I’m feeling evil right now, because as a uterus owner in America, this is NOT my Independence Day (fuck you, Supreme Court, and the right wing). So instead of “celebrating,” I’m writing ghost stories and enjoying iced tea at a lovely coffee/tea shop in my hometown (shoutout to Brothers’ Cortado!). I went up to Pittsburgh, NH, on Saturday – the only point in NH with an official crossing to Canada – and did some work on Sapph. I’ve got to go and pick up my copy of Ghostology from Gibson’s Bookstore this week, and I’m currently reading The Ghosts of Borley because ghosts are eating my brain this week. I’ve just had a breakthrough in something that’s been bothering me for a long time (let’s be honest, since I started fooling with this idea some ten years ago) – the ecology of the Ghostlands. And I’m kicking myself because in hindsight, it’s so obvious, and yet…it’s not. But it works soooo well. And yeah, that’s all I’m giving you.
I’m also starting July off with some changes to how I look at things. I’ve been very open with my struggles with depression over the years, and I’m pretty convinced that depression was part of what contributed to my husband’s early death. However, unlike him, I’m actively working with my doctor and my therapist to bring my symptoms under control. The fact that my knees are killing me (much like his sciatica was bothering him in the last year or so of his life) and that I’m gaining weight (which is adding to things) is making me worry that I too won’t make it to 50. Which I do not accept. I have appointments in August with a PT and a nutritionist and a specialist in weight loss, and while I won’t be getting surgery, there are some other options I’m exploring. But a lot of it is taking responsibility for my own life, and that’s what I’m trying to do.
In other news, my goals this week are to do morning pages every day (which will force me to get up before I have to run out the door, and actually have a cup of tea and wake up before work), finish up my coif, and make my bed every day. Small goals. I think I can do it.
Today is PG Holyfield’s birthday. It’s also a day that I’m at my day job, the day after taxes were due, and I’m reading my newest Writer’s Digest on my breaks. I adore Writer’s Digest. I read through them eagerly and there’s usually a lot of good information in them.
Today, though, one article hits me in the gut. There’s a section called 5-Minute Memoir, and this one is titled simply “Time to Finish.” And it talks about not having the time to finish writing, and how none of us know how much longer we have. How if you are going to do something, you need to do it. And I thought of PG. And my mother. And Brian. And everyone else that thought they had the time, and didn’t.
It’s a scary thought. I don’t like to think of the stuff I’ve left unfinished because “I’ll get to it someday.” What happens if today is my last someday? Or tomorrow? Can we live as if we weren’t sure we were going to see the next dawn? No, not really, because unfortunately, most of us have things like bills and other obligations. But maybe we can write like we don’t have any promise of tomorrow, because at least then, we know (who am I kidding? It’s all about me) that I’ve done my best.
I pull out a tarot card every morning, just to see how the morning will go. Today’s card was the Queen of Wands, reversed. That message is rather clear: take care of yourself, and stop frittering things away. Once I’d read the memoir, I remembered that card.
So yeah, the universe is definitely telling me something. I just hope I do have enough time to work on it.
So yeah, it’s been a few weeks. First I had an eye infection, complete with an ulcerated cornea, which meant absolutely no screen time. Then I went away to GNEW and was busy taking down my pavilion and driving home, so there was no posting. I meant to do it Monday, but I woke up with a migraine and, well. Yeah. So it’s been a while.
Today, I am the only one at Creatives. It’s a rainy day, and I’m enjoying the Acoustic Covers playlist on Sp0tify, and reveling in the fact that I don’t have a migraine. I have a chai latte with almond milk, an iced raspberry green tea, and, for the first time in a LONG time, a workable plot for Advent this year! YAY!
You guys, you have no idea how happy I am to have a plot. Carter’s Cove is easily my most popular story, but it’s HARD to write. Plot-wise, anyways. Because see, bodies and violence and save the world are easy to plot. It’s the fluffy, feel-good but not be total sugar because that’s boring stuff that is hard.
I’m also going back on a mini-reset this week – doing a Whole10 with my Facebook group. I need to get back on the wagon, and this seems the best way to do it. Also, I’m adding in a fitness goal, because I want to get my stamina up. Also, I need to get more Pokemon. Because, well, Pokemon won’t walk themselves.
Since I haven’t been posting, I’m going to just start my goals over.
