Introducing Rhapsody

Here I am with Rhapsody when we were announcing 
the arrival of my tumor.

It's overdue, but it's time to introduce you to the latest standing member of the Hall of Rectitude. There's a bigger post coming (maybe another Monday post since this week is rapidly coming to a close), but I need to introduce one of the main characters in it first.

I moved in with Rhapsody (and her two kids, Treble and Clef) in August of 2021.  Rhapsody doesn't take that much of an active hand in the front line superhero work, but tends to let her music enhance everyone around her. She can inspire, delight, titillate, and her personal favorite…seducing all the superhero women in the tri-state area. (She calls these abilities her "power chords.") Once she's got her ukulele going, it's hard for anyone not to find her enthralling, and if she can't sing/seduce sapphic villains out of their nefarious plans, she's probably going to sing/seduce a few of the sapphic heroes that help stop them after the fight is over.  

Mission Statement (Updated for 2022)

Did you know that Writing About Writing has a mission statement? Well we do, and it's been updated for 2022.

This was my original mission statement:

The Mission of this Blog is to provide a place that will facilitate my ability to:

1-Be able to say, “I was just writing about that in my blog” in that really pretentious way that only bloggers can do. Preferably while holding a snifter of brandy and looking at someone through a monocle.

2-Satisfy my writerly exhibitionist need for feedback without the constant irritation of things like letters of rejection.

3-Be able to say, “I’m published” at cocktail parties as long as they don’t press too hard on how exactly I’m using the word “published.”

4-Be passive aggressive towards people who have slighted me in an internationally accessible medium. Also, preferably, while holding a brandy.

5- Have fans hanging off of me no matter where I go. Bloggers are the new rockstars.  That's what the dude at the Moleskine Journal Store assured me.

But I found this to be just a little bit too honest for most folks, so I’ll go with my second round of better-sounding reasons.

Thus: our new and improved mission statement.

The mission of this Blog is to provide a place where I can:

1-Control What People See When They Search for You on Google

2-Share My Experiences in Real Time

3- Impart what little wisdom I have gathered over the years

(Each of those is their own link to their own article.)

Technically, you're looking at one small part of our Business Stuff (that tab along the top if you're in desktop mode) and you can see more stuff there like how to support Writing About Writing or a few disclaimers about how I run the show here.

A Note to those Following (Meta)

Wait.
What???

Hi everyone,  

The kids were off Friday for President's Day. That means I was ON to watch them for the few extra hours (on top of my few normal Friday hours). And this week is a bank holiday. Which means I would normally be taking Friday off (for several reasons, but mostly that most of my audience is still Stateside). But things have been so topsy turvy lately, with cancer recovery and Covid exposures that I think I'm going to forego the usual Tuesday report and next week's update schedule, and instead really try my best to get some solid(ish) posts up for the last half of February. 

It's time to get back to work. I know most of my patrons want me to recover, but I'm starting to see "Never updates" in the exit interviews of some who are leaving, and my income (with the cost of living here) means I'm still supplementing with childcare—I need to be making more, not less.

Still, for everyone who follows our updates closely enough to know that we're about to go off the rails of our update schedule, we ARE.

Tuesday (but really Wednesday) Report [2/15/22]

Quick Personal Update/Cancer Update- 

My therapist pointed out that I'm only two months from major and super invasive surgery, and that I'm probably expecting recovery to go a little faster than it should. After last week's setback, I haven't really stopped stumbling. Like when you trip running down a hill and you try to run, but instead of righting yourself, you feel MORE like you're going to fall. There was some relief finding out that I wouldn't have to have chemotherapy, but the chronic condition of Lynch syndrome is setting in, then my mother ended up in the hospital herself with a heart attack, the household I live in had another call to quarantine the small children, and I completely dropped the ball on a number of social and medical obligations. I'm under a lot of interpersonal stress these days, and struggling find my way through a dozen minor issues. 

I know I'm not supposed to be hard on myself, but I'm a crowdfunded content creator. I'm caught between feeling really frustrated that I still don't seem to be able to concentrate the way I used to, that patrons have already been more than patient for two months, that I'm not writing the volumes I "should" be given that I physically feel better, and the fact that I know that is a little too ambitious, recovery isn't linear, my mental and emotional health were also shattered, and I need to chill the fuck out treat myself the same way I would literally anyone else in my position.

