Writing Journal #18

Salutations and saturations, friends. It’s still cold as balls. I’m slowly editing Lazarus, and that’s about all there is to it. I haven’t really done much in the way of writing yet this year, and while it’s a little weird that I haven’t, I’m oddly okay with it.

I have two big projects I want to get done, publish Lazarus, and then get a first draft of a hard sci-fi story I got inspired to do a little while ago. I have a lot of plans for future projects. Short stories and so on.

It’s February. I just realized how very little I blogged in January. I wasn’t really doing anything. Just working and … probably watching too many episodes of X-Files (Walter Skinner can get it, yo, god damn.) But now I’m on a different shift at work, so my mornings have been freed up quite significantly. I’ll find a balance, but I think I’m going to enjoy very much the time before work to be productive.

I’d always have such ambition to do stuff after work, but I’d get home and want to do nothing. Work all day to go home and do more work? No, thanks. But with the before work hours of free time, I’ve done so many things. I feel unstoppable. Which is probably just the manic part of my depression getting all demonic and cackling as we burn out. But I’m going to view it as a good thing for now.

I chopped up five pounds of onions this morning to put in the freezer for when I want to make a batch of soup. I did the same with some celery and some carrots. I’ve been meal prepping all the things, and it has been incredibly helpful as someone who doesn’t like spending money on fast food stuff. I’m cooking so much more for myself and it is a gosh dang delight. I made red lentil curry that gave me the biggest joy I’ve had in a while when it comes to food.

That’s not writing, but life aids the story. I’m reading the second book from my Bingo Board. I don’t know if I’ve talked about that yet. Last year, I did a bingo board of things I wanted to do in 2025. I did about half of them, which was neato. Didn’t get a full bingo because I set it up strategically so I wouldn’t get one unless I did the fitness things. Clearly, a strategy that didn’t work. So, this year, I went for books. I picked thirty books I want to read and I’m marking them with stars once I finish. I know bingo boards only have 25 spots, but the extra five are “bonus bingo.” Books I have in case there’s one I decide I really don’t want to read. There’s one I’m toying with not finishing, and it’s one I’ve tried to read several times. But that’s me, never wanting to give up on someone or something.

The first one was the previous post on this site, The Sun Also Rises. My goal is to do a book photoshoot after I finish one and then do a book post on here. We’ll see how well I do! I look forward to it all, really. Some of the books are ones I’ve had for a long, long time. I do still want to read them, which is why they exist on my shelves and not in the donate piles.

I think that’s about all the news from this side of the trees. I hope your books are comfy and your words are easy to find. I’ll talk to you soon, probably. I’ll always find something to yap about!

Until next time, friends.

Writing Journal #7?

Heyooooo what is up my friends?

Actually, give me a second. Gonna go look at the last journal and see what all I said.

Ah yes. Well, the car is broken broken, and I now have a new vehicle to cart me on my adventures (to the office because all I do is work). I wrote a short story for a contest on a writing forum. I’m currently …. with some votes.

Have you ever “outgrown” a story? I felt lost with the novel I’ve deemed the “summer project” and I was worried I’d lost my way with it. Not necessarily that it was a bad story, but maybe I no longer felt like it needed to be told.

I rearranged a chapter and rewrote some other scenes and now I’m writing like a fiend. I still think I have some lingering “am I no longer able to write this story?” but for the most part, it feels like I’m moving forward at a steady pace. My right wrist and middle finger say “maybe lighten up on how you hold the pen, fool.”

I think that’s all I have for now. I hope you are doing well. I hope your stories are coming to you word by word and page by page.

Until next time, friends.