Adrian D. Roberts's Blog, page 5
January 20, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
My writing speed has been a bit pants recently, hence the lack of posts. Friday was particularly bad, so bad I think I might have been banging on the door of depression. Fortunately an excellent weekend with my daughter and down to Essex to see the family perked me right up. Either that or I got a decent bout of fear of failure. Whatever works.
Since my last post on Wednesday, I managed 2,000 Thursday, none Friday, 2,500 yesterday, but today it was all different. A stonking 6,000 words written. I'm confident I could have added another 1,000 to that, but I had to stop to see my daughter. She had a bit of a tantrum by the way because her mother took her dummy away. Her mother asked which pyjamas she wanted to wear and when she refused to answer removed the dummy. Quite rightly I'd say, she needs to learn she can't have everything her way.
After getting back from there, making dinner, eating dinner and doing the washing up it was 9.30 and too late to continue. I mean it's 10.00 pm and I'm working by writing this post.
One of the things I find interesting about writing is the words. Often I'm in the middle of a sentence and I can't quite get my head around the next word. I have the sense of the word right there in my brain, I know it exists and what it feels like, but no actual letters to put it together. Sometimes it can be a bit of an investigation to find it. For instance I wanted to use ethereal, after a bit of thinking I looked up wraith in my thesaurus and there it was. Before seeing it, I couldn't even tell you what letter it started with. Another was benefit, not an unusual word, but it had somehow slipped out of my head. I can't remember where I found that one.
It has been a great day's writing, I know what I'm going to write tomorrow so I'm off to watch TV for a bit before bed.
Total for Revolution For Vengeance - 14,500 words.
Since my last post on Wednesday, I managed 2,000 Thursday, none Friday, 2,500 yesterday, but today it was all different. A stonking 6,000 words written. I'm confident I could have added another 1,000 to that, but I had to stop to see my daughter. She had a bit of a tantrum by the way because her mother took her dummy away. Her mother asked which pyjamas she wanted to wear and when she refused to answer removed the dummy. Quite rightly I'd say, she needs to learn she can't have everything her way.
After getting back from there, making dinner, eating dinner and doing the washing up it was 9.30 and too late to continue. I mean it's 10.00 pm and I'm working by writing this post.
One of the things I find interesting about writing is the words. Often I'm in the middle of a sentence and I can't quite get my head around the next word. I have the sense of the word right there in my brain, I know it exists and what it feels like, but no actual letters to put it together. Sometimes it can be a bit of an investigation to find it. For instance I wanted to use ethereal, after a bit of thinking I looked up wraith in my thesaurus and there it was. Before seeing it, I couldn't even tell you what letter it started with. Another was benefit, not an unusual word, but it had somehow slipped out of my head. I can't remember where I found that one.
It has been a great day's writing, I know what I'm going to write tomorrow so I'm off to watch TV for a bit before bed.
Total for Revolution For Vengeance - 14,500 words.
January 13, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
Getting back into writing is not easy. It takes time to get into the right frame of mind, even with the practice stuff I've been doing over the last couple of weeks.
I started Revolution For Vengeance properly yesterday and managed a measly thousand words. Today was better with three thousand words and chapter one completed. Of course I did spend about an hour yesterday working out painted symbols for the Crew's armour. Today a similar amount of time was spent researching Blue Hyper-giants.
A friend of mine post the below video on facebook and it really captured my imagination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh...
It is mind blowing when you see how small our Sun is in comparison to a lot of stellar bodies out there. After watching it, I had to include one of them in the book. Nothing too much, just a random star they visit for a rendezvous. I will admit astro-physics has been sacrificed in the name of story-telling. Blue hyper-giants aren't that close to Earth and there is no way one would exist a mere three light years from an inhabited system.
Of course that is part of the fun of being a writer and hopefully it'll get someone who reads it, to look them up.
Total for Revolution for Vengeance - 4,000 words.
