Oy With the Poodles Already!

It's been that kinda week. I mean, it's not all bad. I just stalk the weather too much, I think. I've been dreading this storm. But, like, it didn't even end up being that bad here? I'm not mad about it. Here's the thing. I love storms. Give me Big Thunder. Give me Big Lightning. Add a touch of wind and that intoxicating smell of a storm. That's what I want. You can keep the tornados and the 60-mile-an-hour wind gusts. So watching this storm drop deadly tornado after deadly tornado as it got closer and closer to me was a little nerve wracking, to say the least. BUT Oy with the poodles already! (and if you don't understand... I highly suggest a binge session of Gilmore Girls)

I did my nails, buuuuuut don't judge them harshly lol while I am never a fantastic artist, these ones have some issues because I didn't take the picture after they were done. Theeeeen some particularly rough cleaning day happened, and I chipped a few nails and had to file them... They are a hot mess AT BEST right now. But it's fine. 

I think I've talked about it before, but Tuesday is my cleaning day. I ended up taking a bookcase down the stairs BY MYSELF. I did not really think that one through all the way until I was on the stairs backward, supporting the bookcase. I did it, AND I didn't fall! Which is kinda fantastic because I'm really good at falling down the stairs. It's one of my superpowers. Falling upstairs, tripping over painted lines, and oversleeping are also among my super powers. I paid extra for that. 

I have a countdown on my phone to my best friend's wedding. It's been there since like July-ish. I see it, but today I actually saw it. There are 45 days left. FORTY-FIVE. But I'm getting there eight days before the wedding. So, I have 37 days before I will be driving 850 miles. O.o It's just like... all of a sudden here. It just sort of dawned on me. I feel like I'm not ready? Time moves weird... And then, three weeks after that wedding is my sister's wedding. 

The gnome!!! He is coming along, but I'm freaking out because I only have like 6 days to finish. The little outfits are taking longer than I anticipated. I'm going to get it done. Staying on top of all the things makes me very busy, but busy is something I can handle. Being busy usually means I am being productive. Productive days are good days. It means I'm doing ok. So I'm busy, but I'm happy. So, here's the gnome:

Please Don't Stop the Music

♫ I just came here to party, but now we're rockin on the dance floor actin naughty ♫

Ahem, sorry. I have a new playlist and it's GREAT! I'm just sitting here on my couch, with a plate of pizza rolls, dancing. That song was first up, and it's been so long since I've heard it that I started it over. I'm feeling much better than last week. Still not super great, but the power of a new playlist is strong. Welcome to my head ^.^

The new playlist comes with NEWS! It's official, I've started writing the second book of SoF. I was struggling with the vibe a little. It just wasn't hitting right. Then I realized I was totally slacking. I didn't make it a playlist. All my books get their own. Some of the songs make it there because of lyrics, some of it is vibe, and sometimes I can just feel them for a specific scene in my head or with a certain character. Honestly, I don't know if my playlists would make sense to anyone but me. It's fine. ANYWAY. SoF book two finally got a name. Having the playlist made all the difference!

Matchstick

I'm crazy excited about it in a way I don't know if other people will see, but again, that's fine. For anyone that does get it... hopefully they are like me and it will make them geek out a little.

I have another nail update! They didn't turn out quite how I wanted them to, but I still really like them. I think that is the story of my life when it comes to my nails. I have grand ideas, and then... remember I have almost zero artistic talent. 

I have other news too! I decided I'm going all in on Matchstick. I'm using it as my goal for CampNaNo in April. Basically, I'm hoping to have the writing done by the end of April. No pressure right? Which also means I'm adding a new tag on here for CampNaNo. Might as well add stats while I go. With two camps and NaNo, I'm going to be busy. Maybe this will be the push I need to write faster. Editing is still a long, tedious, and seemingly never ending process, buuuuut if I can get the writing done faster maybe I can keep to a two books a year publishing schedule?? Does that sound crazy? It feels crazy.

