Today’s forecast shows an 85% chance of swearing, and as usual, a 100% chance of sarcasm. Be sure to dress accordingly folks, it's going to be a scorcher!
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…
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.)
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!).
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.
Sorry, I know some of you are like, “This is the longest January ever!” but I am more than happy to finally have most of summer behind me. I’ve spent the past two months (at least) grumbling about the heat (it’s almost 9pm when I’m writing this, and it’s still “Feels like 101°F” outside), so the fact that this week, we might be seeing temps in the 80°s is major cause for celebration. I told Nikki the other day that it feels like this year has flown by, what with it being one thing after another. I just can’t wait ‘til everything is over. I’m past done with customers being pissy about wearing a mask and Uber drivers trying to tell me that everything is a hoax.
Of course, the downside is that with it being September already, the kids are back in school. I mentioned before that we were sticking with remote learning, and let me tell you. It’s been a doozy. The eldest kiddo is doing fine. She gets up and gets to work, no problem. The youngest though, is fighting tooth and nail. He’s taken to waking up at 1am and staying up half the night, which means he’s cranky AF when 6:30am rolls around. He’s getting in trouble with his teachers and his classmates. It’s just a mess. A whole mess. (Before anyone starts on me: it’s not the teacher’s fault for this being a mess. The other students seem to be doing just fine. This is solely on the kiddo.) I don’t have to take over with him until about 9:15am, but from them until he’s done with his assignments for the day, it’s all out war. I’m quite eager to be moving out ASAP. (Too bad ASAP is still a good 6+months away.)
No real updates this month, besides the release of “Say ‘No!’ to Zombies.” I do have some time off from kids and work, so I’ll be writing as much as I can then. Sept. 7th will see the return of the #MusicMondays, so that’s something to look for, and I’ll try getting a new chapter of “Don’t Feed the Trolls” out later this month.
In the meantime, everyone stay safe and take care of yourself. It’s been a rough year, but we’ll make it through. If you’re taking part in any of the protests, double up on the staying safe and don’t forget your mask.
Last month…was an oops month. You probably noticed the first couple posts of the month stopped suddenly. This is what happens when you slap together a plan without actually stopping to prepare for it, first. I’ll be stepping that plan back and revising the whole idea. I want to do something, but I want to do it right.
In other news, this month is back to writing. I was thinking I’d have something for you by August 16th, but then I remembered I have another (minor) surgery coming up on the 15th, so I don’t want to make any promises. I’m going to try to have something, but life is starting to get busy again, so wish me luck?
Either the 17th or the 20th, school starts up again for the kids. Here, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, schools are giving the parents a choice on whether to send their kids to in person classes or online. We have two kiddos in this house. Both of them did very well with the remote learning, so we would prefer they continue with the remote lessons. The only problem is that I’m working outside of the house now, and I might be getting a lot more hours soon, because I’ve been approved to start cross training for a position in the pharmacy. When the remote learning first started, I had no outside job, so I just took care of everything on my own. Now though, all three of us “adults” are going to be working on (at times) conflicting schedules, so there’s no one of us who will be able to do all of the schooling for the kids.
Right now, we’re trying planners. We’ve got two of them, one for each kid. Their lessons and such will be filled out in them each week, and whichever one of us is “on duty” will mark off what they’ve completed so far. Whenever the person “on duty” has to go, they’ll pass off the planner to whoever comes home next. We’re hoping, between the three of us, we’ll be able to stay on track. It also helps that the mom now gets a day off during the week, so she’ll be taking the load on that day instead of me. It also helps that the school day will be starting early in the morning, so their mom will get them started, and I’ll get them finished.
Nothing more to add for the monthly round up, but I’m sure I’ll end up posting about masks and COVID throughout the month, especially since my sister and mother are both waiting for their test results to come back.
Still hoping to have you all a buy link by the end of the month.
Hope you all are staying safe and sane, and your governors are being smarter than ours. If any of you are taking part in the protests, remember to keep your eyes open and look out for each other.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone else feel like we’re living in SimCity and the player walked away from the computer? Does anyone even remember SimCity? Oof. Showing my age.
Anyway. I have a special request of anyone/everyone reading this: if you ever see/hear me say “I love moving!”, “Packing is fun!”, or anything else along those lines – smack me. Really hard.
I’m not actually moving (yet), my relocating plans have been put on hold until this stupid death plague is under control, but, I have so much stuff to go through, I figured I should start early. I’ve already condensed four totes into one box, and reorganized about 10 random boxes of crap I had around my room into…okay, 4 boxes, but they’re small! I should actually put them together into one bigger box, but I’m trying to keep them organized, so. We’ll see. I still have a bookcase to go through and a couple things to toss into storage so they’re out of the way. Some massive rearranging is about to happen with my space, so that’s something fun to look forward to.
