Category: struggle

Ah an end of a cycle

Meme - Overthinking

I have been posting daily for over 60 days now. Between the PAD challenge and the MerMay challenge I have been sure to get something up for the last two months.

  Fae corps publishing is doing a short story prompt a day for June but it is just a bit too much for me. I am going to be trying to get caught up with the publishing work I am slightly behind on. so I am going to be going back to the weekly posts and weekends off except for the occasional random ones. I will be doing a few things differently for the weekday posts. I hope you enjoy it. I want to squeeze an art post in somewhere. I am hoping to post a bit more….but I don’t know if I will. I am back to running both my own personal blog and Fae Corps Publishing’s blog. so I am bound to mess up some where. I do the schedule for the week on Sunday for both.

I hope you have enjoyed the art and poetry.

Perfect is overrated

Meme - Feeling Invisible

So I was talking to my therapist about how inadequate I felt when it came to my art…she laughed and said stop trying to be perfect leave some for the rest of us…and it got me thinking.

I feel inadequate and insecure but honestly how many people are intimidated by what I do manage. I might seem to be handling it perfectly to the outside…but so many do not see how close I get to jumping off my own personal cliff.

No one judges me as badly as I judge myself. So I promise you that I am not perfect. I drop more balls than I catch on any given day. I work myself to exhaustion and then I get mad at myself for napping.

So, trust me I am not perfect. I am kind hearted and I will gladly help those I can. Which has gotten me called a door mat a few times. I have boundaries but most people don’t know when I get done, because I don’t keep contact with the people that break boundaries.

There’s still days where I don’t see my own light. Days I struggle with my demons. I am doing better….but I am not done yet.

Don’t judge progress on word count alone

Today I only managed to do one poem and one art piece….at least on paper. I also scheduled a week of blogs for Fae corps publishing. I got 3 books adjusted on Ingram and one on Amazon. I squeezed in my daily routine for my games. I fixed most of an epub. I designed a new cover. I ate two meals (which is an accomplishment by itself). I helped my son with the sick chicken (she is getting better). I finished the editing from the betas for the story Serena is submitting to Killing Stroke. (Adding another 280 words there) Note how little of what I did is on the list of word counts?

    some days I don’t have the ability to do even the amount I have listed, some days I manage more. If I were to base my self esteem on my words count – well I would be miserable. I do more than I often think I do. I am willing to bet that you are too.

Disability Aids

Meme - Feeling Invisible

Those who know me, know that I firmly believe in equality when possible. I know that some people are very happy to see the “end ” of DEI…I will never be one of those. I use tools to aid my work and life. That does not make me or my work any less. Note that I said tools, I don’t use Generative AI. I use my phone to write as I have debilitating arthritis. That gives me the option when I need it to voice to text the words and edit the mess later. My glasses have a blue light filter on them because I am mildly dyslexic. This is another tool.

    I am capable of reading but I have been known to buy audio books when I have had eye strain or severe headache symptoms so I can rest and still enjoy the story. There are people I love who need the audio version to be able to retain what is read. I see this as another tool.

Our society has developed a lot of tools to make sure that those who are suffering from various disabilities are not unable to be successful in life. That doesn’t mean you have to be productive or anything to be worthy. It just means you don’t have to be limited in your life because of disability, at least that there is potential to be able to do whatever you want to do.

I personally feel like anyone who wants to put it in the effort should not be denied the chance. As someone who has multiple disabilities I would not want to be told that I am unable to do anything because I am disabled. I want it to be my own personal choice if I can attempt to do something.

Diversity is a word that means that the world can not turn into a place where hatred reigns.

Inclusion is a word for saving space for everyone at the table.

Equity is a word for everyone is given equal chance.

Thoughts

Book Discussion

I occasionally get introspective.

I keep a list of my personal books I have written as a guide to remind me of my own accomplishments. There are days where I don’t believe that I am worthy. That list helps me find my own worth on days where it feels like it doesn’t exist.

Now I have been told that my personal book list is daunting. I have been doing this publishing thing since 2010…and I still have a nasty case of imposter syndrome.