I started Revolution For Vengeance properly yesterday and managed a measly thousand words. Today was better with three thousand words and chapter one completed. Of course I did spend about an hour yesterday working out painted symbols for the Crew's armour. Today a similar amount of time was spent researching Blue Hyper-giants.
A friend of mine post the below video on facebook and it really captured my imagination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh...
It is mind blowing when you see how small our Sun is in comparison to a lot of stellar bodies out there. After watching it, I had to include one of them in the book. Nothing too much, just a random star they visit for a rendezvous. I will admit astro-physics has been sacrificed in the name of story-telling. Blue hyper-giants aren't that close to Earth and there is no way one would exist a mere three light years from an inhabited system.
Of course that is part of the fun of being a writer and hopefully it'll get someone who reads it, to look them up.
Total for Revolution for Vengeance - 4,000 words.
January 12, 2015
Notes on a cover for a self-published novel.
This isn't going to be nearly as long as my formatting note.
First of all, find yourself a good artist, like Matt Hubel (matt@matthubel.com). I would suggest starting at www.deviatart.com, no there is nothing deviant about it. A lot of artists publish their work there, many are just starting out, probably college age and take commissions. Make sure you specify the size you want so it fits the front of a book nicely and ask for space for title, name, etc.
With the art work in hand download a free to use image editing program. I use Phoxo and it is easy to use and does everything I need. Give yourself a day to do this the first time. I can now sort a cover in a couple of hours, but it does take a bit of messing around to get the hang of.
For Createspace, download the cover template correct to your final page count from their site. Open it in Phoxo or whatever program you decide to use and build it from there. One little trick I learnt was to build a new layer with the lines of the spine and margins included. I work in black as my main colour on my book cover and I couldn't see the template. With a layer with white lines that I delete at the end, it made it much easier.
Finally make sure you save the file in it's workable format, not just the JPG or TIFF formats. I did that the first time so when I needed to make an amendment, I had to start from the beginning. Very annoying.
That's it really. Nothing else to it
First of all, find yourself a good artist, like Matt Hubel (matt@matthubel.com). I would suggest starting at www.deviatart.com, no there is nothing deviant about it. A lot of artists publish their work there, many are just starting out, probably college age and take commissions. Make sure you specify the size you want so it fits the front of a book nicely and ask for space for title, name, etc.
With the art work in hand download a free to use image editing program. I use Phoxo and it is easy to use and does everything I need. Give yourself a day to do this the first time. I can now sort a cover in a couple of hours, but it does take a bit of messing around to get the hang of.
For Createspace, download the cover template correct to your final page count from their site. Open it in Phoxo or whatever program you decide to use and build it from there. One little trick I learnt was to build a new layer with the lines of the spine and margins included. I work in black as my main colour on my book cover and I couldn't see the template. With a layer with white lines that I delete at the end, it made it much easier.
Finally make sure you save the file in it's workable format, not just the JPG or TIFF formats. I did that the first time so when I needed to make an amendment, I had to start from the beginning. Very annoying.
That's it really. Nothing else to it
January 8, 2015
Notes on formatting for self-publishing a novel.
Well it's done. Crusade For Vengeance has been uploaded to all of the relevant sites and it is starting to become available for sale.
This is now the third time I've gone through this process, so I thought it would be a good idea to type up my thoughts.
I publish using Word 2010 and six different sales channels:
Amazon
Smashwords
Kobo
Nook
Createspace
Huffier
To start, make sure you download and read Amazon's Building Your Book for Kindle and Smashword's Style Guide. They are both free. Read them thoroughly and they will save you a lot of heartache.
Once you've done that it's time to actually get on with it. Start with Smashwords Nuclear method, it gives you an excellent base you can build all the other formats from. Work your way through that and save the file. I have a folder purely for each book's publication documents, you'll need a file for each of the channels.
