Today is a slow day. A day spent sleeping in and watching robins hunt for worms in the front yard. We were out late last night, singing karaoke with friends until the bar closed. Like we’re still in our twenties.
We are not.
Trev’s had the worst of it, while I feel fine other than a slightly sensitive stomach and hoarseness I haven’t felt in a long time. I love karaoke, y’all. Like, a lot a lot. And when I go, I go hard. If I’m not a little raspier the next day, did I even have fun?
Point is, we had fun, and we’re paying for it now. So while it’s quiet, let’s talk about goals, shall we?
Last Week
- Write at least 3x
- Send Newsletter
- Keep reading
- Edit + Schedule Podcast
- Tidy up office (lol)
How'd I Do?
- Write at least 3x
- Yes! It wasn’t all on the novel, but my butt was in the chair three times this week.
Send Newsletter- Yes! It went out on time, and is chilling in your inbox if you haven’t read it yet.
- Keep reading
- Yes! I finally got caught up on my work’s book club book (The Change by Kirsten Miller) and I started my #StoryADay challenge in March, as is tradition.
- Edit + Schedule Podcast
- Yes! The new episode is out now! Have you listened to it yet?
- Tidy up office (lol)
- lol no. It’s arguably even worse now, for reasons I’ll get into shortly.
Weekly Word Count: 3,682
Now, this is a set of bullet points a person can be proud of. I’m feeling really good about this last week. The words came easily, I’ve got some new ideas for the direction of the book and really excited for the last 30k words or so. The finish line isn’t quite in sight, but I can smell it.
Reading continues to go well. I’ve really enjoyed the short stories I’ve read so far:
- “Lumenfabulator” by Liu Yang, translated by Ladon Gao, from Life Beyond Us ed. by Julie Nováková.
- “Black Screams, Yellow Stars” by Maxwell I. Gold, from Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology, ed. by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason.
- “Home” by Erik Grove, from Nightmare Magazine February 2023 issue, ed. by Wendy N. Wagner.
- “Bhegna Cthella’s Guidelines on Pandemic Etiquette Whilst Dining Out” by Brandon Ketchum, from LOLcraft: A Compendium of Eldritch Humor, ed. by Michael Cieslak.
- “Ad Astra Per Aspera” by Nino Cipri, from Transcendent 4: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, ed. by Bogi Takács.
So if the writing and the reading is going well, what’s the hold up with the office tidying? Well… the majority of “mess” are some important documents from purchasing our house, tax and insurance papers, etc. And before I could get around to the dreary task of organizing them and tucking them back under the coffee table I’ve repurposed as a plant stand, we had a trial of the homeowner variety.
There’s a plumbing leak in our crawl space. One bad enough that led to no hot water, an increased water bill, and our having to turn off the water to the entire house. In order to do that, I had to find the main water valve, which we’ve never had to do in the almost seven years we’ve lived here. This led to me digging through all our purchase documents looking for the home inspection. Hence, the office is worse off than when the week began.
We’ve been without water since Friday and will be without it until at least Monday. So keep your fingers and toes crossed for us that it will be a simple fix and we can get back to our normal lives.
So, What's Next?
- Write 3x
- Keep reading
- Tidy up office (for realsies this time)
That’s it folks! Given the state of our home at the moment, I’m going to assume that this week might be a stressful one. I’m keeping things simple goal-wise.
As I mentioned, we’re moving slow today, recuperating from a rambunctious night out. We did not go for our usual walk this morning, and therefore the blog will not have an Outings! post again this week. Sorry about that, but karaoke out with friends was 100% worth it.
I will be back with a little bonus post I’ve been cooking up, though, so keep an eye on the site later this week!
Until then, Bloggos!
BZ
