Ramping Up Writing

As I said in my last post about all of our changes, I’ve been working to stretch myself when it comes to writing this year. The SSSFFSS was a big deal for me. I’ve never been one to really share my work and then I opened the door by writing something to specifically give to someone else.

It was writing from a prompt, which I have found to really enjoy writing from. A little idea sparks a big idea and so on. However, this prompt was wide open, which made me nervous at first. Especially since I had to try to be humorous. But, after my initial freak out, I got that little spark and a story was born. The giftee gave good feedback and the world Abigail Quinn lives in was born.

Since then, I’ve started another story featuring Abby Quinn. I’m not sure what it’s going to be yet, but this world and this character is pretty fun, so I am enjoying it. It’s relatively lighthearted, and I intend it to be mostly funny. Perhaps it will go deeper. I’m only at the beginning, so I’m trying not to think too far ahead. I find I write better that way.

I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, and as is typical for every NaNo I’ve ever touched, I failed miserably after real life stomped all over my plans. We had every member of the house come down with a stomach bug one weekend and another, I had a hip flare and that left me unable to function. Luckily, my husband stepped up and was teh awesomez.

Now, I’m trying to figure out the way to get more writing time in schedule. Things have been a little hectic lately and competing priorities make things hard. Once I get a little farther into this story, I look forward to working on it more.

What have you been working on lately and what struggles have you faced?

Life in the Fast Lane

Time flies when you are busy with all kinds of crap! It’s hard to believe that it is summer already and we’re in the middle of the sixth month of the year.

There have been all sorts of things going on around here, from successes to more illness. I am hoping the warm weather and the sunshine put an end to all this nasty germs.

The oldest finished her year of first grade by winning all the awards except attendance. She won the President’s Physical Fitness award, made High Honor Roll for the entire school year, made her Marathon Reader goal, and made her AR reading goals for the entire year. I am so proud of her hard work for all her accomplishments for this year!

Middle child finished her second year of preschool. She goes back for one more year before she begins kindergarten. I sometimes worry that another year of preschool and then kindergarten will bore her to pieces because she is so smart already, but I fear her social skills need the extra time to develop before she enters elementary school. I can only hope I am making the right decision for her. One of my favorite school tales is the time I was almost sent to the principal’s office during first grade because I was so bored I was smearing Elmer’s on my hands and picking it off once it dried. I don’t want my children to suffer that same boredom.

The youngest child begins his first year of preschool in the fall. I am thinking he’ll really enjoy it. He hated having to leave every time his sister was dropped off all last year.

I’ve been battle sinus infections some more. One of those triggered a nice case of iritis. But after spending ALL THE DOLLARS taking everyone to the doctor for tonsillitis and strep, I self-treated with the medication I already had.

However, I got to meet up with my rheumatologist to go over my x-rays. It turns out there is abnormal inflammation on the iliac side of both my sacroiliac joints. So he recommended I get an MRI to determine if the cause was degenerative or inflammatory and if it was inflammatory, he thought I would need to start on a biologic. MRI results came back, but I have not met with the doctor to discuss in person. Best I can tell from my e-chart is that there is some inflammation, but it is not acute. He recommended a different drug than the biologic at this time.

But then I think I’m going to have to see an ENT about my near-constant sinus pain.

Recommendation:  Don’t let issues fester!

I think I am going to attempt Camp NaNoWriMo in July. I am getting a handle on new job and there are far less restrictions on time off than my previous full-time job. I need to get my writing back on track. This is one thing I really want for myself.

The other things I am going to focus on including developing a daily exercising routine and actually doing it, and doing more fun things with the kids. Both are in progress. I think we will like the results.

What fun things do you have planned for the summer?

A Day at a Time

Hello there, you smexy thing. I’m back for another round of blog posting. I’m going to try this new thing were I build my habit by posting every day, even if it’s just a tiny little bit of whatever.

