Well hello there, stranger. Come here often?
Damn, it’s been a wild ride. Let’s see, what have I been up to while I was gone?
So I know I said I was hoping to be back by July. *peers at calendar* Coming back on the 31st still totally counts, right?
July was a complete disaster for me, on pretty much any front I was trying to watch. I ate bad food constantly. I hurt myself and stayed away from the gym for a bit, and then was either working under hard deadline or traveling the rest of the time. I’ve been to the gym once all month, and it was last Tuesday. I’m afraid to get on a scale because the numbers have been making my depression worse. I have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday and I’m a little worried about what she’s going to say to me, in that I haven’t made any progress in the 6 months I’ve been gone.
But I’m finding my way back. Just last weekend I was traveling around for a good friend’s wedding, and since it was a family voyage, this meant I got to read in the back seat and get caught up on some of the NetGalley stuff I’d been delaying. Now I’m finding my routine again, I’m writing again, I’m reading regularly again. Slowly, the wheels are getting fixed back on the cart.
I bought a Pavlok, and if you haven’t heard of them, go check them out. I’ve been fascinated by the concept of classic conditioning since I learned about it in school, and what the Pavlok does is the very definition of aversion therapy. It’s built to help you break bad habits, and since I’m always aware that I’m doing a bad thing when I eat too much, I can zap myself. Eventually, my brain will recognize that doing the bad thing gets it zapped, and it will no longer want to do the bad thing. (At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. We’ll see.)
I have a gym membership, and I’m trying to go between 2-4 times a week. I had been shooting for 4-5 but that’s how I hurt myself so I’m slowing myself down a little. On the three-day weeks, I’m going to re-start the Zombies, Run 5k app. That helped before. It’ll help again.
I’m really, really enjoying my new job–and they seem to like having me around. It’s been almost two months now, and I’m really starting to feel more comfortable behind the desk and answering the phone. (The phone is really the surprising part. I hate the phone. So much I hate the phone.) But my bosses are very supportive and nice, and assure me I’m doing an excellent job. I have very high hopes.
I’ve also learned pretty much the entire first act of Hamilton, so that’s a thing.
Things on my to do list:
I want to kickstart my Patreon. (Not Kickstarter.) I want to actually do something with it. I want to make there be a reason for people to check it out. Also, it will be a good inspiration for me to keep working on KARANTIRI, as that’s likely going to be a serial going up there.
I want to get started on the second draft of VOICE IN THE DARK, since that’s the next project I’m planning on publishing. Sometime soon, I should hear back about whether or not the short story in that universe I wrote is going to be published in a short story collection. Then I’ll be able to make some decisions about the future of all that.
I’m still arguing with my webcam and my microphone, but I’m hoping to get videos back up and running again soon. I miss my YouTube community, as small as it may be.
(I’m gonna learn Act 2 of Hamilton too, but that’s neither here nor there.)
Thank you all so much for hanging in there with me. I have no idea what my schedule it going to look like moving forward, but my eventual goal is to get us back to where we started. ❤
We’re gonna be awesome, y’all. I promise.
-Ri
I am not lost... 