Weekly Update: December 1-7

Weekly word count: 1900
Editing countdown: finished! 

That's right!  Division is finished for my final solo round of editing and is now off to beta readers and the developmental editor.  It's a big gleam of accomplishment in an otherwise difficult week.

Those who follow me on social media probably saw the announcement on Tuesday.  I found out that the hard drive which contained all of our family photos and home videos had been tossed out and recycled without offering me the opportunity to make copies of my own.  The drive had been shared and I didn't notice when it disappeared as an option off the network.  It was really hurtful and while I'm doing my best to recover what I can, it's not something that can ever truly be fixed.

Family photos have always been very precious to me.  I was very vigilant about making digital copies of all the prints I had, plus ensuring those digital copies and the digital originals were backed up in case of a catastrophic network failure.

I just never imagined that anyone would deliberately get rid of them.

I'm still struggling to manage my reaction.  As much as I want to howl and rage, it's not going to get me what needs to happen from this point forward.

Looking back, there wasn't much of a hint in the weekly Tarot reading (8 of coins, apprenticeship, 7 of staffs reversed, persist despite opposition, and the page of cups reversed, problems with a child).  That seems to have strictly focused on what was happening with my oldest son, who has had a very difficult week at school, requiring several meetings with his teachers and support staff to keep things on track.

This week's reading has another message to persist.  I drew the King of staffs, which usually symbolizes someone in a position of leadership, the seven of coins, which is to persist despite a lack of apparent progress, and the ace of staffs, which symbolizes a new life and new projects.  Since I do plan to get back to focusing on writing Until Proven Guilty this week and will be rereading Best Face Forward as the first stage of editing, I do have new projects ready to go.  The King was in the past position, suggesting an expert who was influential but is no longer in the picture.  Perhaps the editor who initially proposed Best Face Forward.

I guess I'll find out.