Travel, Health, Vacation

Sorry if I was a little Vaguebooking with the last post in terms of what and where I’m going. In a nutshell, my seniority at work is finally starting to kick in, but at the station I’m at I’m technically still pretty low-rung. I was only able to take half a tour off during the summer for the last two years, but make lemonade and I don’t mind a winter vacation.

I was being a loser and not picking anything. And of all the places I managed to squeeze for a good deal, I’m leaving for Kauai on Saturday for a week. The Garden Island has been on my bucket list for years, and I always assumed it was too expensive compared to other places I could go. Anyway, because I booked last minute and my parents have a timeshare – and they haven’t used it for a while so they had a ton of points – I’m going on the cheap.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s still going to cost and I’m blessed to be in a place where I can not only take the time to go on vacation, but I’m going to be able to focus on my health.

I picked Santa Theresa two years ago due to the fact it was a little off the beaten path and the place (besides being a party town) was what I call a Yoga and Smoothie Beach town. I wanted to be active and bike and hike and learn to surf. I think a big problem with EMS, especially my experience – is the atmosphere that almost encourages fatigue and burn out. Now, no one put a gun to my head and said I had to work a ton of OT and I chose to work at a busy station for three years, but student loans and everything weigh down on you and there’s more to life than having that unfortunate reality weigh you down. I paid off my student loan and traveled when I saved up money, and even though I’m still paying down my car loan things are way more manageable and the whole ‘buying a house’ thing is taking longer than anticipated. Part of the reason I didn’t travel last year was due to I thought I would have a house by now and needed furniture and wanted to budget accordingly.

My issue is that I can be very tunnel-minded and not necessarily do things my body needs in order to recover. I think it’s super good to be more mindful than just the cliche of eat well and exercise – and I’ve left many a really nice lunch back at the station fridge to eat something that ends up rather disappointing – but to rest, re-energize and do things you enjoy. I took my open water scuba diver when I was nineteen, and only got to use it two years ago. Planning on doing at least two dives next week, but I’m also planning on playing the rest of the week by ear. I guess it’s like all things: getting good at writing took longer than I thought it would, publishing is by far slower, and even travel and other life goals are taking longer than I thought they would.

Not for lack of planning or effort on my part. I think part of life is acknowledging what you want and what is realistic, and acknowledging it doesn’t always happen on the timeline you originally wanted.

I’m choosing to remain grateful for what I have, and the opportunities that will come. I’ll post some pictures of the trip when I get back.

2018 Round Up

In January, no less!

First year I think in a long time that I haven’t finished my Goodreads reading challenge. I used to plan to read about 50 books a year, but then realized one a week was 52 books. I’m not going to say I cheated by listening to short stories – the intent was to give me inspiration for my NaNoWriMo. I was really busy up until about two days ago, and then it was like everything calmed right down, with the exception of a few minor trades here and there.

Writing-Wise I am still waiting to hear back from my editor pertaining to my two books under contract. One is mostly done and the other we’re working on. I haven’t heard anything in a while so I’m sure she’s busy with someone else. My goal is to have the edits for book 2 in the Sword and Sorcery series (series?!) edited and sent to my publisher by the end of my vacation. I’m currently on a stat day – I was doing really good with my fitness kickstart in November, and I kind of fell on and off the horse throughout December – not so much anything other than my day job really isn’t conducive to me hitting the gym after getting off of a 12 hour shift (if I’m off on time – hah!) nights are easier but I did a few swaps. We’re fully staffed and OT is at a premium, but I don’t care and am enjoying my stat day. I bruised my arm in October(?) after a blood donation went not so hot so I pretty much took the month off after. I honestly haven’t done a heck of a lot with the NaNo project in the past few weeks, but to be fair I have been editing other projects and have a few projects for anthologies I want to submit to.

Ron and Larry have us a table at Keycon Lite on February 2 – I’ll blog about it later and post some more relevant info. I’ll be there (hopefully!) because after much humming and hawing I booked travel plans! I was tempted to just go someplace within a day’s drive and things kinda fell into place. More detail to come on that, I’ll focus on the arts.

So I finished the rough draft of the sequel to Witchslayer’s Scion in May – took a lot longer than I anticipated to draft it, and I’ve been very lazily editing the hard copy Ron looked over. I haven’t heard back since I told them I did it if they were interested in turning it into a series, but anything’s possible.

After that I wrote a few shorts and a novella that takes place during Witchslayer’s Scion. I decided it would be a nice supplemental bit of material that helps flesh out the world outside the main character’s POV. I am tempted to write a few supplemental shorts, whether or not the publisher is interested is beyond me, but if they don’t want them I can finally have an excuse to learn sygil and self-pub a few ebook novellas.

When Words Collide was excellent this year, and spoiled baby got to spend a day (and an evening!) in Banff. I haven’t heard back from the publishers concerning the MG/YA books I pitched to them, but after a long pause from another publisher I’m not holding my breath on any of them. Onward and upward. I’ll be gone for the first week of my vacation, back before the end of the month and hopefully I’ll break the tasks down into manageable sizes. I’m not the most organized person when it comes to my creative works, but rather than paint-by-number it does help for me to have a general plan that allows for creativity to happen.

As for this coming year – I’m hoping both Dreams of Mariposa (Steampunk/Horror) and Witchslayer’s Scion (Sword and Sorcery) are ready to go later this year, and hopefully I can then pitch sequels and potentially other projects as well. As for the MG/YA, I’ll keep you posted. The next real focus should be finishing my NaNo and letting it breathe for a bit. I don’t know how some authors can write and submit so quickly – and my drafts are way more streamlined than when I was in junior high and high school. Maybe it’ll come with experience.

Hope you had a blessed 2018, and may your 2019 be a wonderful time for you and yours.