Dreams
Well, carrying on and the way baby slept last night, I'm glad I actually have work to go to. And as I always say, the money does come handy with all them bills...
Have progressed my short story on and the hero has reached his showdown. In Hereford, i would add - because the last sentence sounds like the wild west. It's difficult to concentrate sometimes, as baby crying does interrupt, as does everyone's desire to watch TV. Once I'm past that, I can switch off and I'm back there - 1917, stuck on a train in Mid Wales, searching for answers. It's cold and miserable, but not half as bad as being in Flanders.
When the baby settles, I need to revisit my last book and give it a continuity read. It was a wonderful journey, as wonderful as Victorian lead mines allow. A lot of input from the characters along the way and a few new faces popped in to say hello. But does it scan? Remember, you tend to have an outline of the plot, but as each chapter is produced, you can hardly read from the start to check that it flows every time! It was fun and set me up for the final part of the trilogy, which I look forward to living through.
Book 1 is still out there, hopefully on a few editor's desks, not to be pulped. I occasionally think of scenes in it and get a warm feeling, I liked how it turned out. Will it be received the same by others? Will another editor say 'we want to publish this' and actually be true to their word? Who knows.
One thing I know now, it won't pay the rent. I reckon it would take a few novels published to get any return and even then you won't live off it. To get the big money, you need a break - to be picked up as a Tv drama for example. Perhaps if I had included a teenage wizard. Perhaps if I had managed to align the protagonist to the bloodline of Jesus Christ and then be unsuccessfully sued by someone claiming to have thought up the half-baked theory in the first place, thus maxing book sales and spawning a movie. Damn, that's already been done!
Somehow Tom Hanks wouldn't work in Victorian Ceredigion. Something to do with the accent...
Onwards and upwards.
Purgatory
How the hell did I end up doing this job, outsourced by those ungrateful bastards, the Shabby to the Bloody Tedium Plc. They managed to regress my work by twenty years, but neglected to provide the lobotomy. here I am, brain the size of a planet.
Well actually I hope not, that would imply encephilitis...
Anyway, it is soul destroying when people recognise your intelligence by pushing you into menial jobs devoid of initiative and constructive thought. Human ego drives you to achieve and these buggers just want to hang you out to dry. God I hate this!
When baby settles, I must start cunning plan. Decide what I want to do that will keep the same amount of finance and leave me not hurting inside from being scrapheaped (if such a word exists)
Christ this really does piss me off. Oh well nearly 5 and I have a baby at home to go back to. Evelin is visiting her new school also tonight.
Got that off my chest, feel a bit better now!
Nose back at grindstone
Back at work, same old same old - except many have taken voluntary redundancy. If I had a cunning plan for what to do that didn't financially screw us in three years time, I would have done the same. BT have regressed my work 20 years and I feel put out to grass. Oh well, the money comes handy...
The baby sleeps, honest! It also means we don't get a full night's sleep and sometimes it shows.The baby also poos, cries and pukes, but don't we all?
No news on the writing, I am generating another short story in my spare time. this is a follow-on to the previous WW1 ones and useful for a future project.
Nothing else at present, lack of sleep doesn't help my creativity!
Do not adjust your set
Readjustment continues. Gareth does actually sleep, thank God! he is a bonny babe, even if I say so myself, already trying to stand when you put him on your shoulder while you sit down.
Looking back, the right man turned up for the birth. especially as it was not easy, the cord was round his neck and every push pulled the heart rate down. the medic team moved so fast and when he was whipped out, he didn't half look surprised! I held him while his ys opened for the first time. that was special.
Funny thing was that labour started in earnest on a quiet afternoon, we were watching Japan v Australia on the World Cup. Oz were 1-0 down and 7 minutes to play, then they scored 3 times and my wife was off to hospital. What's all that about then? I better beware of Australians, they have a funny effect on my wife!
I have started a new short story about my character Dafydd a railwayman in WW1, good to be back writing for my mind. I didn't win the competition, don't seem to get many confidence boosts these days from my writing, oh well. Baby takes up the time at present, I will let it roll for June and July
New arrival
In a year of uncertainty and lack of publishing breathrough, sme things at least have come good. I have a new son, Gareth Andre Roberts
Gareth is 3.53kg or 7lb 6oz
54cm long
born 13/06/06 05.06
What an amazing experience!
Final Lap
And the latest news.... still waiting. Aile was due on Saturday and basically it was a nice hot sunny day, but the only excitement was watching England stuff Jamaica 6-0 in the footy. Looking forward to getting this waiting all over. It would be so nice to avoid 06/06/06 though...
Poor Aile is very uncomfortable, especially on a hot day. Just praying for good news to spread, that's all you can do. My mother in law has been over for a while now and the house is more organised and clean and tidy than it has been for years. I have even filled in some spare time by continuing the model railway project, whic is another of my vices. The backdrop is being fixed, so as not to fall down. The next job is to proof it from a potential invasion of ants!
In the meantime, I am looking forward to the World Cup. I actually hope England do well, but also Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico. Three teams who have been attractive in the past. Paraguay too, but please lose your first game amigos! I don't know what to make of the African teams and I now feel my predictions have done Ivory Coast and Ghana a grave injustice. Well, let's hope it's entertaining with no bloodbaths or diving. Yeah right... Still believe there will be some classic games, first one up is Holland v Argentina. I can't call that one, so will be absorbed by it and sit on the fence. Argentina has too many links with Wales for me not to secretly enjoy the beautiful side of their game. Enough! There is time yet.
The book is finished! I just need to type up the last chapter and then do the continuity read. Following that I have to decide what to nwrite next. Book 3 of the series? Another of my tales filed for later? It all depends on how Book 1 is getting on, but the silence is oppressive and usually not a good sign. We live in hope, in fact I am hoping for so many things these days, it is keeping me awake at nights.
