We’re not that far through January…

My New Year Resolution was very simple. TIDY UP.

There is a lot of real life tidying, some of which has been waiting for ages. It’s easy enough, I suppose, but hard work. It’s actually a lot easier than the digital tidying which in some ways is more important.

I knew, in a vague sort of way, that I needed to sort out my computer files. Then my brain was invaded by an idea for another novel in the Living Fae series and looking at all the information involving the series so far I got really confused.

The glossary is not by any means up to date. The timeline seems to be non-existent, on my website, anyway.

So back I went to the files. It took hours to sort through. I must have kept everything including all kinds of pre-edit copies. I vaguely recall being advised to keep evidence of the fact that this writing was originally by me but I must have gone overboard. Yes, the files were dated, but it’s quite hard work making sure only the older ones get discarded. And it doesn’t help that Word redates them if you dare to make the slightest alteration. So, the new updated glossary is now a work in progress and should be reloaded soon. Meanwhile, I’ll leave the old one in situ because it isn’t wrong, just needs more added.

The timeline on the other hand… The later versions have stuff that can’t possibly be correct. The first volume has diary entries from 2005 so Harlequin must have found his mobile phone, and all his siblings were with him on Alderley Edge. Which means entries suggesting the twins weren’t born till 2011 were rubbish. This is important because they feature as adults in the new book. The older timelines have much more sensible dates but don’t go much beyond the first volume. Much work is obviously needed before I can even start writing, because in a series with a cast of hundreds (however minor) it’s really important to keep everything consistent.

OneDrive got very overexcited about how a large number of files had been deleted. I wish I could have a conversation with it and explain that this was intentional.

At this point I was looking at the later stories in my ‘free stuff’ on my website for further dates, events, etc. and realised that most of my links are broken. I suspect WordPress has changed the method of inserting download links – a lot of stuff was originally uploaded to my media library as Word documents and the links worked fine. Now documents need to be in pdf format and re-linked. ‘Easily’ fixed, but it will be very time consuming and meanwhile nobody can access a lot of my writing though I think all the Living Fae additions are OK as of today. But clearly I’ll have to fix all the other links too. And then stay alert!

I was delighted recently when a couple of authors I greatly admire ‘liked’ some of my posts, but I really must make sure they can read what I’ve written other than my blog entries, should they so wish.

Please, all of you, be aware that my pages (as opposed to my blog entries) are a work in progress (again)!

Anyway, I’m pleased to report that I have made what I regard as great inroads into my resolution. There’s an enormous amount still to do but I’m usually good at keeping going once I’ve started something. The same applies to the house, though so far I’ve been a bit slower there… After all, it only affects close friends and family, and doesn’t stop me doing anything else!