My day started at 2 am when Kidlet Three woke up. It wasn’t all that unexpected seeing as he fell asleep on the way home. I was even pleased when he took one bite of a “hoptart”, drank half a glass of milk, blew out a bunch of snot, and fell back to sleep. I would have happily gone back to sleep too, except our 12 year old Cocker Spaniel/Chow Chow mix thought that I wanted to stay up and proceeded to bark from his kennel for over an hour. So I cleaned out my inbox and deleted a bunch of emails I didn’t need before finally deciding to get up and take a shower.

So now I am caffeinating, because that is the best (and only!) way to start the day. There is a light snow/sleet mix coming down and I need to get ready for work. Yet here I sit at the computer.

My marriage is facing struggles again. Or perhaps I should say that we are back to the same struggle we’ve had. Yesterday it just hit home again. Somehow we got on a path that causes my husband to say that I don’t deserve a break away from the kids or family stuff ever. Unless I want to fork over the dollars for it. I pay a decent wage for my babysitters so that gets expensive fast if I go that route. Meanwhile, all over my real and my online lives, other mothers who have spouses that tell their wives, “Go. Take that break. you deserve it.” And all I can wonder is why I am not worthy. He gets to go do things. Other mothers get to go do things. I NEED that time alone for my sanity and I’m not getting it. I suffer. but I can’t seem to convince him that I would be a much happier, healthier, BETTER wife and mother if I got that time.

So we’ve reached a bit of an impasse. I can’t let it go and he won’t give in. This produces a lot of stress. Coincidentally (or not), this has a produced an increase in my hip pain.  I thought my reduction in pain was from another cause, but multiple variables changed when my pain decreased, and I now suspect stress and anxiety are a big trigger. I was finally able to see a rheumatologist and while he doesn’t think I have signs of ankylosing spondylitis, there appears to be something going on. My bloodwork is normal, but on the borderline of the high end of the range, and  I wasn’t having a lot of pain issues when it was drawn. Today I get X-rays, which I am looking forward to. Hopefully some answers and some better pain management. Now that I’ve made the stress/anxiety connection, I need to figure out how to minimize it. A conflict that cannot be solved doesn’t help.

Getting lost in the crazy world of day job doesn’t sound so bad right now.

House of Ick! And Gross!

2013 has proved to be an interesting year. New job. New schedule. More activities. And a buttload of illness. For a house that rarely gets sick, we’ve been rocking the Sickness Salute since Christmas. Every week seems to bring something new. Stomach bugs. Colds. What appears to have been a mild flu. Sinus infections. Either a new illness strikes or a new family member gets it. I’m exhausted. Because nothing says awesome like waking up at 2 am to clean puke off the floor.

New job is going well. I am getting home earlier, but lately I have been battling exhaustion in the evening and I’m not nearly as productive as I had hoped to be. Perhaps when spring comes with some sunshine and warmer weather, things will ease up a bit. Sunshine is always good. My days at work are busy, but I stay just this side of panic about task overload. The hours sure fly by and the people are fun to work with. I like this company. Every time I’ve worked there (intern, 2 temp gigs, & now full-time employee), I feel right at home with these people.

The kids are getting busier than ever. Soccer will start up soon. I’m kind of disappointed that Kidlet One wanted to take a break as she seems to have a bit of natural talent. However, Kidlet Two is super excited to be big enough to play this year in the preschooler group. I am also trying to round up other activities and opportunities for the kids, even if it means I’m exhausted. Kidlet One has Girl Scouts, which always seems to be busy.

On the writing front, my novels (yes, that is plural) call out to me, mocking me about my lack of attention to their causes. Every time I sit down to write, it seems something comes up with the kids demanding my attention and I end up so exhausted it is hard to think once I finally sit down again. I am hoping some of this clears up with the warmer weather. I’ve also made efforts to get to bed earlier so I can get up earlier. This morning I got up a littler earlier, but so did Kidlet Three and he woke his oldest sister in the process, so I don’t quite call it a success. More like yet another work in progress. But isn’t all of life?

In the meantime, I keep trying to make progress, including a complete declutter of the house. It’s time to purge a great many things. I’ll keep trucking after my goals and get there eventually, including blogging more. I do enjoy it.

2013: Year of Many Things

At one point I was going to write all these delightful goals for 2013. Things I was going to do, all these wonderful things I was going to accomplish. But alas, life has a way of taking all of my plans and scattering them to the four corners of the earth. So, let’s recap a bit.

