Tuesday (but actually Wednesday) Report 10/12/22

The last couple of weeks have been frustrating. I took a trip to see a friend, came home for a day and change and then got on a plane to see family for what I thought was a final visit (turns out it wasn't). Trying to see everyone I care about before and after (and sometimes between) those trips, turned my normally pretty open schedule into kind of a nightmare. But I also made a lot of personal progress

Quick Personal/Health Update-  

It became obvious in the last couple of weeks that I was not managing my anxiety well, and it was beginning to affect my personal relationships. 

Some of it may have been all the travel, and some of it was definitely thinking I was visiting my mom for the last time (it's not actually that bad), but even though those things are less of an issue now, I think I could still use some extra help trying to regulate.

I've been doing better month by month since my surgery, and honestly, I've been having some genuinely good days and solid weeks lately, but it still feels like I'm only really okay if absolutely nothing goes wrong. If anything happens, suddenly I'm spinning out of control. 

So I started back up talk therapy, and went to my PCP to talk about pharmaceutical options. (She recommended a low dose med for the next three to six months to help me get a little further clear of the cancer and surgery.) 

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

Our biggest schedule adjustments this week is working around the bank holiday—which shifts everything over one day. That means tomorrow I'll take the day off, and try to get something low key up on Friday. Next week I'm going to be in Monterey for three days, but I think I'll have as much time to work during downtimes as I ever do, so it might not affect much.

Novel Progress-

Old Draft 38,305

I definitely didn't get to the ol' novel these last couple of weeks. I barely kept my head above water.

Behind the Scenes-

I'm going to get this early access post written if it kills me. 

Tuesday Report (On Wed) Sept 7, 2022 (Anniversaries and Change)

Yesterday was a day off for me because of the Monday holiday, and this post is extra late because I spent all of the morning and most of the afternoon babysitting the comments on one of Writing About Writing's Facebook Page posts.  

If you're a Patron, you've already seen the newsletter. Also the Inside Scoop for this quarter is heading to the editor tomorrow. There are more support tier rewards coming soon. (Next up is an early access post.) The front-facing blog is still running a little light on updates while I try to prioritize the folks that keep the lights on.

Quick Personal/Health Update-  

I kind of overdid it last week.

Early Monday I was feeling so overwhelmed. I burned the candle at both ends—plus I burned that candle at a third, previously unknown end. I've been doing a lot of side gig and freelance work to keep up on bills (I lost a lot of income post-cancer because I haven't been updating as much). I even took on a pet sitting job that lasted ten days and required at least an hour of driving back and forth every day. It's been a sharp reminder that feeling a little better and able to do more work doesn't mean that I'm recovered.  

I'm done with the pet sitting gig, and back to my regular schedule (which is only "egregiously overloaded" instead of criminally deluged and filled with goat-like screaming). 

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

I'm still working to catch up on the Patron's reward tiers and bring the Facebook page posting back up to snuff, so unless there is an absolute blowout of musejuice (which is a lot less dirty than it sounds), it is probably going to be another quiet week for the regular blog updates. Patrons are likely to notice some things happening behind the scenes though.

Novel Progress-

Coming soon!

Behind the Scenes-

Something really big is in the works. Most of this week's writing is going to be going on behind the scenes for our Patrons. The September newsletter is already out, but expect this quarter's Inside Scoop, and if I'm doing as well as I hope I'm doing, an Early Access post as well. But I'm also starting the shift to some really big stuff.

Tuesday Report (8/23/22)

Quick Personal/Health Update-  

Yesterday I had an appointment with my Hematologist/Oncologist, and I was pretty messed up for most of the day. THEY called me after a routine blood test, and I've learned over the last year that when a specialist reaches out to a patient, it's not quite the same as a run-of-the-mill referral. I was trying to stay positive and not entirely able to shake the feeling that I was going to get bad news. 

Turns out, I’m okay. 

My PCP doesn’t quite know what “normal” is for me on a couple of values, so she got worried at my white blood counts and platelets, but they weren’t low enough to worry my hematologist. One (white blood cell count) was probably low because I was recovering from covid. The other (platelets) is just…it's just something I have to live with. I have an enlarged liver and spleen and they don't know why—but it's not getting worse, so it's just a THING™.  I will have to be careful if I get a bad cut or have internal bleeding. 

And apparently I'll have a lifetime of doctors who will initially think my numbers are scary and want to send me to a specialist.

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

This week I'm probably not going to be blogging much. I will try to get a "Best of" post up since I need to catch up on those, but the majority of my writing is going to be behind the scenes. My Patrons are outrageously overdue for newsletters and early access posts and such, and since they keep the lights on and the bills paid around here, that's where my effort is going until I'm all caught up. 

