartment.

Saturday, the birthday celebrations of K's brother.



I think that must count as a week, right?

Things have been up and down since Monday. Mostly, I have been tired and feeling raw, my girlfriend has been the same and that combined doesn't make the best foundation for good, constructive communication and companionship. There have been good moments. Like, yesterday night we went stargazing outside the city and just looking at her, how excited she got about it, babbling to me about this app she has downloaded that analyses the whole night sky for you, was such a boost. Until my foot started kicking in again, the darn thing, but we got an hour of just... sunset and stars coming out. That's worth something, too.



Other than that, we've been working on revisions for the novella, because the first beta notes came back to us night between Tuesday and Wednesday. I was, unfortunately, still up and, of course, couldn't sleep after that, so I looked over the notes first and fortunately, they were mostly positive and those that weren't helped us realize what had to be strenghtened and expanded upon in the original draft. Mostly, though, G's notes confirmed that we had told the plot in a way that was accessible and understandable to other people and that was extremely uplifting. Some of the places that need expansion may require a few new texts being added, but that's fine, there's still a lot of wriggle-room, layout-wise, so I think it can bear it in terms of how long it's growing.



Then, Tuesday, we put our order in on the cover. A lot of the information we had to give up about the book, I had collected beforehand and just had to copy-paste into the order form, so that was relatively easy. I'm still unsure whether I've given the right dimensions for the book, since I haven't done this before and barely know what anything means - but our cover artist has assured me that if we need adjustments in terms of spine width or similar, we can do it on an extra revision and it shouldn't be too difficult. So I'm counting on that. It's counting on that or going crazy from worries.

And I can't add to K's worries and stress right now. I have to carry this for her, so she won't be too burdened by the whole process more than she already is.

Anyway, now there's nothing left but to wait for the two design concepts to hit my inbox, so we can choose one and get started on some revisions, if it should prove necessary. I hate waiting. It shouldn't be too long a wait, we should receive the delivery before Saturday is out, but I have read about this particular artist that she sometimes takes longer than the initially estimated time - no one has rated her badly for it, most people just say "good art takes time", so I'm hoping for a delivery over the weekend, but if not that's no big deal either. I know we'll get our money's worth.



Tuesday was also the day when I, for the first time since my fall, took the bus to our local library by myself and turned in some books and picked up some new ones. If nothing else, outdoor training made me realize I can move around relatively freely now and that it won't kill my foot, so now I'm trying to find my limits and see what I can really do. The library visit was try-out no. 1. Today, after I'd been to the doctor's, I went to the nearby mall and picked up medicine by myself, plus re-upped my travel card and then, on my own, I took a bus home. I know I keep emphasizing that I did these things myself, but it's just because that for half a year, I haven't been able to do anything on my own. It's such an impossible notion to wrap my head around, that now I won't have to wait for others, professionals, K., anymore. I can do things. In my own time. When I want.

It's amazing.



Doctor's appointment today, I though, was supposed to be a yearly check-up, but when I got there, it was just bloodwork and apparently, I had misremembered. However, we made plans for yearly control next time as well as got an appointment set up with my doctor for next month to have her look at my foot. I want to talk to her about how we'll be tackling my insurance which will start wanting some assessments of my rehabilitation in a few months from now and just... get a general check-up of my foot. My ankle still swells every day and although I've read that's pretty common with my type of injury, I just want someone to look at it and tell my I don't need to worry too much about it.

So, hoping my doctor can and will be that person, LOL.



Tomorrow is cleaning day, so I play to do some tidying up before K gets home from work, take out all the cardboard, empty the paper bin, clearing the space in the bathroom to make it easy for her to get around in there with the vacuum cleaner. Stuff like that. That's my plan tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow morning, I have a beta job to look at, a relatively short text (12K words) that the guy who betaed for us would like for me to look at. So now I have to try and be as useful to him as he was to us. At the same time, I also have another beta job to work on, but it's a much longer text (80K+) and I'm so bad and slow at reading long-format things, so that's a chip a day kinda work, even when it's a really good novel with interesting characters.

