Well, so far today we've had blazing hot sun, torrential rain, hail, and dry thunder - all of them alternating in dizzyingly quick progression. Now we're just waiting for the frogs...

It was a really good weekend. I put Music of the Stars in the mail Saturday morning - woohoo! Then we went car-shopping and actually saw two very decent cars, for reasonable (if not fabulous) prices - so we'll probably buy one of them in the next couple of days. (And oh, what a relief it'll be to finally have a car again after 6 months without!) I got sun-burned shoulders just from walking around the car dealership, though, which was bizarre. Does the weather not understand that this is England?!?!

We went along to Justina's local signing on Sunday, and then to her fab birthday party, so there was lots of fun stuff yesterday. But the main news of the day was that I finally, finally began to re-read the first draft of Congress of Shadows, after my mandatory months off.

Well. Yesterday, I read the first 75 pages and felt guilty because I was enjoying it so much and clearly not catching all the major issues that were probably lurking underneath my radar. Today, sweaty and limp from the oven-like bus trip home, I just felt massively betrayed that it all - well - drat it, it all reads like such a first draft! Damn its eyes. (Or, "dem its eyes", as the Scarlet Pimpernel in Blackadder III would say. Have you seen that episode, Jenn? :) ) I keep hoping that someday, somehow I will write a beautiful, smooth and publishable first draft.

Alas.

It's all going, though, one way or another. I'm making lots of notes on the issues I see, even if I have no idea yet how to fix them. I've set myself a deadline of sending this one to Shawna by the end of August, which is a lovely motivating factor. And the good news is that I really enjoy the story itself, even when I moan at the way my first-draft writing obscured it from the reader. I love these characters, and it's great to get to play with them again.

But oh, I hope the temperature outside cools down soon. It's hard to think of brilliant and inspired creative fixes when all I want to do is sleep like a slug with minions gently fanning me.