Thanks to everyone who offered encouragement and support yesterday :) I definitely needed it, but now I've had my mope, it's back to work. I've got four work-free days ahead of me and I intend to use them to the max. The plan:

1. Lots of writing
2. Lots of applying for jobs
3. Visiting Gran
4. Rinse and repeat

We'll see how it works out....

In slightly-related news, I had my lasy physio session yesterday. Well, technically the last, in that Laura can't really do anything more for me, but I can ring up and scream in pain and get another appointment if need be. Basically, I've got all the tools I need to deal with my radial nerve problem, and now I need to build up the strength in my arm and keep doing the exercises. Like, forever. Because although the problem can be managed, it can't really be cured as long as I'm in a desk job. Which I probably always will be. Although not the one I'm currently in, if I can help it.

So once again Naomi must do something about her weight. I've been comforting eating since January when I realised how thoroughly miserable I was with certain aspects of my life, and I haven't quite stopped yet. The result being that my weight has slowly crept up again and now I'm miserable with that too.

I've started keeping a food diary, rather than going for counting calories and weighing myself, because I'm exactly the kind of person who would get obsessed with calorie counting and then feel shit when she went over her daily limit and stuff an enormous pizza down her face to make herself feel better and... well, you get it. A food diary seems much friendlier anyway. I don't think I need to lose much; I'm aiming to go from a size 14 to a size 12. I don't want to be one of those lollipop models, but I do want to be able to fit into my jeans comfortably.

Give my propensity for comfort eating, I think I also need to address some of those my-life-is-shit aspects. Some of them are out of my control. I had a huge dip in confidence when I left the Ex Agent, managed to convince myself that signing with her in the first place was a massive fluke and that nobody will ever want to take me on ever again because my writing is hackneyed and crap. The only reasonable thing I can do about that is keep querying other literary agents and keep writing.

The other big thing has been work. I can so do something about that - I found a job I really like the sound of (even though it involves manual lifting, which is forbidden by Laura the Physio, and children, which is just ... scary). It's at the Fitzwilliam Museum, where I would love to work, and it's a couple of grand more than I'm currently on, which would be nice. Must get application form in this week.

There are other issues too, but I think some of them I'm just going to have to learn to live with for the time being. So, I'm giving it a go. My bag is full of grapes and cereal bars, and I'm pretty confident I can shift the weight as I have in the past. Wish me luck!

I think I must finally be an adult. I have a job I don't like, too many bills, not enough sleep, and nowhere near enough free time. Money is particularly tight in the naomi_jay  - chaostheory  household at the moment, which is always guaranteed to depress me. I've decided to put off my Paris trip until later in the year when things are easier. I now have the added incentive of trying to synch my trip there with Brian's research trip, since apparently three years of not speaking to someone doesn't mean you can't simply pick up your relationship where you left off.

So, no Paris in February. But I'm not particularly bothered, since the money is needed more elsewhere right now. And it gives me a week off work in which to really go for it with querying Death for the Born. I've got a great list of agents to query (thanks everyone who pitched in with that :) ) and although I'm not as far ahead with the editing as I'd like, I can catch up over the weekend. In the mean time, I'm toying with a novella that I started last summer. It gives me something to think about when I'm at my desk wishing the Institute would explode.

Yes. I cleaned my bathroom this weekend. I don't want to give the impression that I never clean my bathroom, because I do, but rarely more than once a month because I'm lazy and believe that moving dust from one part of the room to another is just bad for my asthma. But this weekend, I went to town, because my parents came over and Mum nearly had a fit when she saw the state of the bathroom.

I was promptly whisked into Cambridge and bought new bath towels, mats, bins, pedestal mats and a plethora of cleaning materials, all paid for by Mum and Dad on the provision that I scrubbed my shower from top to bottom. I did. My shower is lemony fresh and my floor is sparkling and my new towels are wine red, which pleases me. The problem is, my lino needs replacing and the chipboard underneath is soaking wet, and are my landlords getting off their arses to fix it? No. They're taking their sweet time as they always do. (Please note, chaostheory, Tucker-Gardner do not see your urgent problems as their urgent problems.)

( Cut for rambling )

So last Friday I set off for the RNA conference in Chichester. My carefully formulated plan was to take a coach, which half-worked. I had a connecting coach at Gatwick airport that I was an hour late for, due to heavy traffic between Stansted and Heathrow. Seriously, why did the only coach from Cambridge to Chichester have stop at every airport in London? Why, I ask you, why? Luckily for me, I was able to catch a train from Gatwick to Chichester and arrived in good time to check in, find the bar, and start mingling.