It's been a long recovery from cancer and surgery, and a lot of people have kept right on with support even while I struggled to get up a couple of posts a week. Those folks are going to get the lion's share of my effort for a while.

Novel Progress-

Coming soon!

Behind the Scenes-

Most of this week's writing is going to be going on behind the scenes for our Patrons.. Expect the Newsletter and The Inside Scoop, and if I'm doing as well as I hope I'm doing, an Early Access post as well. 

Tuesday Report…on Wednesday (4/6/22)

Quick Personal/Health Update- 

The boys I watch are having spring break this week, which means the couple of hours I usually have to duck away and do some writing while they're in school aren't actually there. I didn't think about how that would impact my schedule, so check out the schedule adjustments (below).

I'm dealing with a lot of anxiety lately, and starting to realize just how BAD my mental health has been in the last few months since surgery/cancer. It sometimes looked reasonably sturdy from a distance, but up close, most of the scaffolding was falling apart and there was some wood rot. I'm unpacking/processing some heavy stuff this week, and realizing that I've been teetering for a while, overwhelming my support peeps, and generally not doing as well on the inside as I sometimes seem to be. The stuff I'm going through right now is NOT stuff that should be throwing me curve balls. I know I should have just put the blog on a hiatus for a few months to recover instead of dribbling out posts a couple a week. But I wanted to keep my commitment to showing everyone how writing works (and sometimes how it doesn't). Writers aren't inhuman. We don't have superpowers. We just do the work, and sometimes life makes that impossible, so we do the best we can.

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

Like I said above, it's Spring break for the kiddos. That affects my writing schedule to the tune of about 12 hours a week. I do a lot of my writing frantically during the couple of hours Treble is in preschool. I've also been trying out a new schedule for my domestic duties that is taking some time to figure out. Next week everyone goes back to school, and I should be settled into the new schedule. 

What does that mean for the update schedule. Honestly, it means I need to put it on pause this week. I'm still writing when I can, and I think some stuff that is half written is likely to go up, but I don't think it'll have much to do with the update schedule.

Novel Progress-

Ack. I was ready to start on fiction this week, but I totally forgot about the Spring Break thing. Let's hope next week's schedule is a little kinder to my writing time.

Behind the Scenes-

I am mostly done with the Inside Scoop, but at six days late for the quarter, I'm hoping to wrap that up before I do ANYthing else. But when I get done, I am going to start on an early access post for THAT tier. 

Also, because it's been so long since I've posted ANY rewards for any tier, I'm going to be doing that thing where I let the early access tier see the Inside Scoop by way of apologies that they haven't been getting any of their own rewards.

Tuesday Report 3-22-22

Note: We're going to focus almost exclusively on our Behind the Scenes work this week. A little over 95% of my patrons (bless them forever) stuck with me through cancer, surgery, and recovery even though I wasn't really posting very much and sometimes not at all, so I am going to work hard on getting some newsletters, selfies, and early access posts up for my various reward tiers. 

[And I won't do a full appeals post before I've gotten back into the swing of regular posting because that always feels a little acquisitive to pass the hat when I'm not rocking it, but the medical bills I'm still looking at (even after insurance) are already in the mid four figures, so if you want to help out, I could sure use new patrons or some one-time donations. I also have Venmo (chris.brecheen@gmail.com) and can accept other forms of payment if prefered.] 

Quick Personal/Health Update- 

I've basically survived cancer. They're going to monitor something called my CAH levels which can indicate if I've got a tumor and because of Lynch syndrome, I'm going to have annual colonoscopies. But the tumor is out and didn't spread. Lynch is a lot like having a chronic illness. If I stay on top of it and take some steps to safeguard myself, I can probably have a mostly okay life. If I let it slide, I'll probably get more cancer. And I already have a semicolon, so I can't really afford to have them slice out any more.

They found some liver scarring when they did my CT and my liver functions are wonky. That and my spleen are enlarged, and it's affecting my platelets. So that's next. I don't drink (really ever) and I've never had hepatitis, so I need to do more tests and maybe get a biopsy. 

I was physically better in almost no time. I'm even eight weeks into a 20 week training regimen to run a marathon in under five hours. Mentally, I am just now reaching the place I thought I'd be two months ago at the MOST. 

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

My schedule is settling and my ability to focus is returning, but like I said above, this week I'm basically going to ignore the "on stage" blog and do all my work behind the scenes for the patrons. I am pretty behind on my monthly compilation posts, so maybe I'll do one of those.

