My apologies, it’s been a while. Over a month, in fact.
So, let’s clear the air a bit. I totally ended up stepping away from this blog for a bit. I had to. Something had to give. I was working and stressing about that, my health was taking a bit of a nose dive, writing was stressing me, and honestly, it was just hard to keep up with what might happen next.
First, obviously, Blogtober is canceled. Which makes sense, because we’re halfway through November and I’ve had the post for October… 7th? 7th, sitting half written on a tab on my computer since before that date. And yes, that was a 9-1-1 episode review… which we have to also talk about.
There’s been a lot going on, and my mind is kinda bouncing around right now.
But let’s take care of the easy thing that just got mentioned. I’m no longer actively watching 9-1-1 or the spinoff 9-1-1 Lone Star. My biggest reason is that I have fallen out of love with the show. I feel like the writing has gone downhill and the showrunner is actively trying to force the show to go in a direction that just doesn’t really work for me. I watched episodes four and five and just didn’t feel any excitement, even though five ends on a massive cliffhanger that leaves Hen’s wife’s life in the balance! And I… could honestly not have cared less. I have now missed three episodes and I just don’t see the need for me to sit down and break down episodes and review them and whatnot if I don’t care about it. So I’m done with that whole project. As for the spinoff, I’m not going to continue doing it for that show. I’ll be honest in that I’m still indecisive if I’ll watch in January or not (I’ll make my decision when we’re closer. But as of now, that’s something I’m not thinking about.
Another change that has come about in the past six weeks is that I stopped doing a book challenge that I may or may not have previously mentioned (I’m writing this without having looked at my previous posts, so forgive my own personal confusion, I’m still in catchup mode). If I haven’t mentioned it, I had been planning to read the beginnings of 31 novels in October to decide if I wanted to keep them or donate them. I did about five before I got too overwhelmed about everything else happening and I kept forgetting. So, that’s not happening. Instead, I did end up choosing some novels that I clearly am not going to read and I’m bringing them to a few Little Free Libraries in my area, as well as donating some more to my local library.
But I do have some good news. I got misdiagnosed! So, remember when I was told that I had a condition called pseudotumor cerebri? And then last year I was told that I didn’t have it? Well, now that I have decent insurance, I started going to see a doctor again. She sent me for an MRI because I’ve been getting major headaches the last few months, and they’ve been getting worse with each passing week. Well, one thing has led to another (I’m summarizing nearly six weeks worth of stress, work call outs, and doctors appointments) and I came to find out that I never had pseudotumor cerebri. Ever. At all. I just have migraines.
It’s scary that the words “it’s just migraines” actually settles a lot of my anxieties, but it does. For so long I was living with the thought if I didn’t change every aspect of myself to try to counteract the iih, I’d be blind by 35. Instead, I just have bad eyes that are inherited from my family and migraines.
Now, nothing is settled yet. I’m having light sensitivity issues that seem to stem from the migraines (or is it the other way around?). We’re working to find the happy medium for me. But just having some answers has helped me in so many ways.
So. Where Do We Go From Here.
Currently my personal goal is to just try to keep as much stress off of my back as possible. That means I may or may not do something like Blogmas. I’m not announcing anything yet.
I’m finishing up my last major writing commitments for the 9-1-1 / 9-1-1: Lone Star fandoms right now. I have two Whumptober fics left to post as of this post going live, as well as several final chapters and a full chapter story that I really just need to sit down and knock out over the Thanksgiving holiday. I may or may not finish by the end of November, but that is my current goal. If I miss it, I am totally fine with that. Remember, low stress.
I do want to sit down and knock out my reviews for the books that I’ve been reading and listening to. Yes, you read that right, I’ve been listening to audio books. It’s been the easiest way to get through the entire Percy Jackson series, as I can listen to almost two hours a week during my drive to and from work, on top of my regular readings when I’m trying to not stress. If I can finish Whumptober in the next few days, I want to spent this weekend (when not entertaining my mom’s houseguest, it’s fine) reading. It’s a fun little goal.
For this blog, I want to get back to posting about twice to three times a week. This may start back up next week, considering that it is Thursday when I post this. That will include both posts about writing and book reviews, as well as possibly reviews and commentary on the movies and shows that my mom and I have been watching together and separately. I do have tentative plans, things that I’ll be working on for the next few days off line. Again, no stress. If I can only manage two posts a week right now, that’s totally fine.
There’s obviously a lot I didn’t touch on in this post, either because I didn’t think of it or because I just don’t have the time to do so. Hopefully I’ll get to it at another time. Until then, I’d like to extend a very amazing thank you to anyone who has popped by to see if I’ve posted, and to anyone who has liked/favorited anything here. I really appreciate it so very gratefully.
Until next time!
(One more thing, my little ad, hush. In my fandom over on AO3, there’s an event called the “Circle of Excellence” that is promoting amazing fanfics and several of my fics were nominated. I’m honored to be included among so many other amazing authors. I’m not asking for votes, I’m just calling attention to the awesome people included. If you’re curious, I reblogged it onto my tumblr.)
