I'm still alive, I promise!

Yesterday was our wee nephew Thomas's christening day. At the rate time is passing at the moment, he'll be twenty-one before I even realise it!

Dress - vintage
Petticoat (unseen) - thrifted
Cardigan - vintage, thrifted
Shoes - No. 1 Shoe Warehouse

I feel like I've been away for ages! I've had no time in the last week or so to pootle about looking at my favourite blogs, and I think my brain might be trying to escape through my ears. And I'm so terribly tired. I've finished the bulk of the changes on The Cry of the Go-away Bird, and just have a few points to discuss with my editor. I'm also powering towards the end of the second draft of my current book. This second book has been so difficult; I've stopped and started so much, and changed direction so often, that I've lost a lot of my perspective. I'm looking forward to getting the final few chapters finished so that I can take a break from the material and come back to it with fresh eyes - again!

Speaking of edits, I came across a great writing test the other day - the Wasteline Test on The Writer's Diet. You paste in a segment of your work, and, to quote the test's description,

"The test works by counting percentages of words in five categories commonly associated with stodgy sentences: weak verbs, abstract nouns, prepositions, adjectives/adverbs and 'waste words' (it, this, that, there). For every writing sample you submit, you will receive an overall fitness rating ranging from lean to heart attack territory."

I definitely recommend it as a quick diagnostic tool for some very common problems that may be cropping up in your work!