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Be gentle with yourself

For a multitude of reasons, I was a quivering ball of stress last week. It was all I could do to just come home and read or watch TV or play video games, let alone be productive. So, I’m going gentle on myself and not giving myself a hard time about not getting much done. I needed the mental break, and that’s okay.

Nevertheless, I recovered enough on Sunday to get another 599 words written on Chapter One and a few new poems down for Napowrimo. It’s not quite done yet, so I’ll need to finish it before Wednesday and get it to my Writing Gang for critique.

Speaking of my Writing Gang, we’ve planned a mini-writing retreat for ourselves. We’ll be spending the weekend at a hotel and have planned out our own idea for a workshop, with writing periods and critique sessions. I’m looking forward to it, both as a chance to get some writing down and as a chance to have a relaxing escape from life right now. It should be fantastic.

Things to do in the coming week:
– Finish off Chapter One of Under the Midday Moon
– Submit something (poetry, fiction, whatever)
– Come up with a writing workshop idea for Writing Gang Retreat
– Workout at least three days (1/3)
– Have a fantastic time at the writing retreat and get lots of words down.

Cross-posted to my webpage. You are welcome to comment either here or there.
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Happy National Poetry Month!

I tend to forget that it’s April Fool’s Day (if not for the fact that everyone on the interwebs talks about it) and I’m also easily fooled, so chances are someone is going to have a laugh at my expense today. If you’re into that sort of thing, Jim Hines has a round up of some of the better Fool’s Day jokes that have already cropped up online.

But that’s okay, because today begins National Poetry Month! and that’s way more important. (^_^)
I will be participating in the National Poetry Writing Month challenge, which is essentially to write a poem a day in the month of April, or 30 poems total. Following the Poetic Asides prompts is an excellent way to stay inspired, if you’re participating.

I’ve been posting the poems to my tumblr the last couple of years, just to not have to cross-post and to have all the poetry in one place. I’m a bit torn as to whether I’m going to continue posting them online. On the one hand, posting them publicly is a way to hold myself accountable and actually make sure I get them done. On the other hand, posting the poems makes them ineligible for submitting to journals and I need to submit more often than I do. I’ve seen some poets put up their poems only temporarily, so maybe that’s one way to strike a compromise. I don’t know. Still thinking about that one.

Last Week In Review

My story, “The Shadow’s Flight,” was rejected by Strange Horizons. I read it over to see if I could clean it up anymore (I could), and immediately submitted to to Clarksworld, which also rejected it last week (wow! amazing response times!). So, I submitted it once again to Flesh and Blood (perhaps third times a charm?).

I managed to get through the first half of Chapter One of Under the Midday Moon. I like it so far, though it’s gone an changed where it’s going on me. So now I have to re-figure out just how I’m going to end Chapter One, which is all well and good, I suppose. At least words are getting on the page.

I ran 1.5 miles on Monday, and my foot was killing me by the end, but it started to clear up again rather quickly. But I didn’t push it on Wednesday and just did some sit ups and planks and squats instead. By Saturday my foot was feeling almost 100%, so I did a run and it went pretty smoothly. Almost no pain, which was bleeping fantastic, and I’m all set to get back to my running schedule this week. Yay!

Still struggling with my finances and trying to figure out how to handle them. I’m taking “contact accountant about retirement plans” off my to-do list for now, because I literally don’t have any extra income to invest. I need to figure out how to earn some extra money first.

Things to do in the coming week:
– Finish off Chapter One of Under the Midday Moon
– Submit something (poetry, fiction, whatever)
– Walk/Run at least three days at least 2 miles each day (0/3)
– Get California taxes done
– Sort paperwork out by year for filing
– Either purchase new a new filing cabinet(s), and/or buy folders/large envelopes, and/or go through the process of sorting and putting everything in its place
– Get data transferred from the old computer to the new one (may require giving up my computer for a few days)

Cross-posted to my livejournal. You are welcome to comment either here or there.
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This was my week…

… in Writing: No new words, but there was this (which makes me want to faint everytime I see it). Also, I submitted a story last week, which makes me very much want to continue by submitting something else this week.