Novel Progress-

I want to finish the behind the scenes stuff before I commit to ANYthing else, but I'd like to start working on fiction this week if there's time for it. It's been too long. There might—MIGHT—be a report here next week.

Behind the Scenes-

Hoping to have a huge hit of behind the scenes stuff. Look for newsletters, selfies, and if I'm on fire, even an early access article to drop as the week goes on.

Tuesday Report 3/15/22

Quick Personal Update/Cancer Update- 

My cancer update is going to become a broader health update from now on and start focusing a lot more on the "personal" part. I'm not entirely better, and the mental and emotional aspects of my recovery are going to take longer than the physical. However, I am starting to move past some of the emotional roadblocks. It might have been easier to just put this blog on hiatus for three months, but I wanted people to see the messy parts in real time.

This last week, I got handfasted to Rhapsody. And most of the week, I was dealing with company being in town for that. 

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

Tomorrow I have a post about the handfasting ceremony and vows (even though they weren't really VOWS per se). It's a little off our usual fare here, but I feel like I need something on the personal front to balance out all the cancer posts. On Thursday I'm going to cover one of the last of my "Updated for 2022" posts, and Friday, I actually have an actual mailbox post like from the before time! And it might be ambitious, but I'm hoping for a Not Writing About Writing post this weekend.

Clearly I'm still struggling to get back to my regular schedule. I made a choice back in December to take just a couple of weeks off and try to do SOME writing rather than take a multi-month break. I know it has made me seem a little flakey to have only a couple of posts a week, and most of them fluffy, but I actually got a lot more done that way. 

Novel Progress-

I'm closer and closer to being able to start back in on my fiction. If I didn't have a NWAW post AND patrons who need some newsletters and stuff, I'd probably be starting that this week. So it'll probably be April before I am actually sitting down and writing words, but I'm so close, I can taste the cliché.

Behind the Scenes-

I've got a few pictures from my Disneyland trip and some pictures from the handfasting that I'm going to put up on my selfies Patreon tier, and definitely now that things are slowing down, it's time to write those Patron newsletters. 


And lastly, just a note of thanks. I'm still working on getting back to my old self and my old posting schedule, but I feel like I've turned a lot of big corners lately, and it's really been breathtaking to have so many people support me through this lull. Y'all are fucking amazing.

Tuesday Report

Quick Personal Update/Cancer Report- 

You know what? Let's forget the cancer report this week. I'm doing okay for now. But did you know I'm getting handfasted to Rhapsody this Saturday? 

We got engaged in Las Vegas in November (stopping just short of being total clichés). Because of some legal logistics and a pinch of restraint, we decided to do an extended engagement celebrated with a handfasting commitment ceremony set for a year after we first started messaging through my OKCupid. In a year and a day we will decide whether we want to remain on course for a legal wedding. (Likely!)

If you're following close, you know went to Disneyland last week. Overall, it was pretty awesome. Once or twice there was a moment where a ride breaking down or a line too long for a five year old to endure caused some stress. And I have a few choice words about the democratized fast passes being turned into pay-to-play "lightning lines" that bump everyone further back in the already egregious lines (and increase the estimate on line times by as much as 50%) because Disney figured out a way to hoover money out of people's wallets even FASTER. But fun was had by all, and by the end of the day, we were pretty content. As a crowdfunded content creator, I worry about every single day off I take (nevermind like three in a row), but I really needed a break from writing that was about something other than cancer and doctors appointments and surgery and "hey what's going on with your liver over here…?" 

The logistics may have been cranky-making at times, but overall it was wonderful.

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

The handfasting ceremony we're doing isn't a wedding, and our guest list is small enough that you wouldn't need to take off a second sock to count it, but there's still quite a bit to get done. Guests are coming in from out of town. Cleaning. Organizing. Last minute shopping. So I'm combining this chaos with the fact that it is now MARCH, and I still have a handful of menus that need updating for 2022. I'll be knocking those out in the upcoming days. (They're important, but they take me a little less time than some of the posts I write from scratch.)

Novel Progress-

Not yet. I don't think I'm going to get any fiction done until after the handfasting at LEAST, but I'm starting to find the time in the weeks that once this moment has passed, will be open for writing.

Behind the Scenes-

I know I've been threatening the newsletter for weeks now, but this time it's really going to happen. I'm going to start the Inside Scoop newsletter too. I'm not sure I'll finish that one, but my goal is to have it done before the end of March.

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.

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.

