Well, it’s been a long time and anyone keeping up with this ‘Accountability Blog’ would be forgiven for thinking that I’d perhaps given up on everything. That hasn’t happened, though, so let me bring you up to date with everything that has been going on at Castle Wellington since the last post.

To start with, although I haven’t gotten the final ‘all clear’ from the foot-engineers at the local VA Hospital, the crutches and the fancy moon-boot have been retired and my foot is no longer strapped. For all – well, almost all – intents and purposes, I’m now physically capable. So yay! Go me!

Work to do.

All those weeks and months, and it seems that none of my obligations took care of themselves. The first project of note is the shed, which I started around April 27 of this year.

Shed.

The task is to insulate the thing so it’ll stay warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer to facilitate using it as a workshop. That means turning it from this:

…through this:

..toward the final project, which, like everything else, isn’t ready yet. Which is why this update is basically a status report on projects that are so far incomplete.

The Office.

Hazel, the puppy, is currently away at obedience school, puppy training, or as I call it, ‘puppy boot-camp.’ My term sounds bad, but from the pictures and videos we’ve seen, she’s having more fun than I am, because I’m also involved in a make-hay-while-the-sun-shines opportunity to fix up the office.

I don’t have a ‘before’ picture, but here’s what all the crap in there looks like when distributed throughout the house according to the extremely complicated ‘Wellington Mess Equations.’

…and that’s not half of it.

Meanwhile, we’ve been fixing up the office walls through this:

…to this:

…and again, not finished.

The Book.

Yes, I’ve saved the best for last.

The observant amongst you might have noticed that the status in the little panel to the top right has now changed and, for posterity – because I try to keep it live – here it is:

That means that I’m through with the fourth revision, with the sole exception of the Prologue, which I’m not currently convinced is worth keeping. I’ll seek input from Beta Readers, probably in a month or so because I’ve had it with revising this thing on my own.

Currently on my Plate

Obviously the shed and office need to be completed, then I’m still in the middle of collating my notes for Lock Out Tag Out, but in amongst all that I have the Beta Reader questions to sort out and I’m in the middle of trying to lose a whole lot of broken-foot-and-COVID pounds.

So, I’m definitely still here, still keeping myself accountable, and by no means giving up.

My normal routine of weekly updates isn’t likely to return just yet, but I’d expect to have an update with a plan to proceed with Beta Readers next time, certainly before mid-November.

Looking for Beta Readers.

If you’re interested in Beta reading The Watching, I’ll be pushing it out on CritiqueMatch as soon as it’s ready. Watch this space for details or contact me here.

Until then, stay safe and have a great week.

Categories: My Life, New Shed, Office, Revision, Work Update

Tags: Beta Readers, Office, Shed, The Watching