This post should have been written last week, but  life got in the way.

It was a very busy week, with the usual drama of escaping ponies, rats at the stables and hyperactive dogs. But despite its many trials and tribulations, it was the kind of week where I got stuff done. Not my blog post obviously, but other writing stuff.

I’m organising a short story competition for Wakefield District Sight Aid, a local charity for people with sight loss, and was delighted to secure a judge, a very successful and popular Yorkshire writer, who I am very much looking forward to working with. Apologies for being slightly vague. Details haven’t yet been announced, so I have to keep quiet.

In my own writing, I spent most of the week working on an awards entry. It took days to complete the application process. I wrote around 1,600 words, which seemed to take longer to write than the 6,000 creative piece that went with it. Anyway, I entered and will keep my fingers crossed. That said, I’ve just heard they had 1,004 entries, so I’ll probably need more of a miracle really.

As soon as I’d pressed send, I had to turn my attention to a short story I’m writing for a Comma Press course. Our homework had been to write a short story of between 2,000 and 6,000 words. I managed about 2,500. I had a frantic few days trying to get it finished, before sending it to the other members of the group. We had a few stories to read and I also had to read and comment on the stories of my peers. I love reading short stories, so this wasn’t a problem at all.

Towards the final part of the week, I managed to look at my novel. I went over the plot, characters and research. I wrote a sentence describing what the book is actually about. The idea of having a one-sentence pitch is that if I am ever in a lift with a publishing bod, I can – in the time it takes to get from the ground to the first floor – tell them exactly what makes my novel so great. Before I step out of the lift, they will offer me a six-figure publishing deal and I will live happily ever after.

It took me a while to get the sentence just right. This was all before I attended a planning and plotting workshop with novelist, Susan Elliot Wright. The workshop was last Saturday. It was great to spend a full day thinking of my novel, and how I want to develop it. Plus, Chris fed, watered and mucked-out the horses, so I got a day off from that.

In other news, I ran the fastest 10km of my life, which I blogged about. And finally, after looking at lots of potential wedding venues, Chris and I found the one we wanted. My plan is to launch my wedding blog very soon.

So there you have it. My hectic week five. Things are certainly picking up pace. Creative writing work is being completed and awards are being entered. It’s just the blog I let slide!