Category Archives: Personal

I go to find the snow!

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Legolas watched them for awhile with a smile upon his lips, and then he turned to the others. “The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf, or over snow–an Elf.”

With that he sprang forth nimbly […] and his feet made little imprint in the snow.

‘Farewell!’ he said to Gandalf. ‘I go to find the Sun!’

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

In the weeks leading up to my journey from Texas to the Kentucky area, I had numerous people ask me, “Why there?” Every time, my response was the same: “They get SNOW.”

Now, I’m in the Kentucky area, I got my snow, and Texas…well…

You’ve all seen the news, right?

It’s bad. Very bad. I’ve reached out to my family and friends in Texas. One of them didn’t lose power, but I think it’s because they live onsite at a business. The others…one just got his power back on after three days of nothing. The other hasn’t had power in five days now. She went to a friend’s house who does have power to charge her phone. They’re holding out okay, but there are millions who are still going without.

My sister is an optimistic soul. She’s hoping that this will help curb the COVID outbreak in Texas, but I don’t see that happening. The state is having to open up their shelters and warming stations for families without power, which means large numbers of people packed in (relatively speaking) small spaces. There’s no other choice though. Either people freeze or they expose themselves – and their families – to a deadly virus. Read that again, folks. Either they slowly freeze to death or put themselves at higher risk of catching a disease that has already killed millions worldwide.

And then, there’s Ted Cruz, who – after giving the smarmiest “I got no defense 🤷‍♀️” response to someone calling him out for blasting California’s energy problem, while not taking care of his own home state’s power grid – decides that he’s tired of the snow and jaunts off to Cancun, Mexico.

I’m not usually a “thoughts and prayers” person, but if you have any of either of those to send up for the people of Texas, please do. While you’re at it, please pray that they finally realize their “representatives” don’t actually represent them and vote them out.

New place, who dis?

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So, it’s been a hot minute, huh? Sorry about that. I meant to post regularly about the moving sitch, but…well, moving turns out to be quite a chaotic event. It’s been so long since I did it, I think I’d forgotten. I have been duly reminded, that’s for damn sure.

The past two weeks have been busy AF. Between moving, getting to the new workplace, getting used to the new workplace and co-workers, finally getting my promotion (!!!)…yeah, it’s been a ride. I’ve even already had my first taste of drama in the new place (wtf, neighbor?). It’s okay though, cause now I’m unpacked enough to feel up to writing and I’m starting to get a feel for Shelly again. I lost her for a while, which is part of why I just couldn’t write, even when I did find a second to sit down in front of the laptop. I’ve been itching to get back to her story ASAP.

I’m not setting any date for when the next chapter will be out – I don’t want to make myself a liar (again) – but I am working on setting aside time devoted solely to writing. I couldn’t do that before, so I’m excited to give it a try now. I’m especially hopeful, given that my new roommate also writes and understands the frustration of distractions getting in the way of words.

On that note, I’m writing this instead of working on chapter 17. I should probably get to that…

Shoo 2020, Shoo!

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Pretty sure we can all agree that 2020 has been an absolute shit show for most people. Even other writers, those of us who thrive on social distancing ourselves from anyone and/or everyone, are starting to feel the struggle…which is why I kinda feel bad for this next part.

This past year was amazing for me.

There have been down moments (remote learning is not fun to deal with, and some a$$hat got hold of one of my credit cards), but overall, my life has changed for the better. I’ve got a new job I love (except for the idiots who come in, refusing to wear a mask) and coworkers I enjoy working with. I graduated college, summa cum laude. I self-published my first book. I finally got my teeth taken care of, I’ve started eating a little healthier (I’ve lost 10lbs! *dances*), and I’m taking steps to keep the momentum. I’m about halfway packed for my move next month and have paid off one of my big monthly bills.

I’m trying not to jinx anything, but I can’t help but to be excited for the new year.

We have new leadership (suck it, dumpster fire!), a new vaccine (yes, it was rushed; no, I don’t exactly trust it, either, but it’s better than nothing)…in 39 days, I’ll also have a new address and a new roommate. It’s hard not to feel hopeful.

I am standing by my decision from last year; I’m not going to focus on any new year resolutions. I’m just going to keep on working on where I want to be in 2030. For 2021, that means the Indiana side of Louisville, Kentucky. Between now and the end of January, there’s going to be a LOT going on. If anything good happens, I’ll share it, but what fun stuff can come from packing? And why do I have a sudden sinking feeling that this move is going to be more eventful than anticipated? 😬😬😬

2020 Finish line is in sight!

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We’re in the final stretch! Just gotta make it through the next 31 days (not counting today), and 2020 will just be an ugly mark in history.

Polina Tankilevitch @ Pexels.com

Seriously, the only good thing that came out of this mess was the election results and even that was somewhat depressing. Don’t get me wrong, I am 100% here for Biden and our first female Vice President – of color, at that – but the fact that so many people still voted for the other choice, and the absolute ridiculous amount of people calling for him to run again in 2024 is heartbreaking. One of my roommates had her brother here for Thanksgiving week and I got to listen to a tin foil hat level conspiracy about how Biden’s going to put a chip in everyone by the end of the first year and they’re going to take everyone’s guns. By the time that guy left, I had a headache from the sheer…I don’t want to say stupidity, but wow. 