In Health: I ate extremely well last week, which I attribute to making mason jar salads at the beginning of the week, making lunch packing so simple. Furthermore, I not only completed three out of three of my run/walk days, but I also did a mellow six mile walk with my friend and her dog on Sunday. I feel all light and shiny.

Although, the downside is that I apparently overdid it on my long Sunday walk. I felt perfectly fine during the walk, but a few hours after a pain started in the bottom of my foot. It kind of feels like the muscle was overworked or is bruised or something. The result is that I’m hobbling today and won’t be able to run. I hope this foot thing doesn’t put me too far off track from my running goals. *sigh*

In Finances: I got my taxes done! (Well, most of them and I didn’t quite get as much of a refund as I hoped, but I’m still happy!)

Overall: Last week was probably the most productive week I’ve had since the beginning of the year. I accomplished four out of eight thinks on my to-do list, which makes me feel like this. Huzzah!

Things to do in the coming week:
– Complete Chapter two of novel
– Submit something (poetry, fiction, whatever)
– Walk/Run at least three days at least 2 miles each day (0/3) (depends on the status of my foot)
– Contact my sisters accountant to find out about setting up an IRA
– Get California taxes done
– Sort paperwork out by year for filing
– Either purchase new a new filing cabinet(s), and/or buy folders/large envelopes, and/or go through the process of sorting and putting everything in its place
– Get data transferred from the old computer to the new one (may require giving up my computer for a few days)

[Cross-posted to my livejournal. You are welcome to comment either here or there.]
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a proper home

Much of last two weeks was spent preparing for, enjoying, and recovering from my trip to San Antonio, which was quite enjoyable. The result was that I didn’t get much done in terms of running or writing or financially, but since I gave myself permission to take it easy, that’s fine.

The one thing I did manage to do this week was to do a preliminary sorting of the stacks of paperwork in my bedroom, which has allowed me to locate some of the past tax information I needed. I now have a stack of paperwork that needs to be sorted into years and eventually filed, and I have another stack of paper work that needs to be shredded. It feels really good to be getting this done.

I also found out that the short story I submitted to Rustblind & Silverbright, an anthology of speculative fiction set in train stations. While I’m sad to have been rejected, I’m happy to say that it was a rather positive rejection and I’m confident the story will find its proper home.

Things to do in the coming week:
– Complete Chapter two of novel
– Submit the rejected short story to another publication
– Walk/Run at least three days at least 2 miles each day (0/3)
– Contact my sisters accountant to find out about setting up an IRA
– Get title transferred on my new car (I don’t know why I keep forgetting to do this)
– Get taxes done
– Get title transferred on my new car (I can’t believe I haven’t done this yet…. screw you, autopilot)
– Either purchase new a new filing cabinet(s), and/or buy folders/large envelopes, and/or go through the process of sorting and putting everything in its place
– Get data transferred from the old computer to the new one (may require giving up my computer for a few days)

[Cross-posted to my livejournal. You are welcome to comment either here or there.]
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Giving myself a break

It was a bit slow going for me last week, which I am choosing not to stress about because of how full my social calendar was at the time.

I had started out with the idea of writing a short film script for the 10 by 10 Short Script Challenge from Stranger with My Face. They sent an email with a prompt and participants had ten days to write the script. A few wriggles of ideas were noodling around my head, but nothing came together, so I just let it go. There’s always next year.

After skipping the problem with Chapter One, I managed to half of Chapter Two down and into the writing gang, who seemed to enjoy it. Chapter Two is working better for me all around, so I’m just going to move on from there.

Nothing much else got done, as the rest of my time was taken up with movie watching and being lazy.

Since I’m going to be traveling at the end of this week through next week, and will need to run errands and prep for that, I’m going to go easy on myself and keep my to-do list brief.

Things to do in the coming week:
– Complete Chapter two of novel
– Walk/Run at least three days at least 2 miles each day (0/3)
– Contact my sisters accountant to find out about setting up an IRA
– Get title transferred on my new car (I don’t know why I keep forgetting to do this)
– Get California taxes in for 2011, so I can start in on Cal and Fedral for 2012 next week