Wednesday proved a highly productive writing day with over 3000 words added to the manuscript. It's been wonderful having Ian here with me and he has been reading furiously to give me feedback on how things are progressing. His mother had a quiet day- reading my latest Alice-Miranda book which launches 1 September. She has reported that so far, she is very much enjoying it - and the thing about Joan is that I can rely on her to give an honest assessment.
We had a quiet night in so I could continue working well into the evening.
Thursday morning saw a lot more writing - over 2000 words. Wonderful Mary Wilson came to take Joan up to her place for morning tea - and brought some delicious home made treats for Ian and me too. The ladies were gone for a couple of hours and it sounds like they enjoyed meeting very much. I do hope that I get to see Mary again next week as she truly is one of the kindest people I've ever met.
Thursday afternoon I had a coffee date with Pat Pledger from Pledger Consulting and Fran Knight; both former teachers and teacher librarians who have transformed their careers using their incredible knowledge base to promote literature and literacy on the Read Plus website. We met in a little café in Hutt Street in the city. It was such a pleasure sharing a coffee and some more delicious cake (the past couple of days, my well intentioned diet has gone completely out the window). Both ladies are about to take off to do some travelling. Fran and her husband to New Zealand and Pat and her husband to the United Kingdom. I was envious to hear that she was going to the Edinburgh Festival - I hope one day to get there too. I'm looking forward to writing something for their website about my residency and reading Fran's review of Clementine Rose and the Farm Fiasco.
We parted company just before 4pm and I walked to the Art Gallery where Ian and Joan had spent a couple of hours. Ian was determined to finish my manuscript and Joan enjoyed perusing the art - she was a little surprised at the compactness of the collection but enjoyed the afternoon nonetheless.
We returned to the apartment for me to get some more done on the book then headed to Chinatown for dinner. My sister was flying in Thursday evening for the weekend and we picked her up at the airport afterwards. She and Joan are flatting together for the next few nights.
The book is coming together. I'm just shy of 48,000 words and can see it being finished within another 8,000. It won't take too long but tomorrow I'm taking the day off so we can explore the Barossa Valley and see another part of Australia that I've never visited before.
No comments:
Post a Comment