Tonight is Jeff's Saturday at work. He has to go in, but I don't think he has to work tomorrow night, which is a relief. Last weekend he had to work his Sunday (Saturday night), so tonight is putting him at a seven-day week.

I know that's hard to understand. This is why I never know what day it is unless I concentrate very hard. :)

I spent last night reading another manuscript for a friend, which I'll finish tonight. It appears that, if I pause to make comments and things, I can read about 65-70k a night. I wish I could read faster. :P There are so many things I'd like to catch up on.

So tonight I'll finish this manuscript, write a crit, and collapse in a puddle of sleepiness, and get started on THREEFOLD BLIGHT again tomorrow (or the night after -- Sunday night, which will be Monday for us -- since Jeff might actually want to spend time with me. Crazy, I know.). I'm looking forward to working on it again.

I've been enjoying being back in that world, fixing things, making things stronger. There's a bit of work I need to do around the middle; I'd like to make the tension stronger and more immediate, rather than simply "someone's out to get you, Sadie!" and letting her run off. In the first draft, I had someone else make a decision for her. In the next one, I had her make the decision and the others agree with her. Now, I think I want to change it to her making the decision without the others...because she's got a broken ankle and it probably actually *is* unwise for her to go off by herself, but if she does this, then it will a) split up the pursuers, and b) let her travel faster. (She's gonna steal a horse, not walk the whole way on a broken ankle. ;)

There are a few other things, but I think they'll all be pretty enjoyable to work on. I'm not sure how to do a couple, yet, but reading mss for friends has given me a nice break to think about things. Hopefully I'll know what to do when I get there. :)

Now I'd better wash dishes or else they'll start breeding.

Argh. I was going to get up on time today and write a really fabulous blog (I swear I was going to think of something), but I didn't go to bed until late this morning because I was up trying to make a file work. I spent all night working on a crit for a friend's manuscript, and when I attached it to the email? It didn't look right. Nothing came up when I peeked at it in Quick Look. (Email thing that lets you see attachments without actually opening them -- somehow.) NOTHING. All my hours of reading and commenting.

I checked the file on my computer. Another big ol' nothing. It said something about an extension it didn't like, but it was just a .doc! Finally I remembered I have a back up drive. (I was already really tired at this point.) Time Machine saves things every hour, so I went back until the file started looking more like the file should.

The last correct file was at 3:30am. I'd finished reading at 6:30am. But anything is better than nothing, right? So I brought it back to the future with me and attached both files, just in case my friend can make one work.

Now that only took about three minutes to type, but it took much longer to actually do. I'd been up since 8pm yesterday evening.

Then I wrote out the rest of my crit (I'm sure it didn't make sense at this point) and sent it and went to bed. That wasn't nearly enough sleeping, though. (I was going to go back to bed, but Jeff just got up. At this point, going back would make me feel lazy. Maybe a shower will help. I can nap again later.)

I have another manuscript to start tonight. It's longer, so I won't kill myself to get it done in one go.

Urgh. Braaains.

I finished critting the last full manuscript. That's three.

Now I think I will fall over into a pile of yarn and ferrets. (Well, the ferrets would be safely away from thumping body parts.) I have one more small crit to do -- an OWWer sent me five chapters off-shop because I don't want to forget him, and I totally will if they're just hanging out on the shop -- but that shouldn't take too long. I can do that tomorrow. And then I can -- *gasp!* -- revise UNWATER.

I'm looking forward to it.

The day didn't start off so hot, but it's ended okay. Getting work done helped. And tomorrow will be better.

For now, that yarn and those ferrets I mentioned. Food and sleep as well.

Not all at the same time.

Just in case anyone else has trouble naming characters, I thought I'd pass these links along:

Behind the Name
Last Name Meanings

I've been a big fan of Behind the Name for a while, but just discovered Last Name Meanings a bit ago when deciding this poor doomed redshirt had to have a last name before I left the computer today. (I went with Godwin. Now everyone can stop calling him by his first name when it isn't appropriate.) While I was there, I named a few other characters who'd been going by descriptions for 90,000 words. (They weren't important and never had screen time anyway, but surely Angela remembered their names.)

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I finished the first of three manuscripts I need to crit for friends. I will begin number two in the morning. I'm way behind where I thought I'd be, but they will get done. This week (next week? what day is it?), and then I will go back to UNWATER and get it prettified so my mom will stop asking where it is. :P

Reviews: The Cracked Cross: 275/428

Prayer: Father, please be with S and her family, and J and her family.

Ferret Adventures: I missed Leanne when I was putting the ferrets back in their hammocks, and she escaped the ferret room. She ran right into the bedroom dooking and sounding like a herd of elephants (quite a challenge for a 1lb ferret), and hid under the dresser. When I finally got her in the cage, she went into a hammock and pouted at me.

Kippy Adventures: Knitting is hard enough without Kippy batting at the tail. When I finally got something, I gave it to her to play with. But she didn't like it. (I don't blame her.)

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Knitting = hard.

Knitting is not like crochet. It took me an hour to make something five stitches wide and two inches long. (Granted, I am learning, so it will take me longer, but still. I could make the same amount of stuff with crochet in two minutes.)

We will see how this goes. I will try again tomorrow.

I did not write today. I reviewed my mom instead. (She will be pleased, and probably not disown me...at least not for not reading her ms. If my comments aren't good enough, though... *fears*)

There was much crocheting while reading. I made a little pouchy thing to hold hooks.

I have nothing else to report.

Alas. (Tell me something interesting!)