Take the Smashwords file, resave it for Amazon. Remove the Table of Contents Smashwords told you how to set up and replace it with Amazon's version. Save the file.
Kobo is easy, you can just use the Smashwords version (removing the published by Smashwords at the front of course).
Nook finds it's own chapters so you need to change the file slightly. Using either the Smashwords or Amazon, change the Page breaks between chapters to Section breaks. This is on Word 2010 under Page Layout - Breaks - Next Page. Make sure you get them all.
Createspace is a bit trickier. Download the template of the size you want from their site. It's a little tricky to find, but it is there. You could cut and past your entire manuscript into the template, but that made my spine crawl. I went through the template and jotted down all the important information from Page Setup. You need everything from Margins, Paper and Layout.
Unlike the others you need to worry about font, size, indent and line spacing. Have a look through your favourite novels and pick what works for you. My biggest advice is to have line spacing set at Exactly a given value. I use 12 pt. It spreads the lines about on the page a little more without looking like your trying make the book bigger. This is where the Smashwords Style Guide really comes in to it's own, it has already covered how to do all of this, if like me your a complete novice to Word's more advanced features.
When you have all of that, take the Nook version and input all the changes. I use the Nook version as you want to use Section Breaks with Createspace. This way you don't have page numbers and author/book name in the header on the first page of a chapter. It looks neater and is how most publishers do it, though it is down to personal preference really.
When finished, upload the file and use their digital viewer. Have a good look through for anything that is not how you want it. One particular thing to be on the look out for is a little square box at the end of chapters. I have no idea how Word does this, you can't see it in Word itself. To remove, use the Track Changes function to find it (again Smashwords tells you about Track changes), highlight and copy to the Search function, whatever it is will still be invisible. Go through and delete. I had 43 in Crusade. Reload the file and it should pass through their checks without a problem.
For Huffier they need epub, mobi and pdf files. I convert my Amazon file using a free program called Calibre. A great little tool and easy to use.
That's it. I managed Crusade in about five hours. If it's your first attempt, give yourself three days to work through it. You'll be rejected several times, but don't let it dishearten you, learn and move on. Mostly, take your time. If like me you've spent 250-300 hours writing and the same editing, it's worth taking the time to get the formatting right. It's how people will actually see your work after all.
I'll do a separate note about covers tomorrow.
This is now the third time I've gone through this process, so I thought it would be a good idea to type up my thoughts.
I publish using Word 2010 and six different sales channels:
Amazon
Smashwords
Kobo
Nook
Createspace
Huffier
To start, make sure you download and read Amazon's Building Your Book for Kindle and Smashword's Style Guide. They are both free. Read them thoroughly and they will save you a lot of heartache.
Once you've done that it's time to actually get on with it. Start with Smashwords Nuclear method, it gives you an excellent base you can build all the other formats from. Work your way through that and save the file. I have a folder purely for each book's publication documents, you'll need a file for each of the channels.
Take the Smashwords file, resave it for Amazon. Remove the Table of Contents Smashwords told you how to set up and replace it with Amazon's version. Save the file.
Kobo is easy, you can just use the Smashwords version (removing the published by Smashwords at the front of course).
Nook finds it's own chapters so you need to change the file slightly. Using either the Smashwords or Amazon, change the Page breaks between chapters to Section breaks. This is on Word 2010 under Page Layout - Breaks - Next Page. Make sure you get them all.
Createspace is a bit trickier. Download the template of the size you want from their site. It's a little tricky to find, but it is there. You could cut and past your entire manuscript into the template, but that made my spine crawl. I went through the template and jotted down all the important information from Page Setup. You need everything from Margins, Paper and Layout.
Unlike the others you need to worry about font, size, indent and line spacing. Have a look through your favourite novels and pick what works for you. My biggest advice is to have line spacing set at Exactly a given value. I use 12 pt. It spreads the lines about on the page a little more without looking like your trying make the book bigger. This is where the Smashwords Style Guide really comes in to it's own, it has already covered how to do all of this, if like me your a complete novice to Word's more advanced features.