And then, Saturday, K. will take me to the mall and I'll buy some running clothes to train in for outdoor training next week.

Finally, Sunday, K. will go with her dad to buy... something, I don't actually remember what, something for our terrace space and I will probably stay home, beta for G. and D. - and give our own text a good read-through again with its newest revisions.

That will also be a week's work, I guess.

K's first work week is over. We survived.

Saturday is quiet, calm, reserved for whatever we feel like doing, because the last month has been very, very intense. Good, but intense.

We finished the first-first draft of the novella this morning and now, I'm left with a lot of writing energy and time on my hands - and no concrete plans about what to work on. There is still a lot of practical stuff to do about the novella, cover design (more about that below), author's notes and author's profiles to write, etc. But the creative writing part grinds to a halt for a moment, while we send the manuscript out to our two next betas in line. From there, it's the waiting game. Keeping ourselves preoccupied. Trying not to panic and correct, edit, change too much in the meantime.



I'm beginning to get a... feeling about our chosen cover artist. Since she brought up AI in her first response, something has seemed a little off... like she wasn't really that invested in the project. Which would be fine, if she said so - then we could find someone else, but she has kept asking more and more questions about what we want, so I'm just... not sure she's feeling it. I know it can also be to be completely sure she delivers, but... yeah, IDK.

We wrote her a week ago and gave some ideas for what we wanted, plus some reference covers we liked the vibe of and since then, she hasn't gotten back to us. A week might not seem that long, but it wasn't like we were asking her to make us a cover from that (we haven't bought her service yet), just a "yes, I can do that" or "that gives me some ideas to work with, order my stuff and I'll look into it" or something. We've gotten nothing, only seen her work through her catalogue of standing orders and no communication.

I can't figure out if I'm expecting too much. If that is too much to ask for. It's not that I wouldn't buy a package off of her immediately, if I was sure she could do the work I'm looking for. And I get the feeling, she isn't actually sure either. And that is what bothers me, I think?

So, now I've written her again, just to ask whether she is still interested and wants to do it - and if not, that would be fine, too. If she doesn't get back to us on that fairly quickly, then that must be our sign to find someone else. We have a guy as our second choice and I'll write him next week, if this doesn't work out.

But man, I hate having to try and figure out what's the etiquette in these things.



EDIT: She got back to us and fast. No problems there. Cover artist chosen, I guess!

Officially, a new week has begun. My girlfriend's summer vacation is over.

It feels like the end of an era.



We ended our vacation together by attending my girlfriend's niece's seventh birthday at a local Bones restaurant. It's the first time I was out at a larger-scale event (four kids, four grown-ups including me) and I had to walk a considerable distance to get there, but it all went well and it was actually nice, being out with other people, eating at a decent restaurant and just... managing day-to-day stuff in a new context. I'll never be great with kids, but today wasn't my worst attempt, so there's that. laughs



Back home around seven in the evening, I spent the evening editing our novella, arranging for a future write-in for the writing Discord I'm part of (late October, just in time for Writember) at our apartment and going to bed at a decent hour - although the restlessness of the day and the week that's waiting ahead ensured I didn't sleep until, like, an hour later. Then, I woke up an hour after that, needing to use the bathroom, and now I'm up because the apartment is boiling hot and I'm thirsty as always. Stupid meds.

So, I guess I'll sit up the next half hour at the least, trying to calm down enough to sleep, finishing my glass of sparkling water, and then I'll go snooze on the sofa until it's time to get up again, relatively early, so that K. can help me get my compression socks on.



I'm listening to a soothing piece of piano music by the female composer, late 19th century, French, Mel Bonis' Desdemona, just running it on repeat and it's so nice. I started out listening to some Lindsey Stirling, but when I'm in this kind of mood, her dubstep vibes are just too much out there for me. No, old classical stuff works better. If not this, then Chopin. Beethoven or Bach. However, it is always a rare treat when it's a female composer, same goes for one of my favourites, Cécile Chaminade. However, the stuff by her that I usually listen to is a bit too stormy, too.

