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Today is evenly balanced so far. For each crisis I must deal with by email, my computer sulks and needs a reboot. Four reboots tells you enough about the morning.

I managed to do some work on the novel, at least, while waiting for the reboots. The rest of my long list of things that must be done for today is going to be a bit more of a challenge. For the next eight weeks, too, I really have no choice but to complete my lists. I have a Deadline. So for eight weeks there are fewer inner conversations possible ("I don't have to do this until tomorrow." "I can exchange this bit of work for that." "I have flu - need to go to bed.") I'm luckier than most, for things are reasonably under control. If I work through my lists and get the various bits and pieces done, then I"ll be right. If I don't, of course, I'll be in big trouble. This means that today might end up being a very, very long working day.

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Not even the wonderful people at BiblioBuffet are perfect. They wanted me to write about my library, you see, having seen a picture of L-space. I only wrote a short piece, for if I had written a long one, it would have interfered with reading time too much...It does, however, have photos. About 1/3 of my whole library is visible, I think. Maybe 1/4.

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The computer has finally stopped sulking, but not before it's contaminated the latest draft of my novel (which must now be checked - it's not *bad* contamination, but still needs carefulness). My inner weather sense doesn't much like the sudden temperature drops tonight. And friends keep facing problems. Some days are just like that, I guess.

I had to rearrange my lists despite my best intentions, for life got in the way. I hope I don't cause myself problems later in the week, but today has become all about editing again. It had to.

I have four things to start today, all four of which don't actually have to be finished until Wednesday morning. I have until 1 am... my clock starts...NOW. No. It doesn't. It really doesn't. Editing has to happen first. It's less than two degrees until zero, and I will hurt until the temperature stabilises. Then I can turn my mind to other things. Four other things.

If my computer throws another hissy fit today, however, I shall throw a hissy fit back. I shall take refuge among cookbooks and dream of French provincial dishes.

ETA: How can it be less than zero and not even 10 pm? No wonder my computer and I are grumbly...

ETA2: Thank goodness for frequent dated backups. My novel turned out to be only minorly contaminated and all is well. I thought I had four extra day's work to do, but instead it's maybe one extra hour. I may be behind on other things, but I'm suddenly ahead on the novel!

(no subject)

I'm thinking back to two years ago, when a most wonderful astronomer-friend made me some star charts. I didn't realise that it was possible to get star charts for any place on Earth at any period in history, but one can. It's possible for characters to look up at the night sky and to actually see it, even if one is, like me, not very good at visualising. I love my starcharts.

I wonder if Lara could be tempted to make them for strange worlds in distant galaxies? I suspect not. There's a program she used to get me my 1305 stars.

I took those charts to Languedoc last year and looked at them while looking at the shape of the hills. It was a wonderful moment, to know what my characters could see from the streets of Saint-Guilhem and what my other characters could see from their high hilltop.

Right now I'm editing and the effect of those charts is very clear - they have oriented my world and made it come to life in more ways than one.

They've also made me consider my history from a slightly different angle. The pictures Lara made me represent the actual sky of that time and place. It's a magical feeling, that the same sky was seen by real people, and by my imaginary souls.