Tuesday Report (Feb 1, 2022)

Note: I'm slowly easing back into writing as I recover from surgery (and a cancer diagnosis), still have a lot of doctor's appointments coming up (including possibly chemotherapy). My body is mostly recovered (I've even taken back up jogging and hope to do a marathon in a few months), but my mental and emotional recovery is taking a little longer, especially since there are a number of ongoing therapeutics.

Quick Personal Update-

I have a round of post-surgery follow ups, an iron infusion and a consultation with a hepatologist this week. The four year old is also out of preschool, which has about doubles my usual childcare hours. There's some personal stuff going on that I would probably be better able to deal with if I weren't on such a razors edge of stress in so many other places in my life. And I was going to take this week off (or last week—I'm not really sure which I would have picked) because I had company in town five days over the weekend. But I forgot to kind of announce that that was happening and as a crowdfunded writer, I don't like to just go silent running, so instead, I'm going to make a slight adjustment to the usual posts (see below).

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

I'm moving completely off the regular schedule this week. Instead I'm going to focus on the admin stuff that gathers in need of periodic updates. A bunch of those tabs that go along the top of this blog page (in desktop mode) need to be updated every year or they go stale like Ritz without a twisty tie on the sleeve.

I was going to kind of spread those posts out (doing one each week), and I still will a lot of the ones that are left, but there are a few that just require a touch up here and there and maybe some updated info and then they're good to go. They will give me the perfect chance to get the low-key week I was thinking of when I imagined taking this week off, but will be SOMEthing that'll go up each day as well. Plus a lot of my readers are new, and don't go digging through every last tab and archive, so it's good to repost this stuff on the regular.

Novel Progress-

I'm getting pretty close to being able to fold in some novel writing, but it'll probably happen for the first time when the little one goes back to preschool. My time management is a bit of a house of cards at the moment. Technically everything fits, but a stiff breeze will knock it over. And there was a covid exposure in the pod on Sunday…

Behind the Scenes-

I'm hoping to restart the Newsletter this week. February's newsletter with January's news. 

Tuesday…er Wednesday Report (Jan 25….um 26, 2022)

Note: I am trying to get back into these weekly report posts on Tuesday for accountability's sake. However, please keep in mind that I am recovering from surgery (and a cancer diagnosis), still have a lot of doctor's appointments coming up (including possibly chemotherapy), and am kind of getting back into the swing of things as quickly as my mental recovery will allow.

Quick Personal Update-

I have a round of post-surgery follow ups, an iron infusion and a consultation with a hepatologist this week. The four year old is also out of preschool at LEAST until February, which has about doubled my childcare hours. There's some personal stuff going on that I would probably be better able to deal with if I weren't on such a razors edge of stress in so many other places in my life. 

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

Obviously moving this post is one adjustment. And I might not be able to get more than some fluff moving this week. I've also got a good post for Friday mostly done but I think it's going to be NEXT Friday. I was actually going to take this week off (I have a friend coming into town), but it crept up on me and I don't just want to disappear without announcing it.

Novel Progress-

It might be a week or two before enough systems power back online to support large project fiction writing.

Behind the Scenes-

Just trying to keep the bare minimum going, but I might have some pictures from a hike or something from the visit.

Tuesday Report

It's going to be a light fare here at Writing About Writing this week. Before my diagnosis, I'd planned and paid for a small out-of-town vacation over Thanksgiving, and my original plan was to have some articles ready to go, do some writing while I was there, and still post a full week.

Despite the gravity of the news, my partner and I decided to go forth with the vacation just to get our mind off of things for a few days. I made sure I had a week off from CT scans and consults and procedures. If I'm going to spend the next two or three months (or more) trying not to die, I'm going to spend this one week trying to live. 

However, I've also decided NOT to try to post a full week of articles, and just take the week (MOSTLY) off. With everything going on, including stress, a totally scattered brain periodically contemplating things like what a burden I'm going to be to my loved ones, and doctors' appointments, I didn't have any pre-written articles, and I don't want to spend the better part of a couple of days in the Air B&B trying to hit deadlines. So the only thing I'm really going to post is just last call and wrap up of our current book recommendation conversation. Otherwise I'm going to enjoy my time. It's going to be a LOT when I get back, and it's going to happen FAST. 

So one last hurrah….

Tuesday—Er….WEDNESDAY Report

Reminder: The reason this "Tuesday Report" is a day late (and I'll be one post off for the duration of the week) is that I am currently going through some non-trivial medical issues. I'm trying hard to work around it, get most of my posts still done and keep creating the content my readers expect. I don't want to take some sort of "medical leave" from blogging. However, so much of Writing About Writing happens in Real Time™ that the recent deluge of medical procedures and consult appointments has cut into my writing time.

