Cats, Phones and Days Off

So I can't remember if I mentioned this or not, but I've spent the last few weeks busy working on a round of revisions for A TORRENT OF LIGHT. Yesterday I finished them. Yes! Finished! And not just finished: I finished them and was happy.

Normally I edit and feel pleased but also a teeny bit dissatisfied because something didn't turn out quite as well as I'd wanted. Or it just didn't do justice to the way I imagined it in my head. This time I am happy. It's not perfect - I don't think any author thinks their drafts are perfect! - but it's so close to the book I want it to be. For that I need to thank my agent Melissa, my editor Sara, my husband Steve and myself Me, because without them I wouldn't have gotten to this point.

(I realize this makes it sound like the work's totally over and it's going to print, but that's not true. There will be more work. I'm just quite pleased with the work already done - not to mention I'm still basking in the afterglow of finishing revisions!)

All of which means I've given myself a day off. Today, to be precise. A day off! A guilt free day off!

So what have I done on this fine day?

I've pondered the unsolvable puzzle of the cat in this photograph. Try it. If you can find the bloody cat please tell me where it is because it's driving me crazy.

I have discovered that if you drop your phone in water you can heal it with uncooked rice. There. Your Invaluable Tip of the Day. I did not discover this the hard way. I heard mysterious rumours about it and immediately felt compelled to experiment but a few desperate words from Steve made me see reason. My phone is dry, never fear. However I did have this mysterious rumour confirmed on Twitter: it worked for someone in my agent's office!

I had a Skype chat with my mother. I have these quite often but so rarely without a sense of 'oh heavens I've been doing this half an hour, that's half an hour of work-time I've cavalierly frittered away!' For those of you who have not heard about my mother before, here is one of her finer moments (skip to the last paragraphs of the post).

I've read a book to my unborn offspring. I think he liked it.

I pondered new ideas and projects. Because I'm irrepressible that way and even on a day off I can't shake off my Writer Brain.

And I haven't done this yet but I tonight I'm going on date. With Steve. Today marks six months since we condemned ourselves to a lifetime with one another (i.e. got married) and we're going out on a date to celebrate. And also because he just got a new credit card and felt we should abuse it a little bit.

What have you done this Friday? Any big plans for the weekend?