Wednesday’s are for writing, and wine, and waiting for the weekend…

And we’re back to snow. Two days ago I was wearing a light jacket to work and had turned off the heat to my apartment. I spent most of today watching snow squalls. Gotta love Indiana weather.

It’s been a few weeks since my last post (not a month, so I’m taking this as a win). I’ve been drinking so much tea lately, which has probably helped fight off the rounds of colds that keep circling the area. Luckily, I’ve ordered more tea, so I’m sure to stay safe from the latest sickness at work.

I haven’t been as busy as usually pretend to be, just procrastinating a bit. I got to help one of my amazing friends celebrate her Teacher of the Year Award. I’m so proud of her, and so glad I got to see her receive the recognition she deserves. She teaches, writes, coaches, and is the mom of two adorable kids. I don’t know how she does it. Other than the brief celebration night, things have been pretty quiet here.

Let’s get some updates!

Writing:

The exciting news is that I have actually been writing, and not just in my journal. The not so exciting news is that I haven’t been working on my novel. I’m getting there, don’t worry.

I’ve been continuing my daily journal, and actually seem to get my entries done each day. It’s pretty surprising to me, too. Going strong for month three of this project. I can’t wait to see how it turns out by the end of the year.

I took some time to get some of the random notes out of my phone. It’s not always easy to write things down on paper at work, or if I’m out and about and think of something interesting. My favorite thing to do is to leave a note about it in my phone, and then see if it makes sense later. I had probably about twenty notes in my phone, either stories or one liners I was planning on using for things later. I finally (I say finally because the first one was from 2013) took the time to write down the ideas into a notebook. And then I fleshed out some of the ideas a bit more. It felt amazing to switch gears for a little bit and think about some new ideas.

Short stories have always been my favorite, which is why I always had so many notes for ideas. It’s time for me to go back to what I love. Not abandon my novels, but finally write all the short stories I’ve been thinking about for years.

Reading:

I was hoping to have more for this section, but three of the audiobooks I was listening to were just too distracting to listen to. I’ve mentioned before that I sometimes have difficulties listening to audiobooks, and I’ve been struggling with them more recently. I did finish J. S. Bailey’s short story collection, Ordinary Souls, which I definitely recommend everyone read. She does quite a few books signings around where my family lives, so I’m hoping to meet her soon. It’s always nice to find someone local who has the same strange writing ideas.

To catch up on my reading challenge that I am so far behind in, I’m planning a trip to the library this week. I should have more time to read with the new changes in my work schedule. Wish me luck! I was really proud of how much reading I did last year, but I’ve been slacking off so far this year. Time to catch up!

Plots and plans:

Lots of reading, lots of writing.

I finally made myself go back to using my planner. I keep not using it, then I wonder why things are such a mess. But it helps when I go through each week and plan out when I’m going to write and hit up the library. I have time to do these things, I just need to make myself sit down and do it.

I’m getting that antsy feeling again, which means it’s almost time for some spring cleaning. I already have several boxes ready to be donated, but I’m certain there’s more. I just bought more dresses after binge-watching all of Agent Carter, so I’m feeling pretty empowered. I also bought a bunch of make up, because she really has the best idea. Why sacrifice beauty when I can look amazing while I’m kicking ass? Peggy Carter is definitely the inspiration I needed in my life.

In other news, we’re just a few weeks away from another convention, which means I might need to finish the costume I’ve been slowly working on for the past few weeks. If anyone is going to Indiana Comic Con, look me up. My costume is a little hard to miss.

I think that’s it for now. Hopefully everyone is staying warm in this random snow, or cool if the snow has suddenly melted and it’s 60 degrees out. I’m going to head to the library and hopefully get coffee. Thanks for reading!

-JBL