Thanksgiving holiday I was as sick as a dog. The week I had off between Christmas and New Year’s, I was sick as a dog. I’ve started a new job. The past week I started fully into my new job and my brain is mushy, full of new things. It will all sort itself eventually though. I’ve also had a horrid headache for the last two days.

So let’s just say that for 2013, these are the things on my plate:

• Settle in to my new job
• Write more
• Get the house decluttered & hold a garage sale
• Save a significant amount toward a Disney vacation
• Focus on eating right including more real, whole foods
• Make regular exercise a thing for me
• Pay off some debt

That seems to be plenty. Some of it is simple. Some of it repeats from last year. And some of it is new to a public list but has been on my mind for quite a time.

I am excited to get back into the writing seat. I am also grateful for a new job that allows me more time with my family and involves working with a great group of people. I get home much earlier than I have in years and my commute is cut in half. Score!

If you are a urban fantasy fan, Ilona Andrews is putting out the Innkeeper Chronicles. Book One is called Clean Sweep. The link takes you the beginning. I find it awesome.

Some of my friends are out in an anthology called A Spank in Time! Way to go, folks!

I think that’s about all I have for now. I am currently reading Tiffany Allee’s Lycan Unleashed. Just started. Somewhere I need to keep a list of books I’ve read this year.

2011 Resolutions

NOTE: I typed this up ages ago and then let it sit around while I never edited it. Since it’s never a bad time to set some goals and work toward them, I’m still posting it. I look forward to updating regularly, some how or some way because I’ve failed miserably so far this year.

It’s that time of year again where everyone puts together plans for the new year and sets a gamut of unachievable goals. Yes, I’m guilty of it, too. In fact, I started thinking of things subconsciously before I even put a name to it.

But this year, I think I’m going to do something different. I’ve picked several areas of my life where I want to make improvements and/or changes. So I have a list of major areas where I want to tackle things. As I was thinking about it. I really decided that since the general goals don’t seem to work well for me, perhaps it was best to break down this big things into smaller pieces and perhaps work on implementing two things at a time until I met all the goals on my list. I’m hoping these smaller pieces will be easier to accomplish and I may even break down some of them to smaller to make it all more manageable.

So here’s my list. I am going to pick three of these to start off with and then move on from there.

Health/Exercise

• Do sit ups, push ups & squats daily – preferably in the morning.
• Do at least one 10 minute exercise routine a day
• Lose weight (about 60 lbs) – This one has to wait to later in the year because I’ve found that if I cut too many calories, my breastmilk supply suffers.

Writing

• Write 100 words every day – Something small to get me back in the habit of writing. It can be any mix of fiction or non fiction.
• Attend the AW Science Fiction/Fantasy chats when they are held.
• Do the AW Chat Flash Fiction Challenge on Sundays.

Personal Time

• Go out once a month, be it date night or a girls’ night.
• Get two hours of reading/writing time at least once a month, all alone.

House & Home

• Plan and carry out meal plans and freezer cooking – It will save time and money during the week when I don’t get home until late and don’t want to spend the whole evening cooking like I do now.
• Organize the house and create a cleaning plan – I’ve been building up to this, mostly using the Flylady’s routines. I’m working on modifying them to better work in our household.

Time with Kids

• Get out and do more with them – Right now I feel so house-bound because I’m constantly trying to get caught up on housework and such, so I’m going to work on getting that stuff taken care of so we can do more fun things together.

These are the things I want to accomplish this year, so to start off right, these three things are going to be the focus for most of January/February:

• Do sit ups, push ups & squats daily – preferably in the morning.
• Write 100 words every day – Something small to get me back in the habit of writing. It can be any mix of fiction or non fiction.
• Plan and carry out meal plans and freezer cooking – It will save time and money during the week when I don’t get home until late and don’t want to spend the whole evening cooking like I do now.

These are the things I’m going to focus on for the first couple of month, which will hopefully be enough time to make them habit. Around March, I’ll start on something else. I’m hoping to tackle everything by the end of the year.

Be on the lookout for further updates of my 2011 resolutions.