Or All At Sea…

Spent most of my summer regrouping and working on my editing process alongside Holly Lisle’s course How To Revise Your Novel which I had started back on Dec 16th 2015 with Hacked Off.

I also needed to work with some of the software I use as there were things about it that didn’t work as I wanted and things I needed to learn.

But I had decided that come ‘clock’s change in the UK’ I would get back to editing that MS with a view to having a second draft of it by the end of the year – and then 5 weeks ago my little dog Brin had a stroke and everything changed as TBH I knew he and I were heading into an abys only one of us would return from – and I wanted to spent all the time he had left with him.

Brin recovered for a while – and then  a week ago last Fri had another stroke – and though he recovered enough to supervise the studio roof replacement on the Sat – by the Sunday morning it was clear to us that it was time to say Good Bye.

As any one who has animals knows this is a dreadful decision to have to make – that NEVER gets easier with practise – however much you celebrate a life that has shared yours happily and healthily for nearly 15 years it makes just no sense at all in the face of the irrevocable.

Brin lived a happy, warm, well fed life and slipped away quietly and peacefully  with all his people around him – just as he had been born – and we buried him in the orchard – that he supervised planting  – and next to his long gone friends Harvey and  Mandy.

This last week has been spent once more regrouping and making sure that Tash  – my mastiff – herself now 9 or 10 – is taken extra care of now she is an only dog, and my plans to resume the editing – and my blogging – and even riding the horses- just stopped in the face of the things I realised were more important.

But to day we moved on – Tash out and about supervising me fencing a field and then sleeping while I was joining in with a live writing room session organised by Holly Lisle re NaNoWri Mo – where I at last re started my edit and wrote a new scene ‘live’ and in company of her and some of her students around the world – which was fun.

I hope to resume my blogging now as I was 🙂