Busy busy

So, yeah, sorry, relatively few posts because EVEN THOUGH I have recovered internet from my home — yay for fall and the disappearance of signal-blocking leaves — but, as I say, I am busy.

You would think that I would be halfway through the revision of PURE MAGIC by now, but no. I am changing one protagonist’s characterization all the way through, so that is a BIG job and also a fiddly job that just takes time. I meant to tackle it last, but decided it made more sense to do it first.

I also reordered the first six chapters, so I’m having to keep track of the flow through the story and that involves re-reading more than I usually would at this point.

I am not yet bored with the revision, though. In some ways, dealing with bigger issues is easier than you’d think, just because the job is more interesting. But what I need is a week where I can do nothing but concentrate on this, and instead I’m snatching hours here and there.

Also, Giedre just came into season, which Yay! But that is also going to complicate my life until the breeding is done. I meant to really concentrate on the revision over the Thanksgiving weekend, but instead, well, yeah, no, I will be running around a lot instead. First I will do blood tests to check progesterone levels almost every day starting the day before Thanksgiving (but I suppose skipping Thanksgiving day itself, since I don’t imagine the vet will be open Thanksgiving). Then I strategically pick a day to drive up to the reproductive clinic in St Louis and have an LH test run and probably another progesterone. Then — having been communicating on a daily basis with the stud dog owner in Atlanta — I will have the dog’s contribution shipped to the repro vet, and drive back up to St Louis to have the insemination done. I’ll do that twice. This whole thing takes very careful monitoring of timing for about eight to ten days minimum and is a huge pain in the neck, as you can imagine.

After that I have to just keep my fingers crossed for a whole month before I can find out if she’s pregnant!

I have at least three or four people waiting for puppies and this time I hope to keep a really classy boy and also maybe a girl, if I am lucky enough to get two outstanding puppies. The odds of getting enough puppies to go around is, well, I’m not holding my breath. We’ll see what we get. Anything over three live puppies will mean a massive celebration for me because this girl’s mother had only live puppy in a whole litter — twice.

So, as I said, busy! But I will try to continue posting at least a couple times a week. Meanwhile, I can just *see* PURE MAGIC improving before my eyes, which is so satisfying. Really great beta readers are so priceless.