When you have all of that, take the Nook version and input all the changes. I use the Nook version as you want to use Section Breaks with Createspace. This way you don't have page numbers and author/book name in the header on the first page of a chapter. It looks neater and is how most publishers do it, though it is down to personal preference really.
When finished, upload the file and use their digital viewer. Have a good look through for anything that is not how you want it. One particular thing to be on the look out for is a little square box at the end of chapters. I have no idea how Word does this, you can't see it in Word itself. To remove, use the Track Changes function to find it (again Smashwords tells you about Track changes), highlight and copy to the Search function, whatever it is will still be invisible. Go through and delete. I had 43 in Crusade. Reload the file and it should pass through their checks without a problem.
For Huffier they need epub, mobi and pdf files. I convert my Amazon file using a free program called Calibre. A great little tool and easy to use.
That's it. I managed Crusade in about five hours. If it's your first attempt, give yourself three days to work through it. You'll be rejected several times, but don't let it dishearten you, learn and move on. Mostly, take your time. If like me you've spent 250-300 hours writing and the same editing, it's worth taking the time to get the formatting right. It's how people will actually see your work after all.
I'll do a separate note about covers tomorrow.
January 6, 2015
Crusade For Vengeance
I got back the last edit from my friend on Saturday. I spent all Sunday and today adding the amendments. It was a bit scary in a way. I'd done two more, what I thought were comprehensive edits since I gave it to him and he still found places I'd missed commas. I think about a third of his stuff I'd missed. I thought it was going to be much better than that. Oh well, it shows how much difference completely fresh eyes makes.
He also made a couple of word change suggestions, which were frankly brilliant. They definitely got included.
I recorded a few kids films over christmas. Partly for my daughter, but mainly for myself. I had her all day yesterday and she wasn't interested in the films. She just wanted me to play with her and her toys.
So, I recorded Puss in Boots, Madagascar 3, Pirates, an adventure with Scientists, Muppets a Christmas Carol and Toy Story 3. I haven't seen the last two yet, or with Muppets, recently is more accurate. The first three were all very good, Pirates in particular was laugh out-loud funny with very clever humour for all ages. I'll be getting them all at some point for my daughter.
For Crusade for Vengeance, those last amendments are complete and I've done the final spellcheck. Tomorrow morning I start on the formatting. If it goes as well as when I re-released Reason, then it should all be uploaded tomorrow and available for sale Friday. Fingers crossed.
He also made a couple of word change suggestions, which were frankly brilliant. They definitely got included.
I recorded a few kids films over christmas. Partly for my daughter, but mainly for myself. I had her all day yesterday and she wasn't interested in the films. She just wanted me to play with her and her toys.
So, I recorded Puss in Boots, Madagascar 3, Pirates, an adventure with Scientists, Muppets a Christmas Carol and Toy Story 3. I haven't seen the last two yet, or with Muppets, recently is more accurate. The first three were all very good, Pirates in particular was laugh out-loud funny with very clever humour for all ages. I'll be getting them all at some point for my daughter.
For Crusade for Vengeance, those last amendments are complete and I've done the final spellcheck. Tomorrow morning I start on the formatting. If it goes as well as when I re-released Reason, then it should all be uploaded tomorrow and available for sale Friday. Fingers crossed.
December 31, 2014
Red Tails
I watched Redtails on DVD last night. It's a WWII movie about the African American 332nd fighter group. I've been looking forward to this for a while, a WWII fighter movie produced by George Lucas. I was expecting a powerful human interest story coupled with some gung-ho fighter action.
This isn't what I got. I expect these Black fighter pilots struggled really hard and were treated badly by their white counterparts. This isn't how the film portrayed it at all. It was all very light hearted, the closest it came to drama was one of the squadron walking into an Officer's club. All the white officers turn around and look scandalised he's there. One says "This is for Officer's only," the pilot replies, "I am an Officer." The white officer clarifies, "A white's only Officer's club."