Oh, and I finished Hope Never Dies and I have to write a review. Mini review: I loved it. I also saw Ant Man and the Wasp yesterday. Go see it – it’s fun.
Morning Pages:Going for all 7 days, per normal.
Non-writing goals: 1 more coif made for Her Highness for Pennsic. I want to do 2 more if I can, but the goal is 1. Also, 2+ hours on Conri’s trim. I’ve got 1 cuff for that done, and need 1 more cuff, the neckline, 2 sides, and the hem.
Writing goals: Plot out Advent this week. I can do this long-hand.
Fitness goals: Make my step goal (currently 3500 steps per day) all 7 days.
Sorry that this is late, but I’m getting over an eye infection AND an eye ulcer (in the same eye), so last week my computer use was limited. I even had to take 2 days off of work, which sucked. Oh well. The eye is healing nicely, and it doesn’t hurt to look at anything with a lit screen anymore, which is the important part. Apparently Crohns’ patients are prone to eye infections, which I am just learning about. Yay, compromised immune system! When you get this kind of thing, you get not one, but TWO medications to drip into your eye. I’m a fun person at the moment. At least I don’t look like I’m detoxing from a 4-day meth bender anymore.
But it put a cramp in my writing, my work, and pretty much everything other than listening to audiobooks. So I start this week over again, with new goals.
This week is also Great Northeastern War, which I will be going to. This is my final vacation of the year (and my only camping event, sadly), so I’m making the most of it. K-J and I are going up mid-week, and taking our time. Bear and Tayla are unimpressed, especially since we’ve actually reminded the landlords that no, they really don’t get handfuls of treats at a time anymore. If you hear howls, it’s from them.
This Week’s Goals:
Morning Pages: Going for all 7 days again. Sunday to Saturday, and not let the vacation derail me. I’m almost done with my first notebook! I’ll have to dig a new one out of my stash.
Writing Goals: Taking a bit of a break to let some noodling about Advent go on in my head. I think this week, I’m going to work on Lily and Spike, and a new Sapph short story. Both can be done long hand, and I don’t need the computer.
Non-Writing Goals: Finish Rachel’s bag, and then bring the cross-stitching for Brewcie’s coat, and washcloths to knit for Kris. I also want to make myself a lunch bag, but I don’t know if that will happen this weekend. It might.
I hope you guys had a great 4th of July, and I’ll see you in a bit!
This week was a bit of this and that, but this seems to be a good headline for this post for the nonce.
My week got thrown for a bit of a loop because I needed to do some hard things this week, but I did them, and I’m very proud of myself for it. Let’s look at last week’s goals.
Last Week’s Goals:
Morning pages: Going for all seven days (Sunday to Saturday). I made it 5 days again – missed Friday with a migraine and Saturday to just bleahs. Grey days seem to be hard.
Writing goals: Writing will happen on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. I need to re-juggle a bit of the Advent calendar, but that shouldn’t take long. I want 2 days written, and some work on a Sapph or Spike short. Writing did not happen on either Wednesday or Saturday. It will happen today, so yay? Although this goes on this week’s goals technically. And I did the book review for Perils of Prague, which you should check out.
Non-writing Goals: I need to write up Brian’s page for the EK 50 memorial wall. No more delays. Also, now that the caftan’s design has been agreed upon, I need to get the waste canvas on it and decide how I’m going to do this. I might try doing embroidery on the waste canvas and see how that works. Not sure yet. More progress here! I got Brian’s page done on Saturday, which really hit me harder than I thought it would. But it’s done, and he’ll be in the Memorial Garden at EK 50 if you are going. I also figured out how to do the embroidery for the caftan, and started most of a crochet bag. And I finished the embroidery for the first favor. I also figured out taxes for my father’s companion, and finally called about my car accident.
So yeah, in retrospect, I think this was a successful week, even without the writing I wanted to do. So, on to this week’s goals!
This Week’s Goals
Morning pages: Sunday to Saturday again. I’m building a good habit, even if I don’t hit the full week yet.
Writing goals: I need to restructure Molly for this year, since I’m not trying to do 2 Advents this year. That’s the goal for this week. Today (Sunday), I’m going to do some writing on Sapph, I think. Also, Wednesday, I am putting the two first Molly books into Archivos, so I can start working forward. Before I do any more writing on the Carter’s Cove series, I need to get the bible going.
