I have been doing the layout for Muse’s Masterpiece, dealing with the anthologies for Fae Corps Publishing, and I am sick. And I look around at the new poetry volume…there is only 3 poems in it so far.
My housework has fallen behind…
And everything aches…
And the squirrel brain says that I am a failure because I am not writing.
Sometimes we have to learn to tell our brains to shut up.
I am doing all that I am capable of right now.
And if anything I need to slow down, rest more because my body is still not feeling well.
So, hush you squishy ball of overworked fat. I am doing as much as I can do.
Hello lovelies! Today is a coffee with lots of cinnamon creamer kinda day.
April has been exhausting. I tried to do the daily post thing, I really did. However things in the world at large have made life a bit harder on me then I expected it to. I am often a shut in. I only really go out to the grocery store. So initially I didn’t expect the stay at home order to really change things for me.
Then social distancing started making it to where stores were closing and the ones staying open were limiting hours. I usually go at night to avoid crowds. I don’t do well around mass amounts of people. People have noise and odors. They like to touch other people…all things that can cause me issues. So I have had to adjust. And it is exhausting.
I am not one that wants things to go back to where they were…not while the threat of pandemic lingers. I also however am not one who is comfortable with all of the liberties that the government is taking during this fear. I am just someone who is dealing with the changes, and the anxiety it is causing and saying that this is how it is affecting me.
Upcoming , on a better note, Fae Corps anthology Through the Sunshine should be available for preorder in two weeks. If you look over on the blog I have been posting the blurb promos that the authors have been making. We still have a couple of authors who have not done an image yet. We will post them as they are made. Coffee House Writer’s anthology is in the editing stage. I will let you know when I know more on it.
Did y’all catch Serena’s Interview on Chat and Spin Radio? It was last Saturday’s Episode part 3 (3B). I feel like it went really well. You can’t hear how nervous I was. Or at least I didn’t. lol. Anyway, the station is a decent internet radio station out of the UK. They do a lot of author interviews, and are quite fun. Go check them out.
I got the good news that Creatives Rising may be back up soon. The editors paused their magazine due to major life changes (Like a move) and posted that they are just about to start up again. I look forward to being a part of that again in the future.
With all that is going on in the world, I feel like I maybe should hold off on publishing new poetry volumes. I have been writing, but slowly. I normally do around three volumes a year…but I am thinking that I may only get one this year. We will have to see. I am also super busy with Fae corps this year as well. It makes a difference in the time I have to write. Also I have added Coffee House Writers. With all of the additional responsibilities, I think that promising more than I will publish when I have enough poems to fill a volume.
I am hoping to release Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin this year. I will release another Dylan story (Dylan and Zombie Hotel) this year. I am waiting for the Illustrator to be available. I do not know if Dylan will have any other books. He might. I like the character. \
I do not know how the world situation will affect my blogging, as my mental state affects how structured I can be, however I am going to try to keep my normal routine here.
Hello lovelies! I am enjoying a rare morning treat. Hot apple Cider topped with a wee bit of Irish butter and honey. What do you enjoy as a morning treat?
Quite a bit has been happening over here…I indulged and spent the money to get me a decent laptop, It’s an Acer Aspire 3. I am still trying to get the settings the way I want. I have been without a proper computer for many years. I will want to upgrade the memory, as it is too slow for a couple of the games I want. I will also have to get a few accessories to make it do everything I want to do…but it has already been a boon to my writing.
Understand…I get into a slump every year, usually between thanksgiving and my birthday. This year was especially bad, I went from writing a daily poem and some other word count in whatever other story I was working on to managing nothing more than my blog for the whole of February. To be honest that became problematic with a biweekly poetry post going out. I was starting to feel concerned about the lack of inspiration/motivation.
Don’t get me wrong…it isn’t exactly writer’s block…I have more ideas than I will ever be able to write…it is more of exhaustion. I usually am sick during the winter months, and when I am not I am cold and irritable. So I end up not wanting to do anything.
Well, yesterday while I was setting the new laptop up…I ended up writing. It was only a poem and about 750 words in Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin. Yes…my slump time was nearly over anyway…but it is nice to be writing again. There are so many new things in the works. Plans for future anthologies, plans for future books… but if I am not writing those plans go limp. No one likes their plans to go limp…..
So, I name my computers. It has been a habit for me..This laptop is Athena. I am hoping that she will be my companion in gaming and creativity. Do you name your computer? If so what name does yours have? I look forward to the adventures in writing, gaming, and creativity I will be exploring.