I feel like there was something else I was going to say it. I'm sure I'll remember it later. Like five minutes after this actually posts... Well off to write more things 

♫ I'm a scholar and a gentleman, and I usually don't fall when I try to stand ♫

Until next week ♥

All the Small Things

Naming things is hard for me. I really hate it. I can create an entire universe and get super passionate about it like:

Ask me to name said world or character and I will just stare at you. So, when trying to decide the name of this weeks post, I sat here staring at my screen for a while. It was just about all the small things that were cropping up. Which, of course, got me singing some Blink 182. You're welcome. 

Since I'm always excited about them, I have a new nail update! I'm cat obsessed, and that is the current theme:

I've fallen a little behind with my editing. I was doing so well too. My sister had been wanting to move, and one of the townhouses in her complex had an opening. The place took what felt like forever to say they were approved and told her they would have a week. Great, right? Yea, well, they gave her the keys two days later and basically said, "haha jk, you have two days." It was like two and a half days, but still. We spent the middle of last week scrambling to make it happen. My mom, Naomi, and I were over there helping her. Let me tell you... Her apartment has vinyl floors laid over concrete. My dumbass thought it was a great idea to walk around barefoot all day while helping her pack. My body informed me the next day that I was definitely too old for that. We got it done, though!

Friday I was so sore and tired from all the scrambling that I accomplished getting my nails done, changing all the icons on my phone (new month, new phone screen!), and accidentally napping. That was it. I'm getting everything back on track as much as I can lol 

Tuesday is my cleaning day. I hate cleaning, I like the house clean. So, I lump all the cleaning together in one day. I mean, spot cleaning still happens. I just sweep, clean the appliances, clean the bathroom, vacuum, etc on Tuesday. Cleaning all day and grocery shopping so close to getting my knees and hamstrings to feel normal after the move was not a good call. But I did it. It is done. I am very tired and ready to spend a lot of time sitting with my laptop editing and writing. 

So, I am a little crazy and my brain just loves to give me more things to do. I've started what I'm calling A Guide to Athric (the world the Justified series is set in). It's a history of the place mixed in with a short story that threads its way through it all. It's not my top priority right now, but I do set time aside each week to work on it. There may be more updates about that coming soon-ish. 

That's probably enough rambling for today. I have a lot of stuff on my plate to get done.

Until next week ♥

Social Media?

 Turns out, I'm terrible at social media. I mean, I'm not all that surprised by it. I bailed on all social media except Reddit a long time ago. I apparently had a Twitter (I don't remember making one...) so I've updated it to reflect all the new writery stuff, followed a bunch of writery people, and we're gunna see how that goes. I'm trying to keep up a LinkedIn too. I feel like a cranky old lady and I'm only in my early 30s. How am I supposed to manage being active on Twitter, LinkedIn, and this blog while keeping up with the working, the parenting, and the homeschooling? Plus I should probably clean my house and cook food on occasion too. 

If you want to follow me on either, whether it's to keep updated or watch me attempt to make this work (o.o) here's my LinkedIn and Twitter.

Alexandria would like me to inform you this is a very hard house to live in. The people are always doing things, and of course, this means they need to be supervised. People cannot be trusted to just do things on their own. Kitty help is a must! After a very long day helping me deep clean the house, she just cannot go on. She's very overworked. Poor thing.

I was really happy with my Valentine's Day nails. The aforementioned cleaning resulted in some damage. They only lasted about eight days. Of course, I had to do them again. I decided to go super colorful this time. I did not think it all the way through... It took me like five hours to get them all done. Whiiiich put me behind on editing. My therapist says that's fine because self-care is important and my nails make me happy. He's probably right, even though I grumble about it all the time. My inner anxiety just likes to remind me that I set ambitious goals the last two weeks and is keeping score of how far behind I have become. I'm working on it. My nails are cute, though! Here's to hoping they last!

