Category Archives: Excuses

Bye, 2016.

When I finished NaBloPoMo in 2015, I intended to take a week off and then resume blogging. Instead, I took that week, then more than 50 other weeks, and here I am. Plenty of times I thought about blogging, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I don’t even know what stopped me. Was my blogging moment in the sun over? Was I ever really in the sun to begin with? Was I just too uninspired? Busy? Lazy? The answer to all of these, except for whether I was ever really in the sun, is pretty much yes.

In case you’re wondering, here’s a rundown of what’s happened since I last wrote:

December: Holidays. Work.

January: Work. Snow.

February: Work. Snow. Sad.

March: Work. Probably didn’t snow. Still sad. I fear I will never see sunlight or be warm again.

April: Spring break in LA. Not sad! Warmer!

May: 40th birthday! I wore the fancy party dress. I did a ropes course. I felt strong. I went to Nashville with dear friends. I took over as editor in chief at yeah write.

June: Work. Yeah write.

July: Work. Yeah write. I got book edits back from beta readers and an editor. Yikes. Sinus infection.

August: Work. Yeah write. Book edits. Humidity.

September: Work. Yeah write. Book edits. Long Beach Comic Con (yay, LA!!). So much inspiration and zero time.

October: Work. Two new big freelance jobs. Work. Work. The sun is leaving. Work. Sad. Yeah write. So much stuff.

November: Thanksgiving in LA! Sun! Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. Cold. Yeah write. Work. Sad. Cold. Election.

December: Work. Yeah write. Sad. Work. Christmas. Work. Sad. Sinus infection. Work. Freezing to death. Blob-like.

As you can see, there wasn’t much time for storytelling and I wasn’t really in the mood for stories either. I’ve been so busy. At times, I was busier than any person should be. January looks like it could be moderately busy. I’m fine with that. I have big plans and they all take work.

What I think is most funny is that I think what inspired me to finally break my blog silence was that every year, around this time, I feel like I want to start cooking again (I pretty much haven’t cooked all year) and organizing my house, my life, my everything. Usually things start to get away from me in the fall but the fact is that last year I never got stuff back together so all of 2016 felt off. This is the first time I feel like I can get 2017 on track. I can set real goals rather than arbitrary ones with no target dates (I can’t explain that, you’ll have to accept my vagueness with the understanding that it will make sense later).

In some ways, while everyone else was having the worst 2016, I was having the best. So many things became clear. And in other ways it was the worst because clarity is an absolutely frightening thing sometimes when you don’t know what to do with what you now know to be true.

So, here I am. On the edge of a new year. I have some resolutions and goals, like any good overachiever would. You’ll hear about them in time since I’m not ready for the big reveal. And that’s how I know that this path I’m on is the truth: I need to guard it and protect it. I need to cultivate it. I can’t get bogged down talking about it. I have to push through until I’m there and then I can tell you what I did. I won’t feel like I owe you an update or I made you a promise that maybe I didn’t keep. I’m not making myself promises, other than to get up every day and do the work that needs to get done that day so that I can be where I need to be.

I do hope to blog more. I miss it. I don’t know that I have the time for it in any real way, but I’ll try. For now, I’m going to end the year with some work, the grocery store, getting my hair done, and a party with friends. It’s the right way to end it. I’m ready for something new.

 

 

 

This Is One of those Update Posts.

I haven’t published a post here in about four months. That was not my intention. I was going to take a week or so off so I could start my new day job.

A week or so.

In my defense, not that I really need to defend myself, I also added a part time job at the same time and I had my freelance work and I have a house to run and a family to take care of and then I started kickboxing. Anyway, writing here fell to the wayside.

As I type this, I’m sitting in my friends’ kitchen in California. We’re here for Long Beach Comic Con. Yeah write will be hosting a booth there with a microstory contest and I’ll be speaking on a panel about the future of digital storytelling. The fact that I’m speaking at a comic convention and that I’m running around as a writer feels all sorts of weird but in a good way.

That is until I got to thinking that if I’m telling people I’m a writer and I have a blog, I probably should put something on it. I’ve sat in front of this screen more times than I can count but nothing comes out. My head is filled with 5,000 other things, most of which aren’t interesting to other people.

Hell, they aren’t even interesting to me. For example: I keep reminding myself that I must not forget to stop at Target to pick up the Simply Balanced Fruit Strips that I put in my kid’s lunch because we’re almost out and the regular grocery store doesn’t have anything that’s not filled with sugar. And why am I not buying these in bulk online? I don’t even know why I don’t buy everything online so I never need to go to a store. I fall down a rabbit hole of errand reminders and ways to improve my life that I don’t have time to implement.

At this point I am so busy and my head is so filled with details that I no longer know whether to shit or wind my watch (best phrase ever). Once LBCC is over, I should have a few free minutes per day to focus on writing more. A few minutes should be enough, right?

If you’re new here, hi, and I promise to write something better than this soon. If you’re old here, hi, and thanks for sticking with me. Good stuff will be happening here soon.

Life is good and interesting and there are opportunities and ideas popping up all around me. Trying to get my head together to act on them is another matter. Soon, though. Soon.