This morning I finally started writing Kat again after a week off for major writing work on a separate project that was unfortunately not part of the write-a-thon - eek, I'm going to have to write fast to make up for lost time on that! I'm hoping that'll turn out to be a good thing, actually. As I come to the climax of a book, I often end up slacking off due partly to intimidation (how will this all work out, exactly ???!?) and partly to the sheer fear of ending the book. (Because then it would be...well...over. And what fun would that be? I hate being between books! Much easier just to hold off on finishing this one...and then hold off some more...) So my write-a-thon goals are still unchanged, as scary as that might become in the next couple of weeks!

We had a wonderful weekend, though. When we went to Borders on Saturday morning, we ran into Justina with her partner and adorable kids and had some great writing talk as well as regular chat. Patrick's paycheck had just arrived (hooray!) so we went out to lunch afterward. Best of all, we'd made a huge improvement to the whole day by choosing to order our groceries online this week instead of driving out to Sainsburys on Saturday afternoon (our usual routine). Ordering online runs the risk of forgetting something important, but it's more than worthwhile to get to skip the couple hours of crowded grocery store, manic parking-lot sharks, and general irritation. Also, even though there's a £5 charge for delivery, we always somehow end up spending less money overall when we order online, probably because we aren't distracted by impulse buys spotted by accident in the shop. So we got to spend the whole day relaxing, which was great, and the next morning I woke up to see a really nice review in Tangent of my story "By the Light of the Dark," which I wrote as a Christmas present for Patrick. So all in all, the weekend was pretty much perfect.

And last night we finally saw the first three episodes of Doctor Who Season 3 - woot woot woot! I adored them. Especially the first one, "Smith and Jones", which was absolutely brilliant. I was very skeptical and and unsure about the whole concept of a new companion, since I loved Rose so much, but Martha, the new companion, is awesome and just right as a match for the Doctor. We've got the second disc of the DVD set on order with the Amazon rental service right now - can't wait till it arrives!

Now all I have to do is figure out how the heck to get Kat out of the situation I left her in a week ago, trapped in a magical, golden hall with a very angry highwayman...urk. I'm tempted to wait for brilliant inspiration, but if I've learned nothing else in the past few years, I've learned that that tactic rarely works. So I'm going in...Wish me luck!

Update: In perfect timing, the postman just rang the doorbell. My "Enthrall" compact has arrived! And oh, it is beautiful, and just perfect for Kat. I'm wearing it around my neck now and feeling much more inspired and encouraged. Hooray for magic writing necklaces! :)