The pilot walks away before turning and running back in to hit one of the white officer's. He wasn't punished for this.
The same pilot dates a white Italian girl. They have an idealic relationship without any conflict. This is Italy in 1944. Musolini's Fascists have only just been removed from power. Now I'm sure any survivors would be keeping their heads down, but still, I'd expect some anger to surface over a young woman dating a black American fighter pilot.
The fighter group are tasked with guarding bombers on attacks against Germany. The bombers have been struggling from their fighter escorts being drawn away by decoys before the German fighters attack. At first the bombers are worried about being defended by black fighter pilots. When the German decoys sweep in, the Redtails stay with the bombers. I expected the bomber pilots to think the Redtails were cowards, but they were just glad they did their jobs. The Germans main force attacks and the Redtails save the bombers. It's at this point the Redtails should have been accepted not earlier. The writers/director just left the drama (truth) at home.
It was the same in battles. At the end of the film, they tell us 66 pilots lost their lives in the 332nd fighter group. During the entire film we see two pilots die. I just did not feel these men were walking round with a life expectancy of only months.
All in all, Red Tails was an OK film. A war film worthy of a lazy Sunday afternoon, not one that showed what the men who signed up to the Tuskagee program actually had to go through.
This isn't what I got. I expect these Black fighter pilots struggled really hard and were treated badly by their white counterparts. This isn't how the film portrayed it at all. It was all very light hearted, the closest it came to drama was one of the squadron walking into an Officer's club. All the white officers turn around and look scandalised he's there. One says "This is for Officer's only," the pilot replies, "I am an Officer." The white officer clarifies, "A white's only Officer's club."
The pilot walks away before turning and running back in to hit one of the white officer's. He wasn't punished for this.
The same pilot dates a white Italian girl. They have an idealic relationship without any conflict. This is Italy in 1944. Musolini's Fascists have only just been removed from power. Now I'm sure any survivors would be keeping their heads down, but still, I'd expect some anger to surface over a young woman dating a black American fighter pilot.
The fighter group are tasked with guarding bombers on attacks against Germany. The bombers have been struggling from their fighter escorts being drawn away by decoys before the German fighters attack. At first the bombers are worried about being defended by black fighter pilots. When the German decoys sweep in, the Redtails stay with the bombers. I expected the bomber pilots to think the Redtails were cowards, but they were just glad they did their jobs. The Germans main force attacks and the Redtails save the bombers. It's at this point the Redtails should have been accepted not earlier. The writers/director just left the drama (truth) at home.
It was the same in battles. At the end of the film, they tell us 66 pilots lost their lives in the 332nd fighter group. During the entire film we see two pilots die. I just did not feel these men were walking round with a life expectancy of only months.
All in all, Red Tails was an OK film. A war film worthy of a lazy Sunday afternoon, not one that showed what the men who signed up to the Tuskagee program actually had to go through.
December 17, 2014
Crusade For Vengeance
Today I put my graphic designer hat on and created the cover for the print on demand copy of Crusade. It was much easier this time than Reason. I've learned a lot since then. After that I checked the description I wrote last night and I was happy with it. Crusade is just about ready. All that is left is an edit a friend of mine is doing. Hopefully I should be getting that in the next couple of days.
I really put my neck out this afternoon. I have just finished submitting Reason to a few Literary Agents. I'm very interested to see what they come back with. You never know, today could be the start of it all changing. I'm not going to get my hopes up though.
The real question is, what am I going to do now? Reason is all up and running and Crusade is as far forward as currently possible. I'm half tempted to start on book three, but I think I need a bit of a creativity break first. Tomorrow I'm going to catch up on the podcast Writing Excuses and actually read something for a change. I haven't sat down and read a book for months. It'll be good for me to see someone else's writing and pick up sentence structures and other useful titbits.