Non-Writing goals: This week, I need to finish my market bag that I am crocheting for myself, and do the test pattern for Brewcie’s caftan. Then I need to measure the pattern, and measure out how much I need to make the actual trim.
These are all good goals, and doable. Keeping this weekly post going has really helped keep me on track, and I’m finding that I’m getting stuff done. So thank you, all, for putting up with me while I do this!
Okay, so it’s a day late, but hey, I spent Father’s Day with the best of dads, mine. We went and saw Solo, which was super fun and I highly recommend (as one of my friends said, Oscar-worthy it wasn’t, but it was a good Star Wars movie). So I didn’t get to post this yesterday, but hey, I’m at least admitting it! (and totally, go see Solo)
I’ve made the decision to not kill myself and try to write two Advent stories this year. I’m going to count last year as a lost year, and publish the story I’m working on in December as usual. I’m sorry, guys, but between work, TAPS, and writing, something has got to give. I just don’t have the time or the energy to do two of them – not and write anything else.
Which leads us to goals!
Last Week’s Goals:
Morning pages: Going for all seven days (Sunday to Saturday). I made it 6 out of 7 – I missed Sunday due to Father’s Day. But that’s it!
Writing goals: I have today and Wednesday to write, and I’m going to have 2 days ready to go. The newsletter will wait until I understand MailChimp a bit better. Also, I WILL finish Perils! – I did finish Perils, and I owe you guys a review of it. Here’s my mini review – it’s good. Read it. Go buy it. I also finished Day 0 for Advent (yep, another November 30 start) and started Day 1.
Non-writing Goals:1 favor embroidered, and I need to write up Brian’s page for the EK 50 memorial wall. Also, as I now have the art, I will send in the submission I have been sitting on. – I almost finished the favor (I finished it today, actually), I got the caftan I need to start working on for a friend, and I got the submission mostly done. Brian’s page is still unwritten, because I keep crying. But I’m going to have to buckle down and do it.
This Week’s Goals:
Morning pages: Going for all seven days (Sunday to Saturday).
Writing goals: Writing will happen on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. I need to re-juggle a bit of the Advent calendar, but that shouldn’t take long. I want 2 days written, and some work on a Sapph or Spike short.
Non-writing Goals: I need to write up Brian’s page for the EK 50 memorial wall. No more delays. Also, now that the caftan’s design has been agreed upon, I need to get the waste canvas on it and decide how I’m going to do this. I might try doing embroidery on the waste canvas and see how that works. Not sure yet.
You know, I think one of the things I miss most about Diane Rehm retiring is that now my Fridays do not consist of two hours of the Weekly News Roundup. She used to do an hour of domestic news, and then an hour of international news, and it rounded out my week nicely. NPR, get on that, please. (Granted, I now listen to BBC Worldwide every day, so I get my news fix, but still. I miss the Weekly News Roundup.)
It’s Sunday, so it’s time for my personal weekly round-up. Let’s see how I did with those goals!
Last Week’s Goals:
Morning pages: I made it 5 of the last 7 days (Sunday to Saturday). Not bad, considering the week. I’ll take it!
Writing Goals: I wanted to have 2 days of Advent 2017 written, finish reading Perils of Prague, and set up the email newsletter. I got part of the first day written, but that’s it. I’ve set up the email list, but haven’t written the first newsletter. And I still haven’t finished Perils. (I didn’t read much this week).
Non-writing Goals: I finished the cardigan! Sadly, it’s a little small for me, but I know what I did wrong, and I’ll make sure it has a new home. I wanted to have 1 queen’s favor finished, but I got a project at work to do instead of embroidering, so I’m still working on that first one.
This Week’s Goals:
Morning pages: Going for all seven days (Sunday to Saturday).
Writing goals: I have today and Wednesday to write, and I’m going to have 2 days ready to go. The newsletter will wait until I understand MailChimp a bit better. Also, I WILL finish Perils!
Non-writing Goals:1 favor embroidered, and I need to write up Brian’s page for the EK 50 memorial wall. Also, as I now have the art, I will send in the submission I have been sitting on.
Of course, I just got home from Balticon, and I’m sick (again – I swear Maryland is trying to kill me), so that might be part of it. I’m still glad I went -I spent a lot of time going to panels on the business of being an author, which is very different from the art of being an author, and one I’m learning about. I’d love to make a living out of being a writer, if only for the fact that I could share my writing with lots of other folks. I’ll always need a day job, sadly, because of my medical condition. And really, I like having a day job. It means I can pay my bills and not have to stress as much if I go to a con and don’t sell any books.
