A Shift Is In Sight

Part of me wants to say that an end is in sight, but a shift feels more accurate.

In the UK, we have about 10 days left of the official 4 week lockdown announced at Hallowe’en.  It is supposed to end on 2 December.  I am not so sure that it will, but I feel the imminent shift in mood as December approaches.

Change of Season

People have started putting up Christmas decorations, and the radio stations have started playing Christmas songs.  Thoughts are turning to fairy lights, spangle, mince pies and Christmas gifts.  I love it all, even if I am reluctant for any of it to begin before December!

With synchronous timing, I have been watching Game of Thrones for the first time this autumn.  Last night’s episode at the end of Season 6 featured a change from “Winter is coming” to “Winter is here”.  It’s truly epic storytelling.  The characters are I never knew I’d have a “favourite death” but the one at the end of Battle of the Bastards will be hard to beat for grim satisfaction! A friend asked me what I was going to watch when I finished it.  I’m not sure I’ll want to get involved in another series for a while.  It would feel a bit like cheating on my favourite characters.  Instead I might take up early nights with a book.  Winter lends itself to hibernation in my book!

Deadlines

My week ahead holds two major deadlines, and they both fall on Thursday.  One is to have finished the edits of my manuscript.  The other is to have finished collating evidence that we can meet the funding conditions for a fairly large building project.  I will be submitting it all and then enjoying a breather.  It may only last until 11 am when the phone may ring with questions, but it may last all day.

For my book, Thursday represents finishing the edit phase and sending it to a friend who has offered to read it before it goes to the publisher.  The following Wednesday, I will have my first proper conversation with the publisher, and another plan for the next bit will be formulated.  If she doesn’t feel it needs too much more work, I might even get an idea for when it will be available to hold in my hand.  It’s all becoming very real, but there are still months of build up to come.

For the building project, once everything has been passed over on Thursday, there will still be other bits of planning permission, contract and lease to deal with.  And when that phase is done, about nine months of building work.  So it’s definitely not an end, but I do feel the stress attached will diminish once this hurdle has been crossed.

Switching Off

We’ve all been riding the corona coaster for months and most of the people I have spoken to about it have been experiencing the same inability to fully switch off.  We are in a constant state of waiting for the next thing to drop.  It reminds me of 2016, when it felt like a legend died every week or two and I went to bed at night thinking “please not David Attenborough” in case he was next on the reaper’s list.

The prospect of having a day off, to enjoy the satisfaction of having met deadlines, is blissful.  I very much enjoy my Friday afternoon creative breaks, but the possibility of a whole day opens up so many additional options.

I’m curious, how are you feeling about this last five or six weeks of the year?

Xx

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