In other news, I have a big chapter for “Don’t Feed the Trolls” to write, and I haven’t even touched it. On that same note, I did get around to looking into self-publishing for “Say ‘No!’ to Zombies.” It would be easy enough to do, through KDP. The e-book price would have to be set to at least $2.99 USD, but I’m not sure what the print price would be, because apparently it depends on quite a few things. I will be working all that out, and I might actually have a sales link for you near the end of August. In the meantime, I’m hoping to have some fun little pieces to drop on you here in the next couple weeks. Nothing big, but something I hope you’ll enjoy.
This month is going to be a busy one for me. I finally have dental and vision insurance again, so I have a bunch of appointments set up. My glasses are scratched to hell and back, so I need new ones, and the dentist has scheduled me for a follow up surgery to finish the process we started last year. Today is my first day of yoga (haven’t done it yet, but I’m already feeling the oof), and…just…so much. So much planned.
That’s it for the big news though. I live in Texas, so – for those of you who don’t already know – the virus thing is a definite concern right now. Early May, our idiot governor decided it would be a good idea to reopen the state, and our mayors followed suit. The number of people I had come in to my work, buying things like kids’ snorkels, sunscreen, and beach towels, talking about how they’re going to spend the weekend at the lake…oof. The bars across the state opened at far more capacity than they were supposed to, and absolutely no one was staying home (from what I saw, anyway).
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Now, the hospitals are running out of beds, our numbers are rising at a ridiculous rate, and the idiot is only pausing the reopening of the state. June 25th, we finally got a mask mandate put in place, but there’s still no stay at home order. The governor told people they should stay home, but he’s not enforcing it. Our schools sent out a notice the other day saying that students will be given the option of how to attend school – in person or online (but that might change). It’s like the people in charge here are doing nothing to really help stop the spread. It’s a mess.
Even the weather seems to realize things are bad enough as it is. It hasn’t even hit 100 yet, and only a handful of tornadoes so far. Please note: this is not a complaint.
Hope you all are staying safe and sane, and your governors are being smarter than ours. If any of you are taking part in the protests, remember to keep your eyes open and look out for each other.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been using this time of enforced “solitude” to do some re-evaluating (and writing, of course). I went through all the trouble of getting my teeth fixed because of the health concerns associated with the way they were. Now, it’s time to start working on the rest of my health.
I had been thinking of trying yoga for a while now, because I know I need to get more active, but I hate the “standard” exercise things I mostly heard about. Jumping jacks, treadmills, stair masters, no, no, no. Yoga, though. I’m probably going to find out I’m wrong about this later, but it seems more like a low impact sort of workout, that is still…you know…a workout.
I never really bothered though, because of my living situation. When you share a home with four other people and very little room to yourself, it’s hard to find a place to do any sort of exercise without tripping over someone else, or having them up in your business. That will (hopefully) be changing very soon, though. We’re working on changing our living situation, and I am still hoping to relocate to another state by this time next year. Given all that, I figured it would probably be a good idea to start making the whole working out thing a habit sooner, rather than later. So, as I’m writing this, I am munching on chips and salsa, and looking up yoga lessons online. Gyms are open in Texas now, but I already work in a risky environment. I don’t need to add onto it.
Now onto the writing news. Chapter 15 of “Don’t Feed the Trolls” is complete, and has been through my beta reader. I am currently planning on scheduling it for June 18th. If all goes well, Chapter 16 will be released July 16th. I have no idea yet how many chapters this monster is going to be, but it’s looking like close to 25-30. There’s a lot going on, and I don’t want to cheapen the story by just glossing over the events that are going to take place.
I haven’t had a chance to look into self publishing “Say ‘No!’ to Zombies” yet, due to the school closures, and having to take over full time teaching the kiddos, but that is also on the ‘to do’ list for the month. I am hoping to have news to give you in the July 1st post.
I think that’s all the news for now. I stopped doing the writing log because it wasn’t actually helping me keep up with anything. All it told me was that I’m too easily distracted, and I already knew that. I think, until the living situation changes, this is just how things are going to be. Once I have a little more room to myself it won’t be as bad (that’s my hope, anyway). Once I have a little more time to myself, it really won’t be as bad.
Oh! There is one more bit of news. I do still hope to finish “Don’t Feed the Trolls” before the end of the year. That means I will hopefully be able to start posting a chapter more than once a month. No promises though. I don’t want to make a promise I’m not sure I can keep. Also, once I’m done with “Don’t Feed the Trolls,” I’ll have to take a break to work on some of my other stories. They’ve been sitting on the back burner for much too long.
Now, I’m done with the news. I hope all of you are staying safe and sane, and I’ll see you next month! If you’re taking part in the protests, remember to keep your eyes open and look out for each other.