In other news, I haven’t even touched “Don’t Feed the Trolls.” As predicted, my hours at work almost doubled, and the increase in hours lined up perfect with my Thanksgiving break from watching the kids, so when I wasn’t working, I was recovering from working. There was drama at work on Thanksgiving, so that was really fun. A co-worker came to work with COVID symptoms. We had to send him home until he got tested and cleaned as much of the store as possible. Because of the possible exposure, I got to wear an N95 mask (3/10. Effective but hell on the nose) on top of my regular mask for the rest of the night. The coworker’s test came back negative, but we’re both having to have two temperature checks per work shift, just to be safe. 

I’ll have a two week break around Christmas, but I highly doubt I’ll get to write then, either. I’ll probably be working more, for one thing, and also ramping up on my packing. My future roommate signed the lease on our apartment just yesterday, and I’m supposed to be having a weekend off soon to finish organizing the family storage unit. Right now, everyone’s crap is all mixed in together, and I am not taking a bunch of toys the kids outgrew to my new place. Not happening, folks. I will be taking a washer and dryer (which may or may not work) and other assorted pieces of furniture, but that’s part of the organizing fun I get to have.

Lisa Fotios @ Pexels.com

I’m getting more and more excited, people. My future residential area has already had snow and it’s barely reaching freezing, here in DFW. I’m not going to have much of a winter this year, but it’ll still be more of one than I’ve had for the past twelve years, and I am so ready for it. 

TL;DR

No writing done, no writing probably until after the move. COVID still sucks. WEAR A DAMN MASK. Hell yeah, Biden/Harris, 2020!

In case you missed it:

“Say ‘No!’ to Zombies” is available on Amazon kindle! (Still working on the paperback copy.)

Thank the gods, 2020 is almost over~

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Every single time I thought to sit down last month and write a blog post, something else happened. Some good, some bad, some…undecided. I’m just glad I was able to finish that last chapter in time. It was a very near thing. 

Cottonbro @ Pexels.com

Just a heads up everyone, the next couple of months are going to be spotty. I finally got my moving stuff sorted out, and will be moving from Fort Worth, Texas to the Louisville, Kentucky area at the beginning of 2021. For the next two months, I’ll be going through an entire storage unit full of crap, sorting it out, figuring out what I want to keep and – in a lot of cases – repacking a ton of boxes. This, by the way, is on top of working an increasing amount of hours (yay, holidays!) and homeschooling the kids. 

I had really hoped to have “Don’t Feed the Trolls” done before the end of the year, but with everything going on, I don’t know if it’s going to be possible. I plan on working on it as much as possible, but I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. Due to this, I can’t promise a chapter in November. If I am able to post a chapter in November, I can’t promise one for December, and so on, and so on. 

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

I can’t even promise Music Mondays anymore, and those are my favorite posts to do. I have a replacement idea in mind, but I haven’t decided if I like it yet, or how actionable it is, considering how busy I’m about to be.

Stay safe everyone. Whether the Idiot-In-Chief wins the election or not, the next couple of months are going to be interesting.

In case you missed it:

“Say ‘No!’ to Zombies” is available on Amazon kindle! (Still working on the paperback copy.)

This is halloween, this is halloween~

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Hello October! You’re my favorite month ♥ (Just don’t tell August…or December.) 

Okay, so, how are you all? Personally, I’ve been going just a bit crazy, but not in a bad way. Still not pressed about being cooped up at home or having to wear a mask. I did fall off my yoga train, though, so this month is going to be focusing on getting myself back into a good routine again (which also includes writing, yay!).

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

This is also the month of one of my favorite holidays, ever. (Yes, I am one of those people who get a bit craz(ier) around Halloween. You won’t ever see me with a PSL, but pour me a cold glass of apple cider and we’re good.) I’ve already talked my future roommate into setting up a Halloween Tree when we get all moved in and settled. No trick or treating for us, we’re “too old” (bah!), but we can still have a tree full of treats just for us, and I am living for it.

Enough about that, Let’s get onto this month’s lineup. 

Writing:

As I am writing this, I am mostly done with Chapter 17 of “Don’t Feed the Trolls” and am hoping to post it on October 15th. There is a lot going on however, so it might be pushed back to the 22nd. Either way, you will see it this month. I’m also still working on the “Blood Runs Black” rewrite, but that’s gonna take a bit longer.

Music

This month is going to be dedicated to Halloween related videos. Zombies, witches, etc.. I haven’t decided which order I’ll post them in yet, but I plan on having fun this month.

In general

I’m trying to work on posting more regularly on here, but much of what’s going on is one hot button or another, so these are tricky times. I’m also trying to decide what to post here, because most writers get told to write about “writing stuff”, but there’s so much of that already out there. I’ll figure it out, but until then, you’re probably going to end up with random slices of life. (Sorry.)

TL;DR

Halloween is awesome and there’s a new chapter coming.

Photo by Ariel Knox on Pexels.com

Stay safe everyone. If you’re taking part in the Breonna Taylor protests, that goes double for you.

In case you missed it:

“Say ‘No!’ to Zombies” is available on Amazon kindle! (Still working on the paperback copy.)

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