Quick Personal Update-

I had my first iron infusion on Monday. I'm not sure if it was the infusion or just last week, but I came home and slept for like a two hour nap, then slept almost nine hours that night as well. But by Tuesday morning I was mostly feeling better. In fact, I felt great even though I'm assured I couldn't possibly have derived any benefit so quickly from iron.

It's been frustrating spending so much time on medical stuff. And I'm navigating that stress between being just focusing on recovery and being a crowdfunded writer who has to generate content if I'm going to actually PAY the bills that I'm racking up. Today (later) will be my covid booster. I'm really just a little tired of having so much energy going towards medical issues.

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

Obviously there are going to be some changes to this week's schedule—there already have been. I'm going to do Tuesday's post today, Wednesday's tomorrow, and Thursday's on Friday. Next week is likely going to be at least as bad or worse, but after THAT I have a bit of a break. 

Novel Progress-

Old Crusty 1.0 Draft: 34, 398

(No progress this week. I'm barely hanging on to get blog posts written and up with all the doctors appointments. There are more next week too—although none this weekend, so maybe I can scrape out some progress.)

Behind the Scenes-

I'm still pulling off the pictures so that I can give the selfie tier some pics of my hikes this year. I need a special app for my phone to talk to the camera, and from there I can get it uploaded. I doubt there will be any extra time, but every extra moment will go into the October's newsletter (an Inside Scoop).

Tuesday Report

Note: I am currently going through some non-trivial medical issues. (Hopefully nothing to worry about long-term, but highly disruptive in the now.) I'm trying hard to work around it, get posts up on time (or at least get the right number of posts up weekly), and especially not take some sort of "medical leave" from blogging, but so much of Writing About Writing happens in Real Time™ that sometimes there is a high pain day or a three-hour doctor's appointment smack in the middle of my productive writing time, and I might miss a post here or there. 

Quick Personal Update-

Other than a LOT of doctor's appointments, things are actually going better than last week. I was on iron supplements that turned out to be causing more of my symptoms than the thing they were intended to treat, and the hematologist had me discontinue them and schedule an infusion instead. That's coming up, so I'm still in the gravity well of all this health crap and it's affecting my writing schedule, but I've felt much better and even got back into some jogging a couple of days ago. 

Weekly Schedule Adjustments-

I've got a good post for Friday mostly done, and this week is kind of light on doctor's appointments. (There were a lot of phone call consultations early in the week, but I'm free for now.) The week should go off without a hitch. I would have normally posted on Monday (having changed that from NORMALLY posting on Friday) but things got pretty behind with all the medical stuff last week.

Novel Progress-

Old Crusty 1.0 Draft: 34, 398

Behind the Scenes-

Dug out my camera from one of the move boxes, and I'm pulling off the pictures so that I can give the selfie tier some pics of my hikes this year. If I finish up my writing early this week, I'm going to start on an Early Access post about dialogue for that tier. 

Tuesday Report (Personal/Meta/Upcoming/Behind the Scenes)

This is what we're going to start posting on Tuesdays.

• A quick personal and meta update. 
• Any adjustments that are going to happen to the upcoming update schedule for the week.
• Starting NEXT WEEK a word count update on novel progress. 
• Plus what we're doing "behind the scenes" for that week. 

I've actually been having kind of a tough couple of weeks on a non-writing front. I got flagged on a routine blood test with some anemia and low iron between the first set of blood tests and the follow up labs to determine what might be going on, my numbers tanked enough to send my doctor into red alert. (Seriously the doctor's office called and scheduled ME for an appointment….the NEXT day.) So I've been doing follow up appointments and getting referrals and scheduling consultations doing and filling out intake paperwork and just generally feeling like my life has turned into some sort of medical bureaucratic nightmare. It's probably just that my diet turned functionally vegetarian, but they want to rule some stuff out, and some of it is a little scary. It's also been eating up a lot of what I usually carve out for writing time since those are all 9-5 offices. 

I've been thinking about how to handle weeks with a bank holiday on a Monday (we do Indigenous People's Day here in California in September instead of Genocidal Rapey Guy Day but this is still the federal holiday), and I think I'm going to eliminate the Thursday post when that happens so that I can get a day off too. I'm still behind where I want to be, but I'm starting to make headway, and what's holding me back this week is medical logistics, not burnout and motivation issues. 

Novel Progress here: (Starting NEXT week)

This week my behind the scenes work is finishing up our September newsletter (you know…before October is more than halfway over), and digging my camera out of the moving boxes so that I can start posting some of my hiking photos to the selfie tier of Patreon.