The Week of Up and Down

Highlights

I’ve got a freelance job, hopefully starting next week, which will mean glory be and halleluiah for the bank account. I am fully prepared to put my head down and work like an enthusiastic Trojan. Money! I am so excited I could almost buy fancy things right now* except I shall wait and see if the job actually materialises or disappears back into a thin mist.

Freelance job is also in another city, which means I get put up in a hotel and have an expense account. I am actually very good with expense accounts, and seeing it has been so long since I was frivolous I will probably question every time I have a glass of water. I doubt I will see much of the city, but to be out of my little room into the wide world will be a nice change. And no evening distractions means I can sit and write/edit the novel to my heart’s content in a hotel room feeling like a proper writer.**

Freelance job also takes me until April, and then me and J are off on a road trip to Italy to attend a wedding. We planned it last year and I have been fretting over the money side, but now it might just work out ok. Woohoo! As you can no doubt tell, I am rather pleased about that.***

I have arranged a meeting with the editor of a magazine for my local borough, and we are going for a coffee next week (hopefully before I am in another city!). She sounds nice in her emails, and I am hopeful to pitch an idea to her that I think will work really well. Cross fingers for me!****

I took both my cats to the vet for a check up (the ginger boy behaved very stoically; the tabby girl felt the need to complain every ten seconds) and the vet gave them a clean bill of health.*****

Lowlights

I went out for a meal last Tuesday and was struck ill with food poisoning. Oh it was as rough as houses. Put it this way, since Tuesday night I have only been able to eat 2 small bowls of cereal, 1 slice of toast, half a banana, 1 small bowl of plain pasta, and 1 small bowl of plain chips (today). I am feeling better; tons better, but still have no appetite. Great for a quick diet though, if the looking haggard and having no energy thing also suits.******

Footnotes

* Fancy things for me at the moment are as follows: Tights. New cat litter tray. A jumper (this is probably the top of the ‘oh my God, I have no clothes left that do not have a hole in the elbow, why moths why?’ list). Smart clothes to complete Lois Lane transformation from Velma, the speccy short one in Scooby Doo that always wears the same polo neck.

**I have no idea why a proper writer should work in a hotel room. I fear it is another fancy delusion of mine. I suffer from a great many fancy delusions where authors are concerned. My favourite one at the moment is that all authors live in a rambling 17th century house with an iron bell pull and a front garden shadowed by trees. Although at the moment 'all authors live in a house' works for me, forget the trimmings.

***Bloody ecstatic, I think you’ll find. I can’t wait to spend some time with my J.

****This was a follow on from this post earlier. Patience is a virtue!

*****She also said that my ginger cat was very handsome and my tabby girl had beautiful soft fur. Yes I am a proud parent of two furry beggars, and was all happy and soppy for ages after that.

*****At the moment I am at the stage where I want to eat something but afraid it will make me feel horrible again. Like I have just spent the last hour wondering whether I should have a hot chocolate (tea, coffee etc are still a big no-no) or whether it will be a bad idea. Sigh. Still, on the mend!