I think I'm also going to write a couple of short stories that have been kicking round my head. It'll be good to get back into the writing mode with something fun that'll never publish.
I really put my neck out this afternoon. I have just finished submitting Reason to a few Literary Agents. I'm very interested to see what they come back with. You never know, today could be the start of it all changing. I'm not going to get my hopes up though.
The real question is, what am I going to do now? Reason is all up and running and Crusade is as far forward as currently possible. I'm half tempted to start on book three, but I think I need a bit of a creativity break first. Tomorrow I'm going to catch up on the podcast Writing Excuses and actually read something for a change. I haven't sat down and read a book for months. It'll be good for me to see someone else's writing and pick up sentence structures and other useful titbits.
I think I'm also going to write a couple of short stories that have been kicking round my head. It'll be good to get back into the writing mode with something fun that'll never publish.
December 16, 2014
Crusade For Vengeance
Well, that's a bit of a surprise. The amendments are all done. I'd budgeted two full days for that and I thought they were going to be long days as well. In the end, it took me less than a day to enter 330 pages worth of amendments. To be fair, my previous edit was very comprehensive so I didn't find a lot to do.
I'm sure some of it was re-wording bit back to my first draft. That is certainly a sign it's time to stop.
I've just been working on the description and I've put together a first draft. I'll have another look at it in the morning and see how it is then.
That's me done for the day I think. I resisted playing Settlers so I think I've earned it now for an hour or so. I might go to an extra session of Karate later, I'm not sure. I missed a couple due to this annoying cough/cold over the last few weeks. It'll be alright if I go to two this week.
I'm sure some of it was re-wording bit back to my first draft. That is certainly a sign it's time to stop.
I've just been working on the description and I've put together a first draft. I'll have another look at it in the morning and see how it is then.
That's me done for the day I think. I resisted playing Settlers so I think I've earned it now for an hour or so. I might go to an extra session of Karate later, I'm not sure. I missed a couple due to this annoying cough/cold over the last few weeks. It'll be alright if I go to two this week.
December 15, 2014
Crusade For Vengeance
I finished the final edit of Crusade earlier today. It occurred to me that it will be the last editing I have to do until I finish the next book. That is a real relief, editing isn't fun. Writing is much more enjoyable. I still have a fair bit to do before I get to start on book three though. I estimate I won't start actually writing until after Christmas.
Defiance season two finished recently and I just watched the last two episodes back to back. It was a very good ending and hopefully they are filming the third season. I love the characters, the storylines and their not afraid to knock off a character here and there.
I've gotten into Elementary recently. Sky has the first two seasons for download and with the package I have it doesn't cost me any extra. I've really enjoyed it. Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu are both very good. For me though, the stand out has to be Natalie Dormer. Her role is a real stand out and I hope she comes back in later seasons.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a bit derivative. At the same time you had Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr playing the same role. Those aren't two actors you'd want to go up against, so I passed Elementary by. To be fair I think Cumberbatch does it better and Downey is more Hollywood obviously, but Elementary does fill my quirky detective role.
Speaking of Quirky detective, when is season 7 of Castle going to be on UK TV??
I noticed something recently and I think Castle may have been the recent catalyst. There are quite a few detective/cop shows with the straight laced female cop type paired with a quirky male partner. You've got Castle, Elementary, Forever, Sleepy Hollows, Stalker and The Black List all using the same format. It's all down to Mulder and Scully, though I'm sure it was done even before them. Hmm, you could even throw Doctor Who in there and that pre-dates them all.
I was thinking about Avengers Assemble this morning while I brushed my teeth. I've watched it at least six times now, the last time only a couple of weeks ago. While I was thinking about it, it occurred to me that I would quite happily watch again this morning. That is a truely great example of entertainment, story telling and writing. Damn Joss Whedon is good.
Off to watch Gotham now. Another excellent show.