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

I'm still trying to get back up to the regular schedule. Actually, I'm kind of glad that so many of my standing articles need a 2022 freshening. It's giving me the chance to kind of focus on Patrons behind the scenes, and tackle something both a little lower key but also that I would normally take months to finish because I would worry it was taking away from "real" posts. 

Novel Progress-

The time is there. I can see it. I just need to come back online enough to start writing the amount I want to be.

Behind the Scenes-

Okay seriously the newsletter this week.

FAQ (Updated for 2022)

I don't usually post on Mondays, but today's post represents several days of last week's writing. ALL questions in our FAQ have been revised and updated for 2022.  

Frequently Asked Questions 


Q- Question: Do You Really Have to Write Every Day to Be A Writer?

Q- Did [X-event] really happen to you?

Q-Why do you/How can you hate NaNoWriMo?

Q-Why won't you answer my question for the Mailbox?

Q- Will you do freelance writing/editing for me?

Q-How can I get your kind of numbers on MY blog?

Q-Is talent important to a writer?

Q-How do you ACTUALLY start writing?

Q-I want to write a book and not be told that I needed to have been writing every day for the last ten years. Is there advice that ISN'T "Write every day."

Q- How can I support Writing About Writing and its struggling, yet devilishly cute and cuddly author? If I add up all the time spent being marvelously entertained, all the laughter, all the tears, and all the inspiration–as well as having my life and understanding of writing enriched–it would be longer than a directors cut of the Lord of The Rings trilogy....for which I paid $39.99 (even during a sale) at Costco. How can I give back for all this joy?

Q-Will you post more of your fiction?

Also check out our F.A.Q. specifically for Facebook questions like "Will I promote YOUR work on FB?" "Will I read your story (sent to me through FB)?" or "Can I follow you on social media?" or "Why am I always so political?"

Tuesday (but really Wednesday) Report [Feb 9, 2022]

Quick Personal Update/Cancer Update-

I had a pretty big mental health setback this week. I'm doing poorly and having a deeply hard time doing anything useful. I've been on the edge of my seat since surgery about the possibility of needing chemotherapy, and the stage pathology found the cancer in meant that it came down to whether or not I have something called Lynch syndrome (a genetic condition that predisposes someone to certain types of cancers). Today I got the results of the genetic testing. 

I  do have it. 

Which means in the short term, I am spared chemotherapy, but in the long term, I have a lifetime of care and screenings to watch out for the other cancers this thing can raise my chances of having.  I got the news this morning, and I thought a Lynch diagnosis would be nothing but a relief (it means no chemo). And I was relieved in some ways, but it suddenly dropped all this unprocessed "waiting to exhale" into my mental inbox, and I ended up just feeling worse. Plus the 48 hours or so before I found out the results were just a special kind of hell. I spent most of today after the phone call on the edge of bursting into tears, and finally just fell asleep for like three hours. I'm hurting for support mechanisms because of Covid and some personal stuff, so I've just kind of been trying to process it down, but it feels a lot like after the surgery when I could only BEGIN to process some of the trauma.

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

I'm still off the regular schedule. I will update the F.A.Q. and a couple of the other business posts updated for 2022. It's kind of good that I need to do them because that kind of revision is about what I can handle right now. Writing articles from scratch (really writing anything but journal splats and stream of consciousness) is turning out to be really hard with the stress levels where they are.

Novel Progress-

I felt like I was getting pretty close to being able to fold in some novel writing, but my setback…well, it set me back. I don't know exactly how long I'm going to be thousand-yard staring my computer every time I open the word document, but clearly I am not where I want to be right now. 

Behind the Scenes-

I'll be focusing on Patrons first since they keep the bills paid. If I have any spark that goes beyond kind of revising and updating my business info for 2022, it's going to go towards the Newsletter and some of the reward tiers.

Quickie For Those Not on Social Media

I am usually able to re-cut and paste the newer version of some of my in-need-of-updating posts, but my Facebook FAQ is really a monster, so for all of you who get your updates directly through Blogger or through email, I'm just going to link to the updated version. 

Revised for 2022:  Facebook's FAQ