Color Me Productive

 

First, Valentine's Day nails! I usually do my nails every two-ish weeks. Sometimes I do them a little sooner, it just depends on how well they are holding up. However, as cute as Valentine's Day stuff is... I actually hate it as a holiday. "Lets hype up a romantic day so much that it becomes stressful and everyone ends up disappointed!" Doesn't that sound great! I just wish so many people didn't mark it as an important milestone to judge the status of their relationship. I've had friends talk about it (from all genders) and now I hear my 17 year old daughter talk about it. Take the pressure off guys. One day of the year shouldn't decide the fate of your relationship. Ok, I'm done now.

I have been more productive in the last couple weeks than I had been in a while. I'm really digging it. I've had so much crazy in my life that maintaining a schedule and making plans seemed like an effort in futility. Hitting this kind of stride is a huge deal for me, so I always try to make the best of it. I have bi-polar disorder. I've been medicated for a little over a year now (I wasn't for a long time after a bad reaction to one set of meds). It really does help me a lot, but it isn't a cure. Toss in the ADHD and anxiety and you've got a party. I've started talking about it more because it's something that should be talked about. 

Even when medicated, I live in constant flow of peaks and valleys. My "normal" floats somewhere above or below what neuro-typical people experience as "normal". I see my therapist every week and he is super great. Even when I tell him that I'm pretty sure he has to tell me he's proud of what I am accomplishing (even when I feel like I have accomplished nothing) because it's in the secret social work rule book and he tells me there isn't a rulebook, secret or otherwise, of what he has to stay to his clients, but, like, that sounds like something the secret rulebook would say you have to say if the secret rulebook is brought up, doesn't it? Doesn't it?? 

Anyway, he puts up with me, he pushes me to challenge the stupid give up thoughts and make them into stupid go-to thoughts and it's helping. Even when I grumble about how if things would just work exactly how I want them to... I wouldn't be stressed out! So, I like to take full of advantage of these moments when my mind is clear and my drive is strong. I'm trying to get as many posts, and news, and whatever else queued up before the downswing comes in. These weekly more personal ones (what will most likely stay as Thursday) are done up either Sunday or Monday. So if they go missing for a little while...Well, they'll come back when I get my shit back together again.

Until next week! ♥

Two of my babies! Alexandria (Peanut) 4, Spade 20

I thought I was going to work. Peanut decided I was not.

When I work on the couch... sometimes it gets a little crowded.. (Turtle 4, is the middle, he's Xander's bio brother!)

Fancy Meeting You Here...

 

It has become very apparent that I'm horrible at maintaining a blog! I always come out here with grand intentions of being right on top of everything… so far, it hasn’t been going as planned. But! Just because there is a lag in content here doesn’t mean I’m not doing the writing/editing thing. Things have gone a little off the rails here in other ways. After a lengthy battle with Naomi’s school over their refusal to protect her from bullies (she was literally cornered into a bathroom, held against the wall, and threatened more than once) and their inability to accommodate her cognitive processing disorder… I’m now homeschooling her. It’s been interesting, to say the least. However, she has made more progress with me in five months than she did in almost eight years in trad school. The rant I could give you about the ways kids with a different approach to learning are treated by school systems is long and full of obscenity. We are in a better rhythm now, so I have dedicated work time again (instead of hard cramming it in on nights and weekends). I have plans to keep the blog up again. We’ll see how that goes.

On to book things! Into the Flames is officially ready to go out once I have a finalized cover! The cover is almost done too! I decided to smoosh the two short stories into the book rather than publish them separately. It’s still rougher than I would like it to be, but I think that’s ok. I’m seriously hoping Into the Flames will be published on February 13. It should be, buuuut we’ll see!

I’m working on final edits to Rage. My beta readers have been amazing and have pointed out a small mountain of things that need to be addressed. It’s a little overwhelming at times, but all of it will make Rage better. I’m excited to get it all polished up and things!

So! Here’s to a better-maintained blog and speedy edits!

PS. I'm starting a new thing with pictures either at the beginning or end of the posts. Why? I think it sounds like a good idea lol

I've started trying to keep my nails done. I feel better when I do, and, I mean, they look nice! It helps that I have LED UV light and gel polish so I can do it myself! 

I've also started changing up my phone screen for each month! (Don't mind the calendar, figured I should remove the names from my schedule!)