Progress

This is Leeds Castle, known as the loveliest castle in England. Since the weather as decided to go back to being foul, I thought a lovely castle would be an inspiring site for all of us.

It was a royal residence during the reigns of Edward I through Henry VIII, but the most famoous resident of Leeds Castle was Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry V. Remember the wooing scene in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V? Well Henry died soon after Catherine gave birth to their son, the future Henry VI.

In her widowhood, she lived at Leeds Castle where she met Owen Tudor, a commoner who was Master of the Wardrobe. They fell in love, married secretly and had four children, one of whom was the future father of Henry VII. It was a huge scandal in the fifteen century when it was revealed that the royal widow had lowered herself to consorting with a commoner. Not much has changed has it?

The castle entered private hands once again when Olive Baillie the daughter of an American who had married into the English Aristocracy bought the castle and restored it. After her death, her heirs donated it to the nation.

Progress, yes, that's what I'm talking about today. I have two deadlines, by Friday, I have to send my August President's letter to our newsletter editor, along with Market News and the Calendar of Events for the next three months. The second deadline is July 22nd. What happens July 22nd? Well Mercury goes into retrograde. When Mercury goes retrograde, meaning the planet seems to move backwards instead of forwards, communication goes haywire, which makes sense since Mercury was the god of communication.

Computers can be screwed up, travel plans go awry, planes are delayed, projects can be postponed. Communication gets really difficult during a Mercury retrograde period. The planet goes retrograde at least 2 or 3 times a year. Ouch! Mercury doesn't turn forward again until August 15th, so I'm trying to get as many queries and partials out there as possible before the 22nd.

My other deadline is to try and do as much research on being a museum curator by the end of the month, so that I can really move forward on my WIP. I don't want to spend too much time on this because I'm afraid that I'll use it as an excuse not to write. I also want to start rewriting my chick-lit romantic comedy paranormal so I can start sending that out.

So that's a lot of deadlines. Which means that it's time for me to bid adieu and get cracking!