Drunken Owls and Other Delights

 I'm kind of in an interstitial space right now creatively, I think. I've mentioned before that I've stopped performing a lot of the habits I'd had over the last several years in Spare Oom -- the whiteboard schedule, the logging of the word count, writing at 750Words, and so on. The main reason I stopped is that I wanted a fresh start here at the New Digs. For the most part it's been a positive choice as I haven't felt the stress of not hitting scheduled goals. It's helped me focus on current projects with more clarity.

Not that I'm complaining, however. I like being here at this time, because it means that I'm breaking away from old habits and yet to forge new ones. I'm allowing myself to try new things and approach current projects in a slightly different way. Perhaps this is why I'm also allowing myself to indulge in a wave of comic reading on Hoopla these last several weeks...I get to try something new, see what inspires me.

I suppose if this stage is anything like the one I had during the Belfry Years, this will (hopefully) mean that a lot of positive creativity will come out of it.

Woohoo! I'm finally DONE with the remastering work for A Division of Souls (that is until I do one last reread, heh), so now I can shift all my creative focus back on Theadia! I'm looking forward to starting in on it again, especially now that I have a clearer head and a few really good ideas on how to rework it into the style I want. I've given myself until late 2026 to finish it, so I've got a year and change to make it happen. I'm pretty sure I can do it, considering these days the first drafts of my novels take maybe a few months at most. [It's still kind of weird to say that. Each book in the original trilogy took about a year, while In My Blue World took three months.] 

Whether or not this one will expand into a duology or just be a very long single volume, we shall see...

Lately I've been feeling, well...not distracted, but not necessarily overwhelmed either. Despite all the political fuckery going on (and boy howdy do I have thoughts on that), I've been trying my best to approach all that in a different way. It certainly does bother me, and not a day goes by when I don't mutter some version of goddamn I really fucking hate conservatives right now under my breath, but I'm trying to get out of a very longstanding and extremely unhealthy habit of emotionally reacting to it with undirected dread and anxiety. I'm accepting that it's there and it's happening, I'm just trying not to spiral like I used to.

But it's not really all that, either. Part of it might be that I'm still getting used to living in our New Digs and getting used to not being at the old place anymore, but I think most of it lately has been on the creative end of things.

It's not that I don't want to work on this Trilogy Remaster -- I've been wanting to do it for a good couple of years, to be honest -- but more that I feel like I haven't been completely honest with my writing career these last few years. Like I could -- like I should be dedicating more time and energy to it than I have. Granted, I'm getting older and I can't really stay up until 2am doing five hour marathon sessions like I used to, especially since I have early morning Day Job hours. But I just feel like it's been ages since I've taken it as seriously as I used to. Phoning it in sometimes, doing the bare minimum, throwing my books out there with zero follow-up.

So what's the plan, then?

That's a good question indeed. The plan is something I think I'll need to work on over the next few weeks or so.

...until we officially move into our new place! I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. It's not helping that I feel like I've been putting off all the packing even though I've done quite a large amount of it (and tossing/donating) already. It's also not helping that the Day Job has had some of its busiest days in months these last couple of weeks. I'm deliberately running on half-speed to conserve energy -- I'm not as fast at work so I can keep some of that oomph to move boxes and bins over to the new place.

We've also been doing a lot of shopping lately, buying stuff for the new place. We've even gotten ourselves a membership to Costco after all these years! Not that we're about to buy Armageddon Preparation Size boxes of cereal mind you, just looking for good deals on things we frequently use and need like household stuff. We're also buying things other than bookshelves (heh) at Ikea for storage modules we will need. We're trying not to go overboard considering we're moving into a slightly smaller space and there's only so much space for storage, but being smart about the space we do have is important. I will be heading to said Costco later today to pick up some storage shelves for the garage.

And INTERNETS! As of yesterday we are all wired up at the new place so that's one more thing to cross off our to-do list. Yay!

I am a little worried about some of the stuff we're getting rid of, though I'm hoping that won't be too much of a problem. We'll be getting rid of our old Dyson vacuum cleaner which we've had for almost 20 years that STILL runs perfectly (not bad for a refurb at that) which I'm sure a neighbor will yoink. The living room couch is going to be tricky, though. It's the one we bought from Home Reserve, known for their really good durable furniture that comes in boxes that you put together yourselves. I want to see if one of our neighbors wants it first before I put it up on FB Marketplace. I'd rather someone take it because aside from a bit of wear and sun fade, it's still in great condition, but if we have to toss it, at least it's gotten sixteen years of use!

I'll be honest, what's bothering me the most is that I'm barely getting any writing work done. I'd packed all my notebooks and brought them over to the new place so I haven't done any journaling in ages. I might squeeze in a few pages of revision and editing on the trilogy remaster, but that's about it. I just haven't had the time. I'd expected this and I'm using the time as a bit of a vacation from all that, but I am SO itching to get back to it once we've moved.

On that note, I have today and tomorrow off and I'd better get moving. Still using pockets of time to rest and relax, but I still have a lot to do.

Not me, actually, but work. The big Valentine's Day holiday rush is now over, and there really isn't another big one coming until Easter in April, so it's going to be a slower couple of months at the day job. This also means I'll be working more like 32-36 hours instead of a full forty, which on the one hand kind of sucks pay-wise but gives me a bit of a respite and refocus on what I need focusing on.

