Life, other distractions, and things

If I can make time to add a blog post, I should be able to make time to write. (I know, always full of excuses).

So what’s on the plate, and how am I prioritizing my tasks? If you guys are being patient enough to wait around for my next book, I feel I should at least return the courtesy by sharing a glimpse into my world and why things are so slow on the writing front. I like lists, so here we go! (I apologize ahead of time for all those who have been traumatized by lists). Below I’ve broken things down by their main categories, and have listed them in no particular order.

1. Day job

   1. Full time job with varying levels of stress. Side-effects include days where I get home and don’t want to do anything at all (though to be fair, I suspect most folks’ jobs come with this sort of side effect).

2. School

   1. While I already hold an associate’s and a bachelor’s degree, I’ve (possibly foolishly) decided to go back to school for a completely unrelated degree in graphic design. I hope to both improve my art skills, as well as open up other career avenues down the road. I’ve worked in the tech world most of my adult life, and I think I’m ready for a change that embraces the creativity I’ve always been drawn to. As for writing: while I love it, I can’t devote 100% of my energy on it at the stage I’m at right now. So for now, I’m choosing to refocus the career side goal on a graphic design flavored degree).

3. Eco-friendly transitions

   1. Since the loss of my brother, I’ve been struggling a lot with things at an existential level (as well as mild ongoing depression). Among that tumult of emotion is a sense that I’ve given up on all the things I used to do to help and reduce my harm to the world around me. And right now, I really need to feel like I’m doing something positive in this world, so I’ve started edging back to a more eco-friendly approach to living. Here are some of the things (that I may wind up blogging more extensively about as time goes on):

      1. Grow food - this means, hydroponics experiments are under way. I have some seeds going through germination stage right now. If my boyfriend and I can successfully start growing some of the food we eat, we can reduce the level of grocery trips taken, plastic waste used, and carbon emissions to transport that food. Plus, we know exactly what it is we’re eating (and it’s pesticide-free).

      2. Recycle

      3. Ditch the plastic as much as possible -

         1. cloth bags, tupperware/glass containers.

         2. More home-cooked meals (less instant convenience foods).

      4. Natural Hair and Body care (Bonus for helping reduce packaging waste).

         1. Shampoo replaced with a brew of soap nuts, lavender, and rosemary (already successfully tested). Following with an ACV rinse is also a great finishing touch. I’ve tried shampoo bars, but they always leave my hair clumpy, and a little oily looking. For my hair type, soap nut tea is 100% the way to go.

         2. Detangler/conditioner replaced with home brewed marshmallow root/aloe/acv mixture (not tested yet).

         3. Body scrubs - various blends of ground oat, sugar, coconut oil, aloe gel

4. Selling a house (someday)

   1. I’ve been more or less moved out of my house for just shy of a year. Ongoing repairs are being made via contractors. This stuff needs to happen before I can officially put the house on the market. Things have been a lot slower on finishing the repairs than expected, and I’ve also wound up dragging my heels on emptying out the last of the house.

5. Finishing Book 2

   1. I need some serious tetris’ing skills with everything going on in my life for this to happen. I have absolutely not dropped it from my list of important things. Unfortunately, I only have so much energy a day/week/month to devote to things, and I’ve been having to pick and choose on what gets the focus on any given day.

6. Artwork

   1. I continue to grow my art skills, but have not had as much time to devote to it as I want. Yes - I’m going back to school for an art-related degree. But, that said - schoolwork art is not quite the same as art for the sake of art. I have had the same in-progress painting lingering on my easel for at least a month now, with no further progress (because when I carve time to art, it’s for specific class projects these days).

7. Dance

   1. At this point, you’re probably wondering why I don’t cull some things out. Instead, I went and added another new(ish) thing. I started learning bellydance close to two decades ago when I was stationed at Langley AFB (yup - former military here). Over the years, finding classes was very very difficult, and I mostly gave it up as not likely to ever happen again. But - happily, I was wrong. I found a few great classes in the last few months, but sadly it’s now down to just once a week, because I literally can carve no more extra time out for it than that. I really enjoy the group I’m taking classes with right now, though. I don’t get a lot of social time with just other women (outside of my friends at work), and it’s something I’ve discovered I really missed. Plus, while my aptitude for bellydance is questionable, I still enjoy it.

So, there you go. That’s the glimpse into the chaos that is my life right now, and a hopefully more detailed (and long-winded) explanation for what the writing hold up is. Thank you all for your continued patience!