This hits the nerve.



I'm at that stage in the process with our writing project where my brain tries to pick up new ideas and I'm determined not to give into it this time (although I usually jump around a lot when I feel like this). I really want to finish this as timely and orderly as possible and to do that, I need to stay 100% focused. I'm hoping we can have a publication out before New Year, if all goes well with our beta readers, or otherwise - very early next year.

That will be a year after my leg injury. Kinda wild to think about.



I had a talk with K. about the outdoor training I've been signed up for, and she is nervous it's too big a demand to make of me. We both know my foot needs it and it is probably necessary for insurance stuff and such, too, but I am still double-affected, both by my physical health and my mental one and hospital and this whole rehabilitation process has only been focused on the former. For a long time, I've dealt with that as I best could, trying to accommodate to help my foot heal, but I think it's beginning to take its toll on my mental health. I am very stress-sensitive. I have social anxiety. Outdoor training is a group activity - which I have to ride the bus for, which is anxiety-inducing for me even when I'm not physically handicapped.

It was a good talk. I felt very seen. But I also feel very trapped by this whole system in place around my rehabilitation. I feel very... forced to do as they expect of me, because otherwise I'm not doing everything in my power to get well again. But I am! Everything in my power just isn't what a normal, mentally well person could do in the same situation.

No one seems to think about that.

However, we decided to still give outdoor training a go. I'm trying to take the bus to the stop I'll need to get off at on Tuesday with my assisted living person, so I know the trip back and forth. And I'll continue to try walking more and more, with and without crutch. That's really all I can do. If it doesn't work out, we'll see what can be done from there.

K. says that worst case scenario, we'll buy private physiotherapy to make sure insurance can see we're doing everything we can.

But I still don't want it to come to that. I think it's unfair. I'm fighting here. I'm literally waging a war against both my head and my body, and no one seems to consider at least one of those adversaries as relevant to how I'm progressing.

So frustrating.



I'm also anxious right now. I should probably take something for that, but I only have one pill left and not going to the doctor to be able to make a refill until the 14th.

That might, however, be a problem for tomorrow me. Right now I might have no other choice.

Always seems to be the case, to be honest.

Tomorrow, which is later today, because I'm sitting up at half past three, K. and I are going to scout some new dining room table + chairs. We have a set in mind, but we need to see it first and maybe try sitting in the chairs, although they look to be the same type as the ones we've got in the kitchen, and they are great! I promised K. some time ago that when we were going to buy new dining room furniture, I'd pay and today is the day, most likely, if all goes well. So happy to be able to help with things in the apartment again. That has been my biggest grievance about my foot - and continues to be so. That there are things I still can't do at home.

I got some walking in yesterday, though. Very happy about that. Both with and without crutch-support.



Since we have finished the very, very first draft of our novella (still might have a few extra pieces to add, not sure yet), I've begun thinking about the additional stuff that needs doing. Title, blurb, beta-reading, that kinda thing. K. and I are both very particular about our titles, when we write, and our tastes are completely different. I like long, complicated, borderline pretentious titles whereas she likes to keep it very concise and clear. So, we gotta merge those two aesthetics. I've kept a list of possible titles while we wrote, just to collect things I thought might fit and tonight, as I was looking it over, I stumbled upon the one-word "Spejlvendt" which means either "reversed" in Danish or "something that is like a mirror image" and it's a word that Marie-Claude uses about the relationship between her and Jean Louis near the end of the story. I think it really captures the essence of the story, but now I have to talk to K. about it first and see if she agrees - or has better ideas. She often does. So far, though, Spejlvendt is my top contender.

I've also worked on some blurbs. I hate that there is no set style for writing blurbs, people do all sorts of very different things with their books' blurbs. Personally I like the quote + brief summary + presentation of book style that I've seen on many English-language books, but I'm not sure it's a fitting structure for our novella, due to the very fragmented nature of the story itself. I'll have to have my girlfriend look over the two suggestions I've got right now and see if there's anything she likes better or if she, again, has more ideas...

