Self Care And Weekend Plans

Mental Illness and neurological disorders affects 1 in 4 people according to a 2001 article from the World Health Organization. Self care is part of mental health. But, really, even those who don't have some form of mental health, either diagnosed or not, can benefit from self-care. Taking care of ourselves helps us interact with our friends and family and the world in general, better. A form of self-care for one of my best friends is tinkering in office-work room or playing video games.

This weekend is dinner at my mom's, which I don't mind, but it's with my siblings and assorted guests, which is stressful. So, while I do plan on finishing this current round of edits this weekend, I also plan on sewing. I have a quilt that I need to finish quilting and several blocks for new quilts I want to complete. I'm participating in a quilt challenge from Northcott Fabrics for their Stonehenge fabrics, which are some of my favorites. I have a couple of road trips planned for this summer so I can hit some of the quilt stores in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.

What I'm Reading -- Audio Books

I have a love hate relationship with audio books. I'm hard of hearing. This makes listening to audio books a challenge. Depending on the audio quality as well as the narrator's voice, I may not be able to hear the story. The only way I can listen to them is with my headphones and the volume cranked all the way up. I'm fine with that. I am bummed that there are some really good books that I can't listen to because I can't understand what is being said.

Last fall I decided to try a subscription to Audible. Free trial period. The monthly fee is just about $15 and I basically get 3 books a month for that. The best part for me is that there is a sample that I can play before I buy to see if I can understand the narrator.

One of the cool things I found is that there are The Great Courses lectures available. I love learning new things. I've listened to the one on "Espionage" twice. And I just finished listening to "The Other Side of History", which was fascinating.

I've just started listening to "A Chip In His Shoulder" by L.A. Witt. You can get from Audible here. So far, I'm enjoying it.

What are you reading or listening to?
Simone.

Spring Is Here!

It's April, and in Michigan that generally means that spring is here. And not just because the calendar says so. The weather warms up, although there is always a chance of an unexpected ice or snow storm. But the sun is out more often and it's lighter longer.

Last year, in May, I talked to my counselor about things I hadn't told anyone else. It's been a very long, very difficult time as I've tried to process things and have begun to heal. What I've realized lately is how hard of a time I have managing everything. I'm developing new skills and taking a step back from things. Which has been very freeing, even if it's been difficult.

I've been working on the edits for Behind the Masque for several months, and every time I think I'm finished, I read or listen to another bit of craft advice that has me questioning what I've written so far in an attempt to make it better. I'm hoping it will be ready to submit by the end of May. It needs edits and both beta and sensitivity readers. I want to make sure I get things right.

Looking Ahead - RP Closing

 In October, Resplendence Publishing announced that they were closing by the end of the year. I have received the rights back for all of my books published with Resplendence, my plan is to take the next few months and revise and re-release all of them. I do anticipate at least a couple of them undergoing extensive revisions in order to make them better stories.  Also, I hope to release at least one more book in the Bissari Confederation Series, hopefully two. Midsummer Dreaming was meant to be a trilogy and my goal is to complete that within the next year or two.

I have removed the links for my books from Resplendence Publishing from my website. As they become available again I will update my website.

1st Week at Camp NaNoWriMo

My first week participating in Camp NaNoWriMo has been less then stellar. I have written. Not daily, but I have gotten some writing done. This week I really need to bust my butt and get in gear. I've got a 4 day weekend coming up, so that will be fantastic. My aunt is taking R and I for pedicures with her on Friday and I promised R we would go to the humane society to see about a furbaby on Thursday. Other than that, my goal is to spend the time writing and relaxing, much the same way I would at a writer's retreat. 

My goal this week is to catch up on time with Camp NaNoWriMo and make significant headway with my WIP, if not completely finish it.

Camp NaNoWriMo

While I'm sure I've heard of Camp NaNoWriMo before, most likely it was mentioned in an article I read somewhere at some point in time, its not something I paid attention to before this year. When a friend's Facebook post mentioned it and that she was setting a goal in minutes and not words I decided to check it out and joined. I set myself a goal of 30 minutes a day. To challenge myself. My goal is to finish one story and get at least halfway through a second.

I've been assigned to a cabin randomly. I asked to be placed in an LGBTQ cabin, and have met some pretty nice people.

So far this month, I haven't written more than 6 minutes, which sucks. So, I will be writing at lunch time and will probably be going to Barnes and Noble or Biggby to write this evening after taking R to work.

Procrastinating

Procrastination.

I swear it serves no good purpose. It's a self-sabotaging mechanism to keep me from achieving my goals and dreams. I want to be a full time writer living in a real house instead of the trailer I do live in. But I can't do that if I don't plant my butt down at the computer every night or almost every night and write. I can write long hand at work and transcribe it. And if I do that every night, I get closer to finishing this book. It's gone from 75K to probably 100K. It actually, may cross that mark, but I still have to go in and clean it up. I was hoping to have it done by the end of June, I mean I've been working on it for about 4 years. It needs to be done. I have other stories to tell. I don't have the hours in the day to write 15K in one week. That part isn't procrastination, but my reality with a day job. The procrastination comes in when I look back at the weekend and realize that I didn't touch the project that needed to be touched. Part of that is because I was bringing another project to my writer's group, however, that is changing and I will bringing Behind the Masque. At least until it's finished.

I intend to finish it by July 15th. I took the Thursday and Friday off before that for family stuff, which was moved to a weekend, so that gives me 4 full days that I can write. But, hopefully, it'll be done before that.