Now, If you will excuse me, Today is my boyfriend’s birthday. He and I have been together 24 years in may….he has been my muse and my nemesis depending upon the day…but he is always my rock. So today is his. (I snuck this post in while he was killing zombies in 7 days to die. ) Hope it is a good day for you as well.
My memoir is live. I thought I would give you a sneak peek. The first story…
My first memories are good ones, as not many are. I was perhaps four? We lived in a town in the hills of West Virginia. Renick in Greenbriar county.
This was a small place, a single store, and it doubled as a laundry, and the gas station. I believe that the post office was in that building, but I am not sure. Children don’t notice such things, and I was so very young. It was Mama and I. We lived with a kind old couple on a farm. I called them Grandma and granddad. I loved them, and I believe that they loved me.
Mama was in high school, and I used to go with. The sewing teacher babysat me while Mama learned.
The memory has been expanded on, as the story was to cute for words. Well I often ran around the yard at the farm while Mama did homework. The day in question, I was doing the exploring that I was prone to do. I came across an old car and I opened the door.
I know, nowadays children are not given so much space for exploring…. But this was like 1979…it was a sheer miracle that most of my generation survived. Still as soon as the door opened, I discovered that the vehicle was a huge yellow jacket nest. So I screamed and ran home. (From a few feet away). One of the insects attached itself to my face, stinging as I ran. I remember clearly the fear. I was terrified.
Mama gathered me up and tended the sting. That is the end of the memory, but I have gotten the rest of the story from my mom. According to her, when I was asked about why I was stung I promptly informed her that it was because I had ran into a Japanese bee. She asked me how I knew it was a Japanese bee, and with the logic that only a child has, I told her that before it stung me it said “Ah So”…
I know that I usually post poetry on Monday, but the last week has been a rough one for me and creating. Between a death in the family, that hit rather hard, and general aches and pains… This week has been a lot of “couch time”…basically me and my television have seen more of each other than I ever do.
There is always a little slow down after I publish a new volume. When I wonder if I am foolish and vain for publishing. When I acknowledge that I don’t do well with pushing the books that I already have out. When I wonder who I would be if I didn’t write. When the idea scares me, so I try to force it… And end up scraping a few really bad foced starts. This is the first month after I publish a new volume.
Then, I start actually calming down… Realize that I don’t have to sell it. I have written it. I have put it out into the world so that it can be seen. I have done my part. It is my job to write, not to force anyone to read it. Those who are meant to be be my readers will find it, as long as I keep sharing. Which I have been doing a bit more of. I have been putting my poetry on graphics and putting more on my blog, and Instagram. I have a public album on Facebook and a board on Pinterest. In the meantime what that time of panic and reflection often means is that I have nothing worth sharing today, except for the view of my weirdo neurotic mind. Some like that view though, so I decided to share.
I don’t usually do pictures of my self here. I usually stick with my art and go…. But I feel like this is the best way of expressing my thoughts here. Each of them are pictures of me at the various stages of life. Picture #1 is child… I think that I was 2? Maybe 3. I had no thought of the future… It was all about living and playing. Picture #2 is my senior year. I made the jewelry I was wearing. I saw everything I wanted in life become impossible. I worked so hard just to find out that life was unfair. I didn’t see myself reaching 30…and I was beyond over caring. I couldn’t go to college. I couldn’t get custody of my son… Life was sucking, but I didn’t care because I could survive. I had friends and family. I was incredibly oblivious and it worked. Picture #3 I was in my early 30’s… I had a toddler. That is the best picture of that time in my life. I was out thousands of miles from home, stuck in what seemed the most foriegn land I would ever know. I had made it… Now what did I do. I was healing my mind and raising my girl. I think that I spent the next few years just asking myself what now. How does one plan for an age they never expected to reach? And when they do, how do you find that steady point? Picture #4…that is 4 years ago. My life is in chaos. That is the year I decided to start a blog. I published more, that is the year two of my kids books and another poetry volume was released. It was the beginning of another chapter in my weird story. I don’t want to put another picture here because I don’t feel like I am in another era for me. I am in my crone phase, and I think that I am rocking it. I am growing. Each day I learn.
When I started with the whole blog thing I was really green. Now I watch my following grow daily. I only hope it is because you are enjoying the content. Thank you for seeing me! Btw Friday will be prompts again and I am hoping to do the monthly links post on Saturday. I am just over 350 following. At 500 I will do a drawing for a hand written or unique drawing from me. Till tomorrow.
Pattimouse 