sometimes i find myself alone at night

The proofread is done, long live the proofread.

Technically I shouldn't celebrate quite yet, since my editor hasn't told me there's nothing else I need to look at and please send it all back now, but that stack of tagged and tricksome pages has been systematically slashed through with red pen and denuded of tags, which makes me happy. Not to mention a little giddy.

And very, very conscious that the stories next in line to work on have no outline. I've been revising for so long, it's a little daunting to contemplate going back to writing without knowing what happens next.

In the department of "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means", I discovered a fantastic thesaurus program the other day: TheSage.

Since I'm reaching the end of my input on Shadow Queen, it's probably an appropriate time to post the playlist I used to listen to while writing this novel.

In no particular order (since I listened to this list on shuffle):

• Golem (Myla Goldberg) (One Ring Zero — As Smart As We Are)
• Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol — Eyes Open)
• Dust In The Wind (Kansas — Point of Know Return)
• Don't Fear The Reaper (The Beautiful South — Golddiggas, Headnodders & Pholk Songs)
• Jealous Guy (Elliott Smith — Live)
• Freedom Hangs Like Heaven (Iron & Wine — Woman King)
• Heaven Out Of Hell (Elisa — Then Comes The Sun)
• I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You (Emiliana Torrini — Merman)
• Rise Above It (Afro Celt Sound System — Seed)
• Walking With A Ghost (Tegan & Sara — So Jealous)
• Whatever I Fear (Toad The Wet Sprocket — Coil)
• The Scientist (Live) (Aimee Mann — Lost In Space [Disc 2])
• The Moth (Aimee Mann — Lost In Space)
• Afterwords (Endorphin — Good News Week Volume 3 [Disc 2])
• 9 Crimes (Damien Rice — 9)

Interestingly, I didn't listen to these songs at all during the revision process, or the publication edits, and they don't match my mood for the sequel, either. Except for ORZ's "Golem", which will definitely feature on the sequel's playlist.