Thinking back over these two weeks, however, looking at all I've done or been a part of doing, I guess I shouldn't be too upset with myself.
*The 30 year old wallpaper in my bathroom is now gone. I painted, sanded the walls (don't ask. DIY problems!) and painted some more. Now I'm only about $1000, a few trips to Lowe's, and a skilled carpenter away from bringing my bathroom into this century. (In other words, ten years from now, when I find that spare $grand and finally replace that blue-cloudy fake marble, shell-shaped double sink and whitewashed 1978 cabinetry, the now-fresh taupe-y grayish brown paint will need to be updated. But it'll do for now!)
*Albus got "fixed" -- and subsequently had complications involving his stitches and an incessant need to nip at them. I can now say that I answered a telephone call from a friend and responded to her question, "What are you up to?" with "Well, I just put a maxi pad on my male dog. What are you doing?" Also, I "slept" on the living room floor with my poor sweet pup while he got used to wearing "the cone of shame" for a couple of nights, resulting in a totally messed up body clock that has me relatively productive until 2 or 3 in the morning, but unable to really function until about 10:30 the next day.
*I got together with my "book 3" cover models and finalized the wardrobe selections for the photo shoot, which is now scheduled! Woot!
*School supply shopping, registration paperwork, and sports physicals are completed!
*One of the two color guard routines I'm responsible for choreographing for the high school marching band is almost perfected! Which means I've spent actual time *gasp!* outdoors!
*Several conversations with a few of my traditionally published friends have made me ever-so-grateful to be forging my own path through this changing industry. The more I hear about their struggles, deadlines, and lack of input into the final product, I realize that, at least at this moment in time and with this chaotic mind, I am doing the right thing for me by self-publishing. Yes, it's a LOT of responsibility and a lot of work, but honestly, I am way too *squirrel!* easily distracted, too often wracked with anxiety, and entirely too much of a control freak to go the traditional route. I am more thankful than ever to be a self-publishing author who sets my own deadlines and plays by my own rules while doing what I love. And yet... there are things about this journey that still have me occasionally digressing into panic mode.
*So, my old friend anxiety. We meet again. Yep. I've had a bit of that familiar nemesis stealing my sleep and adding to the chaos. But unlike my usual "Just lay there while my gut feels like its being compressed by a Ben-Gay-covered vice that is injecting caterpillers into my gut", I have used some of those sleepless hours productively, stepping out of E'veria and working on another project. In the last week I've completed about six chapters of rewriting on a contemporary YA romance that I hope to release within the next year, all within the wee hours.
*Although I did not accomplish as much as I'd hoped toward finishing Eyes of E'veria Book Three, I did manage to write about 10,000 new words--and cut about 1000 "old" ones. Only 15,000 to go before I dig in to the initial revisions! PROGRESS! I'll take it!
*I've also attended to my sweet gig at HEA, having submitted 6 book reviews for July releases and having completed reading 2 August releases and started a third.
So, yeah. I've been fairly intensely busy, though not blogging. Now and then the chaos-that-is-my-life has been tempered by mixing a few solid writing days into the madness, but considering I'm readying this blog post at 2:21 am on a Sunday morning (that still feels like Saturday night!), there is clearly plenty of madness to spare in my world!
What's going on in your world? Has your summer been chaotic -- or sublime?
