The year just keeps rolling right along and I've gotta say, hallelujah January is over. Under normal circumstances I would probably limit that comment to my readers in Wisconsin but I think this year we can ALL agree it was a horrible month for weather. Even you southern states out there. I mean yikes, really? How many days of negative temperatures can someone take before they just decide to pack up and get the hell outta dodge?
The answer is probably a lot of days because most people aren't sissies like me.
Never in my 17 years in Wisconsin (oy, shit, it's been that long) have I experienced such miserable cold. When the aptly named "Polar Vortex" came shooting down from the butthole of the north pole earlier in the month (and a couple more times throughout) I was lucky enough that my car started up just fine each morning. Well, I'm sure it would have the morning the garage door chose to not open because the opener-motor was frozen from the -55 temperature, but that's beside the point. Thank god for @klreynol for a ride to work and Miss T for one after (when the door opened just fine.)
Other than mentioning the cold outside, there really wasn't much that happened throughout the month. It was just really, really cold. In case you didn't hear me the first time, natch.
I got the flu (read about it here) so that just sucked. Do you know anyone who is high-functioning when they get sick? Like, they get nailed with puking and a fever but they still manage to do things around the house and keep themselves entertained? No? Me neither! How about that!? I was bummed my house still looked like a dookie after sitting around in it for three days and it's funny how you make yourself so incapacitated while being sick. Even though I was about 98% alone during it with only the cats to witness my actions, I still felt like I had to look more sick than I really was because that's just what you do.
Keep the frown on your face, leave your hair looking like a pair of squirrels got in a fight in it, and don't bother putting on jeans or a t-shirt because your hoodie and sweats will suffice. I probably would have felt better a bit sooner if I had been able to open a window or something but to do so would mean the life-force I so desperately clung to would be sucked out of my body.
I'm not dramatic.
There is so much that I want to write about my book right now but I won't let myself do it. There are two (2) blogs about what has been going on that I've got in the works and I just can't spill the beans quite yet. I CAN say I finally finished episode III of my series! I'd finished the big edit of it back in December but when I wrapped it up, I just felt like the ending was lacking. Plus I had a ton of notes for the book I'd ignored during the editing process and I knew I'd have to wiggle back in there and fix whatever they needed me to fix.
So yesterday I printed the final three chapters out and went to ye old stomping grounds at Starbucks to re-edit them. Spent seven hours doing it, was pleased, and then today I made the changes to the digital copy. What surprised me the most today (in a fantastic way) was when I had to start writing a small bit of dialogue between two of my characters.
Let me preface this by saying I haven't felt much of the writing bug lately so it was a chore to do this at all.
Anyway, I start this dialogue and my note on the page says "make Banning feel helpless." So I think okay, sure, add a few bits to dramatize his situation that he has found himself in. And as I start typing, something just... clicks. This idea hits me out of nowhere and I suddenly couldn't type fast enough to get it out. And I'm laughing and smirking and then eventually choking up because it got reallllll heavy real fast, but I finally solved the riddle of why the ending of my book sucked. I had to bring it all back around to the beginning, full-circle so to speak, and that was a wonderful realization because it took so much pressure off my shoulders. The constant thought of "this isn't very good but there really isn't a way to make it any better" is never a good bedfellow.
I'll wrap this up with what my new motto is starting to be. It took a large part of last year to get over something that I by all means should have gotten over very quickly. But I didn't. And for all of the thinking and stewing and festering I did on the situation I didn't really even come out on top of it like I thought I would, nor how I wanted to. I've always had a problem in being comfortable telling things how they are to a person's face (not a specific person, just in general.) And not things like "Where was I last night? Oh, I was at David's house." Or "No, no, no, you look great in that shirt. Honest injun."
It's more of things like "Hey, here is where my head is at. I like you, I always have, I think we should get married and live happily ever after." "Hey, this is my book. It's long, it took 14 years to write, but it's good and you'll think so too." I spend too long worrying about what consequences my real feelings will have and I need to stop doing that. So like the picture says, I need to tell the truth. And run if need be.
I think it's a healthy form of expression (c:
So, what else happened in January? I continued my winning streak at Karaoke (...), had a great time at game night @klreynol's house, discovered I'm the shittiest player in the world at Werewolves (I think that was the name, I dunno, I never was one and they kept killing me anyway,) and realized I can roast veggies as good as anyone else. I started to diet again (and subsequently look better in my own skin,) went back to blond and grew the beard back out to go with my new hairstyle. I wrapped up the best year my store has ever had, decided I am going to buy a house instead of looking for someplace else to rent, and took the final steps necessary to securing the fate of the Onyxus Chronicles.
But more about that next time (c;
Until then, toodles gang!
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