In May 2000, I graduated high school in – I believe – the bottom quarter of my class (I believe my GPA was in the 2.0s, if even that high – I hated my school). It’s now May 2020, and I am a college graduate with a 3.98 GPA. If you all will excuse me, I need a minute to sit down and process this.
Seriously though, this is a very weird time for me. For the past four years, aside from a week-long break here and there, every day has been filled with research and/or homework. Now…I don’t even know what to do with my time. I mean, the state finally bit the bullet and shut down the schools for the rest of the school year, so the kids are still doing online schooling, and I do have the new job, so my planner isn’t going to be completely empty, but it’s weird not penciling in my own assignments and whatnots. Once everything calms down, and the kids are done with school, I plan on penciling in some “me” time. Nothing special, but maybe I’ll Uber over to an IHOP or something, where I can sit back and read or write in peace. Maybe I’ll find the local library, instead. I miss libraries…
Anyway, it’s May 1st, and I had planned on getting straight back to writing, but I got called into work later today, and I also work all this weekend. I wanted another day to myself, but ah well. I’ll just have to wait til Monday to get back to writing. I don’t have a chapter of “Don’t Feed the Trolls” to release for this month yet, and I’d like to change that. It’s already halfway done, but I need to look back at where I left off, and get back up to speed.
I’ve set aside looking for an agent using “Say ‘No!’ to Zombies,” simply because, at the moment, I’m thinking it might be a bit wrongfooted, if you know what I mean. I do plan on looking into self-publishing it though. Might have to skip on the editor for now, which kinda sucks, cause I found one I like, but it is what it is. Maybe next year I’ll be able to have her look it over, but I’m also planning on moving sometime next year, so…we’ll see. As far as I’m aware, Amazon allows ebooks to be updated by the author, so if I am able to afford her services, I can just update the file.
I hope you all are staying safe and sane. It’s crazy right now, but we’re all in this together. ♥
So. A lot has changed in the past month. I actually had to go look up last month’s update post to see what I had planned for March, and oof. March definitely has not lived up to my expectations. I mean, we had rain and flowers are starting to pop up, and there were tornadoes not too far from us, but the biggest source of concern (and cussing….lots of cussing) wasn’t Mother Nature, for once.
I’ve mentioned before that I was looking for a job, and if any of you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you know that this virus crap was putting a major damper on that hunt (as well as just about everything else, let’s be real, here). Well, the good news is, I was able to find a new job. The bad news is, it’s considered “essential” so I’ll be out there every work day, just the same as one of the roommates. I plan on being extra extra careful, cause I know a lot of people out there aren’t, but it’s also at a pharmacy, so…yeah. This is going to be an interesting time.
The kids’ school have extended their distance learning for another almost two weeks. Personally, I’m just waiting for them to close til the end of the school year. It only makes sense at this point. The school district has ran out of “bad weather make up” days. If they switch to online learning for the rest of the year, they don’t have to worry about extending the year any further to make up the difference (course, then again, I don’t know how the school year works, so I could be wrong).
At any rate, the kids aren’t quite as miserable as they thought they would be. The eldest finished their homework with days to spare and was permitted to treat the rest of the week like a long weekend. The youngest and I worked together to schedule his school days to give him time to talk to his friends in the school chatroom, so he’s much happier with the set up. He also really likes not having to get up at six a.m.. We haven’t been able to factor in Phys. Ed yet, but we’re working on it. If the rain can hold off this week, he can start running around outside and getting some exercise that way (any parents out there with suggestions?). All of my plans for the kids’ April Fool’s Day are shot, so today is going to be rather boring for us.
I know a lot of people are starting to get strained with the Shelter In Place order, and to you all, I would suggest reaching out online. There are so many group chats and Facebook groups popping up; just because we’re social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t socialize at all. I’ve joined a group of ladies on Facebook, and we’re all helping each other plan projects to keep us distracted. I already have plenty of projects I want to work on, but the encouragement is nice to have, especially from a bunch of strangers. It feels like the coming together of a mini-community, and I definitely recommend it for anyone feeling the walls starting to press on them.
For those of you who don’t know, April is Military Awareness Month and Child Abuse Awareness month (anyone who suggests a correlation will be given the mother of all stink eyes). Given that the National Guard is out there helping in places like New York, where the virus is rampant, I figured they (and the rest of our service men and women) could use some love. I also wanted to bring attention to child abuse, since so many children are being forced to stay at home in unsafe conditions. For many of them, school is their only safe place, and it’s been taken away from them. This pandemic needs to end soon, and not just for the people who are at risk of the illness.
For all you out there, stay safe, sane(ish), and healthy. The next few months are going to be bumpy. Hang in there.
Tiffany Crystal's Forecast for the day: 