Proofreading

Oh bloody hell!  This arrived today (yes, delivered on a Sunday - weird):

This is what I've just paid £395 for!  Yikes!  It's a folder, with some sheets of paper in it, and it came with the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation 'for free'.  Now, it doesn't look much for the money, (and actually this is not the whole thing - there are some more sheets of paper to come!) but I'm hoping that this little unassuming bit of thing is going to be the gateway to the good life for me.  Oh yes.  Well, that may be overstating its potential (and mine) a little.  We'll see.  But I am going to learn to be a proofreader.  Hopefully this little course with The Publishing Training Centre at Book House will lead to some more courses, and some paid proofreading, and some mentoring (for me, not by me) and then an accreditation if I'm good enough.  Knowing me though, I'll be bored after a bit and decide that I do want to be an astronaut after all.

Book House is a well-respected provider of this kind of training.  I wrote an email to Penguin Books a couple of weeks ago, and asked for some advice on the best proofreading training, and they recommended Book House.  In fact, they said that they only use proofreaders from Book House.  I then felt proud of myself for being able to sort the wheat from the chaff in a Google search, because I had picked out Book House as the best course provider myself, before the Penguin lady had even got back in touch with me.  Aren't I clever?!  Well.  Lots of people, professional and not, advised me against using Chapterhouse - I was wary of this company as soon as I saw its website.  It offered the cheapest course - but that rang alarm bells for me.  Cheapest so often means lowest quality.  And this was confirmed for me when someone my mum knows advised me that Chapterhouse passes almost everyone who takes the course, even if they're not very good, which is why publishing houses don't tend to use freelancers who have a Chapterhouse certificate.

So that'll all be quite exciting and interesting.  I've got work to do again!  Weird feeling.  But I'm looking forward to it.  I shall start my reading tomorrow.

But when will I write?  Oh.  Well, I'll just have to see how this week goes.  I'll read some of this material and see how quickly I think I'm going to take it in.  If there is no room for writing for a few weeks then so be it; I'll just have to tough it out.

Oh, does anyone want a copy of the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation?  I bought myself a copy of this very same book a few months ago, when I enrolled on the MA in English with the OU (which I might have to defer for a year, but we'll see), so I now have two!  It must be a sign that this is what I'm supposed to do next!  Though it can't be, because I don't believe in signs.  Must just be a coincidence then.

Far too many exclamation marks in my post today!  I'm supposed to be learning to be a proper writer, and a proper writer should never need to use an exclamation mark!

Well, there should have been lots of other things for me to write about today, such as the Scout Festival, and risotto, and the beach, and the rain and thunder storm (storm, ha!), and something else that I've forgotten.  But I've got to go to bed and get some sleep now.  Busy few weeks ahead.

Night all.

Thunderstorms and holidays, and palpitations

Mmmm. Can you smell that? There's newness in the air. It's thick with it today. Some days feel like that, don't they? It's not to do with that heavy and oppressive kind of atmosphere that comes before a storm though, you know, when people say 'ooh, it's close today' (- is that a high- or low-pressure weather system? I can never remember). No, that's not what it feels like at all, because there was a tremendous storm in the night and that cleared the air. It's still warm today, but it's not sticky anymore. But anyway, that's not what I mean. I mean that there's a feeling of potential lingering around here. When this feeling is in the air I frequently get butterflies in my tummy, and I get little palpitations, and I get a bit sweaty as well, and I feel quite nervous, but I have absolutely no idea what it is that I'm anticipating! Very strange. I often have days when I'm getting the kids ready for school and I have a grin on my face, and I'm in a heightened state of excitement, and then I realise that I don't know why I'm feeling like that. I do not know what is coming, but I'm sure something is.

Am I going a little nuts?

The storm woke us up in the night, and it was quite exciting. The rain was absolutely hammering on the windows, and I had to close them to keep out a little of the noise. And then, even with my eyes closed, I could tell there was lightning before I heard the thunder. It was unbelievably bright - I just wish it had arrived earlier in the evening so I could have watched it out of the window. But at 4am I thought it was probably best to try to get back to sleep. And the thunder was brilliant, he he! I love it. I could never really understand that scene in The Sound of Music, when all the kids have to be sung to because they're afraid of the storm, because I've always enjoyed a good show of thunder and lightning. It's exhilerating! I hope we get another storm soon - but during the day would be better so that I can watch it with the kids :) And possibly even go out for a play in it, if it's warm enough. They slept through it last night. Shame.

I have just booked a holiday this morning. We're going to stay in the middle of Alnwick in Northumberland. We stayed up that way a couple of summers ago, in a caravan in Berwick upon Tweed. Alnwick is where the 'A' is on this map. Berwick is a few miles above that. I didn't want to stay in a caravan again, as they were pretty grotty and smelled of old food. So I've booked a little terraced house for a fortnight. It's very small, but it's still bigger than a caravan. And it's right in the middle of the village of Alnwick, which I understand is very beautiful. We visited Alnwick Castle, and the Alnwick Garden last time, but didn't get chance to look at the village. We will feel like we know the area pretty well this time, so we'll be able to make the best of our fortnight and see all the things we didn't get to see when we visited before. I'm really looking forward to it - it's going to be so relaxing, but lots of fun too. The beach is only 3 or 4 miles away, and it's golden and clean and big and oooooooooooooh!

It's good to explore this area, as it's a place we could move to. After the Berwick holiday we all wanted to live up in the North East, we loved it so much. And there is a power station up there, so Kev could get a job relatively easily. There are not many places that I would move so readily to in this country, but the North East, close to Scotland, is one of them. Lovely people, incredible scenery, LOADS to do. And plenty of fascinating history: the whole region is dripping with stories from centuries past.

Eek! Can't wait. I think the booking of the holiday must account for most of the feeling of potential and excitement today.

But that's not wholly it - there's something else.

The release of Eclipse on the 9th of July? Quite possibly. If Sazzle gets the next two books of the Twilight Saga read, we're going to see Eclipse together. Mmmmmmmm - yummy, Edward!

Also, I've just seen the teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I. Oh. My. Goodness. That looks awesome. Released in November. It could be that that's making me sweaty ...

Or perhaps I'm misinterpreting the palpitations and butterflies - perhaps they are caused by the feeling of motivation that I am experiencing right now. Perhaps at the back of my mind, constantly, is the fact that I'm well into the writing of the second half of my book, and that perhaps I only have one third of the first draft left to write! It could, indeed, be that. Cor! Still a lot of work to do though, even after I've got to the end. I will still have to go right back to the beginning and go through it with a fine toothed comb, not once, maybe not twice, but possibly three or four times. Mmm, satisfying :)

Well, lots of things in the air. I will get on and enjoy them, whatever they are. Afternoon, all.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost forgot - I've got a Stag Do to organise as well! Pants. Better get on with that as well.