Defiance season two finished recently and I just watched the last two episodes back to back. It was a very good ending and hopefully they are filming the third season. I love the characters, the storylines and their not afraid to knock off a character here and there.
I've gotten into Elementary recently. Sky has the first two seasons for download and with the package I have it doesn't cost me any extra. I've really enjoyed it. Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu are both very good. For me though, the stand out has to be Natalie Dormer. Her role is a real stand out and I hope she comes back in later seasons.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a bit derivative. At the same time you had Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr playing the same role. Those aren't two actors you'd want to go up against, so I passed Elementary by. To be fair I think Cumberbatch does it better and Downey is more Hollywood obviously, but Elementary does fill my quirky detective role.
Speaking of Quirky detective, when is season 7 of Castle going to be on UK TV??
I noticed something recently and I think Castle may have been the recent catalyst. There are quite a few detective/cop shows with the straight laced female cop type paired with a quirky male partner. You've got Castle, Elementary, Forever, Sleepy Hollows, Stalker and The Black List all using the same format. It's all down to Mulder and Scully, though I'm sure it was done even before them. Hmm, you could even throw Doctor Who in there and that pre-dates them all.
I was thinking about Avengers Assemble this morning while I brushed my teeth. I've watched it at least six times now, the last time only a couple of weeks ago. While I was thinking about it, it occurred to me that I would quite happily watch again this morning. That is a truely great example of entertainment, story telling and writing. Damn Joss Whedon is good.
Off to watch Gotham now. Another excellent show.
December 12, 2014
Crusade For Vengeance
I started on the final Crusade for Vengeance edit yesterday. It went very well, 70 pages during the day and a further 30 pages while my little girl was asleep. I lost the first couple of hours as I needed to re-submit the files of Reason For Vengeance to Create Space. Somehow this little square turned up in my manuscript at the end of six chapters. It didn't show up on Word, only once it had been converted. It was very strange and could only be seen when you use the track changes function. When I had the first one I was able to paste it into search to delete the others.
My daughter had a bit of a rough night, last night and woke a couple of times coughing. She's not ill really, it's one of those cold/cough things that doesn't go away. The poor girl coughed so much she was sick at one point. She was a real trooper though, after an initial and very understandable want to see her mummy, she settled down and let me clean her up. Within half an hour we had her changed and her bedding replaced. When her Mum got home she didn't even wake up and that's unusual.
The trickiest thing was her hair. If you've seen my photo, you know I don't have much of it. I haven't washed my own hair in almost ten years,. Shower gel and a sponge is all I need these days. I honestly had no idea where to start with hers. I got most of the sick out of course, but it was pretty tangled. I didn't feel confident in washing her hair for the first time, in the middle of the night, with an upset two year old. Maybe once she had calmed down and was happy I should have tried. I'll give it a go next time.
Today I'm up to 70 pages so far and I hope to get at least another 30 done before I'm off to look after my daughter again. I'm well on target to get it finished by end of play Monday.
My daughter had a bit of a rough night, last night and woke a couple of times coughing. She's not ill really, it's one of those cold/cough things that doesn't go away. The poor girl coughed so much she was sick at one point. She was a real trooper though, after an initial and very understandable want to see her mummy, she settled down and let me clean her up. Within half an hour we had her changed and her bedding replaced. When her Mum got home she didn't even wake up and that's unusual.
The trickiest thing was her hair. If you've seen my photo, you know I don't have much of it. I haven't washed my own hair in almost ten years,. Shower gel and a sponge is all I need these days. I honestly had no idea where to start with hers. I got most of the sick out of course, but it was pretty tangled. I didn't feel confident in washing her hair for the first time, in the middle of the night, with an upset two year old. Maybe once she had calmed down and was happy I should have tried. I'll give it a go next time.
Today I'm up to 70 pages so far and I hope to get at least another 30 done before I'm off to look after my daughter again. I'm well on target to get it finished by end of play Monday.
