Over the Christmas vacation, my husband revamped the useless bulkhead into a useful area that I designed.
He removed the leaky bulkhead door that had let in water and mice, and built a cupola with windows. (The bulkhead stairs had long been removed and the bulkhead cleaned out.) Water and mouse problem solved!
This will let lots of light into the room, and will also become a small serving area with a mini refrigerator, counter, and, possibly, a one-cup coffeemaker and microwave.
To make this goal more accessible and to make myself more accountable, I have set a goal of writing 210 words every weekday on the first draft. If I do that, I will have a complete first draft by the end of the year!
Now that’s very doable! 210 words is little more than an email. And it doesn’t need to be perfect prose, either. Since I’m far better at editing than at the original writing, it’s okay if it’s clunky in the first draft.
So far, so good. I have written at least 210 each weekday; some days more! And even some words written on weekends.
It helps that I wrote a plot outline, major plot lines, and some character backstories last year, so I just consult those as I go along.
Right now, I am about midway through chapter 4 out of 20 planned chapters!
I have 140 titles designed and on sale. Sales are not too good this month, although they had been growing month by month.
After struggling through about half a dozen tries at writing this, I went back and developed a ten-page outline. I have started writing the narrative and am halfway through the first chapter. The prose stinks right now, but I’ll edit later.
Finally done, and well worth it!
I emptied everything out, did a quick sort and got rid of the junk.
Cleaned the shelves and floor, then painted the walls and shelves with paint I had on hand from another job – so no cost!
When everything was dry, I did a deeper sorting. Got rid of more junk, recycled some plastic containers, gave empty canning jars away, and consolidated materials.
Putting things away, I organized stuff by how I use it – breakfast food is all together, baking stuff, spices, etc. Now it will be easier to see and use things, rather than buy something I already have and waste money!
Sorry, G.O.P. – no donation for you!
The rehearsal dinner turned out very well!
The caterer met with me for the walkthrough on Wednesday morning, and was thorough and helpful. He and his assistant worked with me and the building manager and office manager of the Parish House to arrange the layout of the tables and the scedule for the evening.
On Thursday, I went out to Joann, Target, and the dollar store to get decorations for the tables. Originally I was just looking for pillar candlews at Target, but they were wicked expensive, so I got 42 battery operated tealights – and, yes, they ALL worked. I bought a ton of silk hydrangeas at Joann, and 42 black metal votive holders at the dollar store. The votive holders were all footed, and most of them had filigree cutouts. Since I really wanted silver to go with the wedding color themes of purple, silver, and white, I hit them with chrome spray paint as soon as I got them home. THe wole effect was very nice!
On the afternoon of the event, the building supervisor set up all the tables and chairs for the dinner and slideshow, and the caterers were busy well before my husband and I arrived to decorate the tables. These people REALLY went above and beyond in making the evening a sucess.
The food was superb, the slideshow went without a hitch, and people seemed to have a lovely time relaxing, chatting, and eating.
It was part of a fabulous wedding weekend!
The rehearsal dinner is now six days away. I’m not panicking, but there have been some snags.
I designed, printed and mailed the invitations, and, while a few people responded promptly, I had to hunt down quite a few for an answer. (This was also the case with a shocking number of wedding invitees!) The flat out rudeness of not responding to an invitation is beyond me. I actually had to chase down people my email or phone to get an answer. And the lame excuses that people had for not responding will pretty much make sure that they won’t get invited by me anywhere again.
One snag is the table decor. I decided to go with mini lanterns lined up on the tables, and lit with battery-operated tea lights. (Can’t have regular tea lights for safety reasons.) I ordered both these items from American Bridal several weeks ago, and only got part of my order yesterday. I received the battery-operated tea lights. My husband and I put them together, and discovered that ony 15 out of the 50 lights received actually work. The lanterns have not shown up. UPS tracking shows gthem still in California.
American Bridal will hear from me first thing Monday morning, but I’m working on a back-up plan for decor.
I need to have a location walkthrough with the caterer this week, who is now dragging his feet about setting an appointment to do this. This is not a good sign.
As of today, I’ve designed 64 books. At the moment, I’m working on Trollope’s “Can You Forgive Her?” – the first volume of his Palliser series.
Books I’ve already designed can be seen on my website:
I’ve had a very productive month, with 13 new titles added to my list. Even nicer – titles are sedlling well, and the enterprise is nicely profitable.
The databse is ready. I made sure its structure corresponded with that of the existing database online.
No joy on importing it, though. MS Excel may not be creating the correct sort of CSV file.
Will try again.
How many times have I started writing a book? I’ve lost count. But I’m working on an outline, and, realizing that it’s difficult, gave myself a pep talk. If it were easy, anyone could do it! I soldier on.
I sent off the signed contract and deposit to the caterer, so that’s wired.
I’ve also decided on the decoration: purple tablecloths, lilac napkins, white china, and small silver lanterns with (battery-operated) tealights. Those are the wedding colors, so I wanted to follow that theme. The caterer takes care of all the linens and china, so I just have to get the lanterns and tealights. Happily, those are available online. I’ll just need to order them to get here on time. Right after the holidays should work.
I sorted out the data that I want to import. The poser was breaking up a single “Name” column into three columns: first name, middle name, anmd last name. I thought I have to do 2000+ names by hand, but it turns out there’s an app for that!
Next: checking one more time to make sure the table is correctgly structured before I try to import it!
I now have a contract with the caterer, so that’s two major elements done: the venue and the food.
Next: scanning pictures for the slide show!
I’ve added more books to my list, and now have 43 books that I’ve designed and am selling.
Some of them are available on the website: www.pentletonhouse.com
I decided on the caterer. I had considered three, and they all do good food and have excellent reputations. The one I chose was definitely more responsive and on top of things than the other two.
So, next he will send a contract and we will have THAT bit of the wedding weekend pinned down!
I submitted a proposed menu to three caterers. One got back to me right away with a question, and then submitted a very nice price. Another got back to me with an acknowledgment that my proposal had been received and they were working on a quote. The third caterer submitted a quote, but made a mistake on the menu, then re-submitted with a new mistake. (Hmmm… wonder if that should warn me away?!)
