What a Friday!

A friend of mine calls Friday "Fri-YAY!" She works a conventional nine-to-five office job, so five p.m on Friday mean she's able to d what SHE wants. Not what the boss wants.

When you work for yourself, it's not always that simple.

There's a lot of good things about it, like arranging your schedule to suit your own needs. I'm not a morning person. My husband doesn't understand I'm still waking up when I come out of the bedroom. Instead of giving me some space, he acts like Barney the dinosaur on coke.

And I don't mean the shit bottled in Atlanta. 

Back when I worked the conventional nine-to-five, I couldn't tell my day-walker co-workers to fuck off when they acted like this.

Another good thing is when I have insomnia or a sinus infection like I did three weeks ago, I can actually rest.

Then there are other times when I have deadlines.

Like this month.

And the hubby wants to play.

*sigh*

So, I took advantage of a local event and sent him on a playdate with some of his friends.

And for some strange reason I made my daily wordcount before midnight today. 

It's Hump Day!

And I still haven't finished my to-do list from Monday! LOL

It's not from lack of effort. I've been kicking ass the last two days between business and household tasks. My breaks have been a round of solitaire to clear my mind between publishing tasks and accounting updates and reading a chapter of Jonathan Moeller's Ghost in the Pact before bed.

My library is starting to take shape despite the enormous pile of boxes we've brought back from the storage unit. Now, it's matter of bringing the last two large book shelves to the house.

We haven't have to throw out much despite water that seeped into the unit. So, DH suggested putting some stuff up for sale over the winter on Etsy and Ebay. Whatever remains will go in the spring garage sale.

I just want my home organized. There's been several studies that show a cluttered house also clutters your mind, and I need my brain clear to write. Which is why I currently have to go to Starbucks. *sigh*

We'll get there. I just want it to be done before we die. I can't leave a hoarders' maze for GK like DH's parents did to us. 

Not Quite a Manic Monday, But Close

DH's birthday was this last weekend, so I didn't get too much writing or editing done. He wanted some play time, and frankly, we both needed it!

I'd planned a quiet Monday of loading an updated series (front matter and back matter needed to be revised so I always do a typo check), getting the new sales/pre-order links updated on the websites, and settle in for some serious writing.

Except I got an e-mail this morning from the organizer of the Fall Author Fest at our local library. The space had filled before I got my application in back in July. Disappointing--yes, but not a real problem. I'm happy the event has grown from a dozen local authors to forty! I was put on the stand-by list in case someone dropped out.

Lo, and behold, someone dropped out. So, now I'm pulling things for the publicity the organizer needs to finalize. I'll post more information once I have it.

Plus get everything else on my to-do list for day done. LOL

So, this is a quick post to say I'm still alive and kicking butt! And maybe take a few minutes to get Uncle George out of the closet since it's officially Halloween season!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

To friends, family, and everyone else suffering from metal illness, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just remember the voices inside your head lie!

Yes, I Know What Day It Is

GenX and Millennials talk about this day the same way that the Silent Generation and Boomers talk about November 22, 1963. It's that trauma that changes your perspective on the world. Something that shouldn't have happened and did.

We were living in Houston at the time. The weirdest thing of the day that still sticks with me was the silence, except for the occasional roar of a pair of fighter jets from Ellington Field patrolling the Gulf Coast.

We lived under the approach to Bush Intercontinental Airport, the largest commercial airport in the Houston Metro area. Once the FAA got every plane but military on the ground, DH stood in the back yard watching the jets while I kept GK occupied.

When he came in, he said that something was wrong. So, me, GK, and the dogs followed him out the back door.

I didn't expect to hear traffic noises. Most businesses had shut down. Each of our own offices were located near the Transco Tower (now the Williams Tower), a skyscraper in Uptown Houston instead of Downtown. City officials feared the tower would be targeted, and as a result, it and the surrounding buildings were evacuated.

Finally, I realized what was missing while we stood in the backyard--the constant hum of air traffic headed for Bush.

Even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, planes still flew. Maybe not as often, or as full, but their background noise meant the world was still going. When snow shuts down towns in Northwest Ohio, there's still that barely audible white noise of jet engines.

But on 9/11, the silence was the entire country holding its breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

Making Progress

Most of the writing is done for the latest series. Now, I need to finish the editing.

So, I'm juggling those tasks with cleaning out the storage unit and going through a few hundred boxes. Things we started packing up seventeen years ago. There's going to be a lot donated, like GK's toys from his grade school years.

However, I contact him before I dispose of anything. It's more about me than him. I was often punished by having my toys taken away. I don't want to by the parent I had and dispose of anything with sentimental value. But GK gets a little annoyed, saying that while he's in the military, he needs to keep his belongings light because he never knows when orders to deploy might come. (Especially with the current administration, but that's a whole nuther post!)

I understand his sentiment, too. I wish we could store things, both his and ours, in the basement because the main floor of the house is getting very full. But until the county gets the drainage  work completed near our neighborhood we can't risk leaving much down there, in case the basement floods again.

Regardless of how DH and I Tetris the rest of our belongings, the storage unit must be emptied by the end of the month, as well as getting the books out to my Kickstarter backers. Some way, some how, I need to make it happen. 

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Yeah, I've been listening to a lot of Dolly lately.

Feeling Groovy

I'm finally starting to feel coherent again, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't have a relapse of the sinus infection from Hell.

I'm also tying to catch up on my to-do list from two weeks ago that I didn't finish before the headache became unbearable.

At the top of the list is getting the editing for The Books of Apep wrapped up before sending out the completed books to my Kickstarter backers. Next is finishing the last two books of the Justice series. And in between those, I'll practice formatting a couple of science fiction short stories that were completed last year.

At the end of the year, I hope to be ahead enough in writing to test out some patterns for Barbie-sized costumes, so my dolls can dress like my characters. Yes, I'm really looking forward to playing with my dolls again!

Still on the Mend

I no longer feel as if my left eyeball is about to swan dive out of its socket, and my molars are no longer demanding a root canal. However, my head still aches, my throat is sore from sinus drainage, and I now have what Phoebe Buffay and my husband refer to as "the sexy phlegm voice".

Which is definitely not sexy! I sound like a ancient bullfrog desperately seeking a date on the Only Amphibians app.

Not even the extra sleep over the weekend has truly helped.

As far as I'm concerned, today is the last real day of summer. Tomorrow, I will start putting up Halloween decorations. The whole house won't be done this week. I'm extremely fatigued from the sinus infection, and I still have five days of antibiotics to look forward to.

But I will continue hobbling forward and continue writing the best I can while battling the legions of bacteria defending what they think is their hot tub paradise.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

A warning and a promise!