Most people who read my blog know that I write as Patricia Harris and as Serena Mossgraves.

Serena Mossgraves currently only has 11 books published. Not terribly daunting, but I can see it would be slightly intimidating .

Patricia Harris however has a bibliography of epic proportions. I counted 68 books published under that name. yeah it’s daunting.  I have been doing better than I thought.

Sometimes I just need to remind myself that I have been doing things of worth.

Becoming Fiction

Poetry

By Serena Mossgraves

I live in a world where biography's  
Indicate fictional characters 
Which apparently means there is naught 
That we in the real world could learn from them... 
 
History is become  
the darkness that clouds  
what lay ahead of us, 
Instead of shedding light 
on where we have been. 

And as I struggle 
                  to light the path 
for those around me 
Feeling as though  
                 this might just be a war  
I cannot win... 

I realize that even if I 
am becoming fiction... 
I still will never be the person 
that they want in the end....

I was watching a video of The North Omaha Cat Lady. Incredible creator. She was reacting to a comment claiming Anne Frank was a fictional character. Admittedly that inspired Serena’s Poem, and broke my heart. Anne Frank was an incredible young lady. There have been very few biographical books I have enjoyed over the course of time I have been a reader, and her diary was one. The other that stands out was the nine days queen…the story of Lady Jane Grey.

Please if all of the best historical people are to become fiction…then let us still learn from their example. Just because something is fiction does not stop the truth behind it. We can learn from history, from fiction and from each other if we just open our hearts and our minds.

Right now is a scary time to be alive, especially if you live anywhere in the USA. I really try not to be too political on here as I don’t feel like that is what most people come to my blog for. However, having said that…Sometimes it hurts to be self aware in a time of political turmoil and unrest.

Thursday Thoughts

Meme - emotional description

my desk is piled high and I am desperately trying trying to get caught up.

I am so far behind because of the flare that I am struggling to keep from sending my body back in to a meltdown state.

so I may not be able to meet deadlines. I am going to try. but I am not aiming to be down again.

Thursday Thoughts

Meme - Feeling Invisible

To be honest I did not know what to say this week.

How often can you complain about the same thing before even you start to see it as just whining? And that is often the thing with chronic illness…we end up feeling like we are whining. No one wants to hear that it hurts for the millionth time. We can’t do anything that remotely feels useful.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone is interested in the dribble I do have to say. Then I think about it and realize that it doesn’t matter. I still need to speak my truth. I still have to get up and fight every day. Giving up is not in the cards.

So, Though I really didn’t know what to say today…I wanted to at the very least say HI. I Exist!

Thursday Thoughts

Politics are a nasty thing. They always have been. I take after my grandmother where politics are concerned and I am fairly proud of that.

She didn’t read newspapers or watch the news because she didn’t want to feel any worse about the way things were. I don’t do either, but nowadays all a person has to do is open social media and they will find themselves bombarded with current events.

Quite a few of my friends are talking about taking social media breaks because of the mental health strain that comes with the current events. The problem is that for some of us social media is the only time we actually do socialize. Loneliness doesn’t help mental health issues.

This is why we need books and art. We need creative people to make the world less hard to accept. Music, movies, books and art bring the world a light and right now the world is so very dark.

So I will be doing my best to post more art, and make more poetry and stories to bring a light to the world. I ask everyone to do what they can to do the same.

Thursday Thoughts

Thursday Thoughts
Meme - Overthinking

So I posted about an anthology that Serena is in. It really is such a lovely book. The other authors are amazing…and I can’t help feeling like I don’t belong there. The story I wrote was decent…I am not going to claim it was awful or any crap like that. But there is an Introduction in the front of the book that lists that authors as the top horror and dark romance authors…And my brain goes ok now I am guilty of lying to these amazing people.

Imposter syndrome is such a tough thing to grapple with. Most of the best authors I know fight with it. It can seriously cripple even the best writer to a mess and make writing a defeated blank on an overthinking mind…

So, I am struggling with my own brain. I don’t want to accept the idea that I am unable to tell the stories locked inside the squishy lump calling itself my brain.