But being an author is expensive, guys. And it’s not just bandwidth for the website, or money for notebooks, or supporting my tea habit (which is not cheap, let me tell you). It’s buying swag to hand out at cons or signings. It’s gas money for conventions. It’s paying my editor, my cover artist and my book designer. It’s paying my artist friend to design the calendar. It all costs, and while I’m lucky that so far, I’ve managed to sort of break even, I really need to start doing things like marketing, which I will admit scares and intimidates me. For all that I’m not a shy person, going out and saying, “I wrote this awesome thing and you should buy it!” scares the snot out of me. Seriously. So I’m going to be very awkward as I figure this out. Consider yourselves warned.
I’m starting by getting my email list set up today, and I’ve got a Ko-Fi page, if you want to throw some money my way. I’m going to start blogging once a week (on Sundays, when I know I will be sitting down and have a steady internet connection, if nothing else), and those Sunday posts will include my plans for the upcoming week, and how I did on last’s week’s plans. So let’s get that started now.
This week, I’m working the day job on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, because Thursday, I have a colonoscopy scheduled. Yay! (not really) Because of my Crohn’s disease, I get to enjoy one of these every other year. Doesn’t that sound like a blast? Okay, that was an unfortunate turn of phrase. I blame Deadpool.
However, because of that, my goals for the week are modest. I’m working on the 2017 Advent story (which will start June 30, just so you know). My goal is to have 2 days written by the time next Sunday rolls around, and to set up my email newsletter. Also, I need to finish the Perils of Prague so I can give you all a review. So that’s in the list.
Non-writing goals: well, I’m working on a cardigan for myself, so I’d like to have that finished. For at-work projects, I just got some queen’s favors, so we’ll work on that as well. Time to work on my embroidery stitches! Goal is to have 1 favor embroidered by next Sunday.
We’ll see how I do. I’m setting modest goals for the most part, because I’m a great one for making unreasonable goals and then watching them fly by.
Is how much it recharges your creative juices. Not just because you see people you haven’t seen in a very long time, or because you connect with fans of your work, or because you can drink at the bar. Those are all valid points of a con (yes, even drinking at the bar, because you can learn a ton of valuable information, and no one will care if you are drinking soda or sparkling water instead of booze. Seriously. And if they do care, then you’re hanging with the wrong people, so come and find me), but to me, the biggest part of being at a con is people-watching. There are amazing people at a con that you may never see anywhere else, and you may not even know them, and that’s okay, because just by walking around, they release creative energy that you as an artist can tap into. And it’s the little things:
Making breakfast in your room with your roommates, because you’re all poor and would rather spend money on books or other things rather than the overpriced breakfast in the hotel, and making it in your room means you can eat in your pjs without shoes.
Hanging out in the lobby and knitting/crocheting/writing/doing whatever, and talking about the latest movies/books/tv/anime/whatever has caught your enthusiasm.
Watching cosplayers go by with their eyes shining, because they are having fun, and realizing that it’s so cool to be able to dress the way you really feel comfortable/
As I sit here in the lobby at Balticon, having just finished my morning pages and deciding to work on some blog posts, I realize how lucky I am that I have the opportunity to come here. I’ve learned so much this time, and it’s only Saturday. Even though I’m a veteran writer (I guess), I can still learn, and it’s a great thing. When you stop learning, you stagnate, and then you die.
I’m not quite sure what I’m trying to say here – my eyes are still full of allergies, and I’m having issues seeing the computer screen – but I wanted to share that cons are amazing. Every time I come, I leave with the knowledge that I’ve grown as a writer and an artist. It never fails. So now, I’m going to go back to the con, and learn some more.
I’ve been on a poetry kick lately. It’s very odd, since I never considered myself a poet, but there it is – the words are coming, and I’m not going to shut off any of the creative flow that the universe chooses to gift me with. I’m getting more in touch with my spiritual side as well, and I think the poetry is helping with that.
I’m also prepping for Balticon, since I’ve got a bunch of panels on writing, and I want to have a handout for the panels, with some of my tried-and-true tricks for novel-writing and some great websites that I use. Anyone have a good website for writing they like? Pimp it in the comments!
