Welcome to Tenth Month!
Dear Etherfriends,
We have at long last passed the autumn equinox and entered Spooky Candy Month. I hope this missive finds you all well.
I cannot see snow from my house today, but there’s a decent chance I will be able to view it before the end of the month. Fingers crossed!
The Harmony of Falling Snow is in an all-indie bundle on itch.io this month! The theme of this bundle is ADHD. Every book in it has significant ADHD rep and most are by authors with ADHD. My book has both! Although Yuri’s Bipolar Disorder feels more urgent, anyone with ADHD is going to recognize all the unfinished crafting projects, the general mess of his apartment, and his intense hyperfocus. Also, while Vil’s cleaning obsession may at first glance look more like OCD, it’s actually a mixture of ADHD coping mechanisms, inability to prioritize, and drive to stay in motion. At one point, I went through several months in a similar surge in cleanliness. In my case, it was short-lived because I don’t have the energy to keep it up for long, being the inattentive type of ADHD, but as a former professional athlete, Vil doesn’t have that problem.
I’ll admit I seldom buy multi-author bundles myself, but I have bought several individual books from seeing them in bundles with an author I’ve enjoyed. So I encourage you to check out the bundle even if twenty-two books for twenty-five dollars is too much for you, either in terms of money or in terms of books.
I have a second bundle coming up next month, but I’ll let you know about it next ethernote!
Life Notes
1. Still a bit melancholy.
- But I made it past the equinox, so should be getting better!
- Historically, the season depression resolves by Halloween.
2. I’m officially employed by my winter employer now!
- Looking forward to teaching skiing again.
- And I’m signed up for PSIA-NW’s Senior Specialist Program.
- It’s not until December, but I’m already nervous about it.
- But most of what I’m nervous about is stuff that we’re there to learn how to help students with, like my low stamina and high anxiety levels. So presumably the coordinator will be able to help me!
Progress Notes
1. I’m still rewriting Melody’s second act.
- I’ve kept less than I expected.
- Please pretend to be surprised by this.
- But the new stuff is Much Better than what it replaced! I swear!
- I’m nearing the end of it.
2. I have notes for the Next Revision already…
- Please pretend to be surprised by this.
- I’ve thus far refrained from working on them.
3. I failed to meet my word count and work hours goals this month.
- But only by a day’s worth of work.
- Rather than being angry at myself for missing a few days this month (particularly as my excuses include a lot of taking care of my family and absolutely no spending all day vegging by myself, even when I wasn’t feeling well) I am going to blame the shortness of the month.
- Seriously. That one day would have been available to me if September had 31 days and I’m not the one who decided it shouldn’t.
- a.) In my created world, every month except Reset has the exact same number of days. I would do that IRL if I had the power.
- I should probably not keep my goals the same every month without consulting how many days they cover.
- Seriously. That one day would have been available to me if September had 31 days and I’m not the one who decided it shouldn’t.
4. I consistently fall just short of my goals and feel like I failed the entire month. I should maybe set them a little less ambitiously.
- Under the new guidance I’m considering, I would have passed September, but not by so much for the goals to have felt irrelevant.
5. I was hindered in meeting my word count goal by spending days redoing my blog after it spontaneously broke. I really should have adjusted my target word count for that, but didn’t.
Planning Notes
Overall Goals
I will be lowering my target work hours to average 3 hours every day rather rather than 3 hours 15 minutes.
- Yeah, quarter hours add up, but probably not by enough to justify the feeling of hopeless frustration I get when I come in just under target.
- This won’t eliminate that, but maybe it will make it happen less often.
- I also feel it simplifies the math in a way I will appreciate.
Melody Goals
- Finish rewriting Act 2.
- Rewrite Act 3. (Or as much of it as possible)
Blog Goals
- Unless the blog breaks again, postpone all the stressful pondering of replacing the blog until after I’ve finished Act 3.
- Finish writing and post my review for Joy Demorra’s excellent book, Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites.
- Post one other thing in addition to that and the repeat of this. Another Conversation with My Writing seems appropriate.
Closing Notes
The weather is changing, the sunlight is attracting me less often, and things in general are looking up for me.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me over the last few months as I’ve struggled with my seasonal depression and, as always, thank you to everyone reading these words. You’re all awesome!