Last, but not least, I do think we're at a stage where I could ask for a beta in the writing Discord server I'm part of. It'll probably be another month of revisions and reading stuff over, to get a feel for the full work, but the basic structure and essence of our novella is definitely in place now. It's another thing I'll need to drive by the girlfried, to see if she also feels ready to get some feedback, but if she's up for it, I've written an introduction text to get someone interested, hopefully.



I'm so ready to try publishing this thing, though. So ready.

The past couple of days, writing-mode has been on hardcore. My girlfriend and I are approaching the climax of the novella (because we'll end up novella-length over novel-length which is fine, we didn't go for anything specific, just wrote until we reached the end of the story) and have outlined the full ending as well. A couple of letters more, then a lot of extra stuff, articles, transcripts from TV programs, the description of items being sent back and forth, etc. that needs to be slotted in here and there to tie it all together and we'll actually have one finished writing project. I'm amazed at our combined productivity. I knew we could do this, we've done it in roleplay for years and years, but this is still different from that.



I'm still pretty convinced we're going the BOD-route over Bookmundo for self-publishing service, though with the stuff we might be buying on the side (re: cover), I'm not sure we can't stick to a Publish deal over a Publish Plus one. Which means there's more money to post into a freelance book cover service and maybe additional stuff we could end up needing help with. I've never used Fiverr before, but my previous cover artist uses it and looking around, the market seems promising. I've saved a couple of artists in there and will look at it more closely when we get to that stage of the process, because it could be need with a well-made, unique cover for this book. Novella. Close to done, first draft!



I've finally gotten back on my feet after my visit to my parents last week. This week, I've made a couple of exciting plans - for example, tonight I'm doing an epistolary-theme event in my writing Discord server, where we are writing in the epistolary style from some exercises I've made. I'm looking forward to that a lot. I've made some good settings for letters by Marie-Claude and will have fun exploring her in a, for me, at least, more playful setting that the book setting she's currently part of.



Tomorrow should be a home-day, though I'll try walking all the way to the bus stop, unless it's going to rain buckets. Wednesday, I'm having a writing buddy over to watch The Lady of the Camellias ballet with me, though I've yet to decide which version yet. I have time tomorrow to think. Friday, another friend of mine is coming by with her dog and we're having tea and just gonna chat about how we're each doing. She turned in her thesis earlier this month and has been trying to find her feet afterwards, while waiting for her grade to come ticking back to her. I'm also looking forward to telling her about my girlfriend's and my writing project - she's a really good literary analyst and always has interesting perspectives to add to everything, so that should be rewarding.



I think my girlfriend has some plans throughout the week, too, but not sure when they are. She's cooking with her dad during the weekdays at some point, maybe other plans on the weekend. We really need to get out weekly wall planner in use properly, I have no clue when anything's happening, lol.



Tonight, she's making salmon and spinach pie for us and that'll be so delicious. It's also easy to eat at the computer, which will be necessary today due to the event running between 7pm and 9pm. She also completely restocked our fridge on her way home from town - she was out having lunch with a friend - and now we should be good for a couple of days, unless I binge everything in a fit or something. She's bought everything.

My girlfriend said that while I'm doing event, she'll sit down and start writing Jean Louis' next letter for Marie-Claude and I honest to God couldn't be more excited. We're getting to such a charged, emotional place in the story and I'm probably even more excited to see what will happen than any reader we might (or might not) have in the future.

Meanwhile, Angels and Demons is still waiting to be watched on Viaplay at some point when K. and I need a free night to just relax and do nothing that requires an actual brain. I remember it to be better than the Da Vinci Code, and I hope that holds up, because Da Vinci Code wasn't the most exciting movie of the year. A good night, barely, but little more than than.



Well, I should go stock up on liquid, bio-break time and get ready for my event.