I can't stress enough what a fantastic experience the conference was. Not only did I get to hang out with my friend Leanne (expect to see a historical romance from her gracing the shelves one fine day!) but I also got to meet a lot of fun, clever, talented writers. It was really motivating to be around people doing the same things I want to do. Kate Johnson, Imogen Howson, Lynne Connolly, Kate Walker, Anna Jacobs and Kate Harrison were all fabulous, with plenty of advice and opinions they were happy to share. I could have talked to Kate Walker and her husband all night - they were awesome. And there were free books! There were also books you had to pay for, so I suspect I may fall short on the council tax again this month...

There were so many great talks too, really useful stuff no matter how far along in your career you are. The weekend was over far too quickly, and before I knew it I was back at Gatwick waiting for my coach. Sigh. At least I was on time for this one. Next year I might have to put aside my fears of the London Undergroud and go by train. My only regret is that I didn't take nearly enough photos. In fact, I took one, which is pathetic (but it is a nice photo of Leanne, Kate Johnson and Imogen).

Back home, I was shocked and disgusted to discover my platys are still reproducing at an alarming rate. By my count there are now six additional fish babies in the tank. Chad has disappeared (eaten, I suspect) but Tad is now big enough to take proper pictures of, although he generally moves too fast to get good pictures. But I shall persevere. I'm not quite sure what I'll do if any more fish babies do appear. My tank isn't really big enough for an entire school, so I'm hoping they might got bored of having sex soon...

Anyway, now I'm back at work, which is chaotic and stressful. I broached the subject of quitting and moving home with my parents to write full-time, but they're a little less keen on the idea than I am. They (quite rightly) pointed out that living in the middle of the fens would soon drive me insane. I suppose I should probably wait until I've sold a book before I start making such plans in any case. A girl can dream though.

 Last week was my mum's 50th birthday, and my older brother brought her a day at a spa for two. We went along yesterday and ZOMG, it was soooooooooooo nice. We had free run of the swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room all morning, a free lunch, a massage and a facial in the afternoon. Sooooooooo nice. I need a sauna and a jacuzzi of my own. Donations to my email addres, kthx.

Anyway, when I got home and after I washed the chlorine out of my hair, I did a marathon NaNo session and here are the factz:

Total wordcount: 25010

Enter, stage left: Devlin, a vampire Immaculate.

Reeking of awesomeness: Yasmin kills a ghoul by punching it in the nose.

Reeking of sucktitude: I've introduced a sexy vampire, oh noes.

Private dicking: Ethan to Yasmin: "How do you think I got it, huh? I'm a PI, I got contacts. That's what you got when you're a PI, contacts and guns."

Tonight I am mostly listening to: 30secondstomars - A Beautiful Lie

Cripply Hand Status: Utterly knackered after last night. My arm aches and my wrist is stiff.

I've decided I may have been overly-optimistic with my aim to finish Wild by the end of the month. It's turning out to be a lot longer than I originally thought and, short of skipping work for the next two days and writing non-stop, I don't think there's even a chance of the first draft being finished. I do think I can squeeze it in around NaNo, provided I hit my daily wordcount for NaNo, so that's my new plan of action.

So, I had my friend Leanne stay with me this weekend, one of the three people who made university bearable for me, lol. It's been two years since we've seen each other, so we were well overdue a catch-up, and spent most of the weekend holed up drinking cocktails. And let me just say this: unless you're already drunk, don't order Bloody Marys, okay? As nice as they taste when you're already drunk, when you're sober they just taste of pepper and celery. Which is grim.

Come back soon, Leanne! ^-^

 

Bonjour, y'all! I've just had a week off work (and therefore a week without internet access, lol) entertaining, and being entertained by, my beloved Skelly. Highlights of her stay include:

1. Cocktails! Mexican food! Cocktails! Italian food! Cocktails! Chinese food! Cocktails! Cocktails! Vodka!

2. Seeing penguins and sharks! No zombies involved, sadly, but still. Sharks!

3. Tentatively agreeing to do Nanowrimo this year. This means either finishing up Wild by the end of October or abandoning it for a month. Hopefully the former.

4. Discovering there's a loyalty card for the place that sells all the cocktails.

Also loving Jennifer Armintrout's Blood Ties series. ZOMG, how freaking wicked awesome is Ashes to Ashes? I don't buy many vampire books at the moment, but Armintrout is an auto-buy. Her plots are fascinating, her vampires are compelling and best of all, they're scary.

I also picked up Read by Dawn over the weekend, which features a story by one of my favourite bloggers, Michele Lee. Her contribution, Bloodwalker was one of the standout stories for me, although several had me thoroughly chilled and disturbed.

Anyway, how are you guys?