And speaking of which, I've finally started playing daily rounds of Squaredle on my phone. I've been meaning to do that for a while, but this seemed like a perfect time to follow through with the plan. It keeps me from passively doomscrolling on social media for one, which is a big plus. But I've always loved a good word search game (I've also got a few Penny's Finest word seek magazines on my desk for funsies) and this is a phone game that's not timed or ridiculously hard to the point of frustration. The games at the beginning of the week are relatively easy but get harder as the week goes on, but I'm enjoying it.

In the process this is keeping my head clearer when it's time to sit down and start my writing sessions. It's good to be focusing on the Trilogy remaster of course, but I seem to have finally realigned myself to the point where it's a lot easier to focus because of my Squaredle games. I suppose in a way this is the same thing as my pre-writing FreeCell games back in the Belfry days, but I'm not going to complain. Whatever works and gets me moving, right?

Now if I can only get myself to start exercising more again...

I very rarely work on Sundays, and when I do it's usually because our head bookkeeper took the day off and I'm pretty much the only one to take his place. Today was such a case, meaning my weekend will be tomorrow and Tuesday instead. Thankfully the last few post-Valentines shifts have been extremely laid back and uneventful (and fully-staffed!) to the point where I could do what needs doing, take my own time doing it, and not have to worry about doing five other equally important things at the same time.

Unfortunately I haven't quite been on top of my writing schedule these last couple of weeks. Some of it is due to my work schedule, but a lot of it still boils down to distraction. I'm definitely on track for the Trilogy Remaster work, but I feel I could better utilize my time elsewhere as well. I'd rather not keep Theadia sitting there doing nothing. So again -- I need to readjust my time. I'll admit it didn't help that I had that neck pain followed immediately by a week's worth of head cold, but now that I've gotten past both I think I'm more than able to do so.

So what am I doing the next couple of days, aside from the writing? Not much other than laundry and relaxing. After six straight days of the Day Job I need the break!

Woo, I've got today off! The last couple of days at work haven't been too bad. Last night got a little exhausting, as it was raining hard for quite a long time and keeping everyone at home, only to have a sudden surge come in once it stopped. If anything it was an eight hour shift that felt like twelve. Bleh!

Noted, I'm thinking I'm probably going to need a social media detox again. It's partly because the Rs are up to their usual destructive nonsense again and everybody (rightfully) has something to say about it; I do too, but I often feel overwhelmed whenever this wave comes rushing through and I end up wasting a day spiraling by watching the destruction in real time on Threads or wherever, and I REALLY need to stop doing that. It helps no one and it certainly doesn't help me either. Plus, I've finally got my blood pressure down to normal levels these days and I'd like it to stay there. Sure, I'll check the news for updates, but otherwise I need to back away. So yeah, I'm still out here, just keeping a safe distance. Planning and preparing ahead of time.

Anyway, going to spend the day getting things done that need doing.

I've got on-call jury duty this coming week so I may or may not need to go in, and won't know each day until the night before. Now, I'm hoping that it won't be like last time in which I'm called in on the very last day as that was a pain in the ass on several levels. This also means I'm suddenly free on my schedule...so that means I really should use that time wisely and get a lot of writing work done. I'll admit I was super lazy on my birthday (and felt ever so slightly guilty about it) by doing almost nothing except futzing around on the computer.

So yeah, my plan is to focus on Theadia and also get started on the Anniversary Remaster of A Division of Souls. I really need to get started on the second one considering I've given myself a hard deadline for it! [Why September 3rd? Because that's the date of the first scene. Heh.] I don't believe I need to to a huge amount of work on it, but there are passages I think could use some light dusting and straightening out.

Today we covered two hours service time at the community garden (the agreement is that we work at least twelve) and spent it doing some major and much needed weeding. We're both exhausted and achy now, but it was definitely worth it. I also met one of our other lot neighbors for the first time so that was neat as well! We still plan on redoing our lot and putting in new gopher wire, and I'm both looking forward to and dreading that. Dreading as it entails a crapton of digging of the current soil, tearing out the old chicken wire that shouldn't have been there in the first place, and then putting all that crapton of soil back, with a fresh layer of compost as well. It'll be worth it once it's done, but I'm pretty sure my back and knees are going to scream in agony the entire time. Ah well...!





Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

I am most definitely NOT going to think of my inability to sleep last night as a portent. It was simply New Year's Eve, with all the noisy nonsense that goes along with it, including neighborhood bros letting off fireworks and small and very annoyed doggos down the hall barking in response, and the fact that it was super chilly in the low 40s, cold enough that our cats joined us on the bed creating some slightly uncomfortable sleeping positions. Today's shift at work wasn't a portent either, I was just flipping exhausted from said lack of sleep. That's all.

So! All calendars have been set up or hung on the wall, the whiteboard schedule has been updated, and Spare Oom is in a relatively clean state thanks to A organizing the giveaway/donation piles today. The two blogs have been updated (I am taking the first couple of weeks off just because I just felt like it), this here blog is updated now, and I've chosen not to force myself to write at 750Words if I'm not up for it or have nothing to say or work on.

I do, however, have some plans for this year, both personal and creative, which I will most likely get to at a later time when I'm a bit more awake and energetic!