My acceptance

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Melanie Eden

On July 25th, 2019, we lost my Mother to Lung Cancer.

If this comes as a shock to anyone who knows me, it’s because I simply couldn’t talk about it. I’ve lost people in the past, and it’s hurt, but I’ve never experienced grief like this before in my life, and It’s been unbearable in so many ways that I’m only just now discovering.

The first week after my Mum passed, I was in shock. It had been a whirlwind 5 weeks previously, with mum having a series of stokes that were later attributed to late stage lung cancer that was just discovered. She seemed to be on the road to recovery from the strokes when 10 days later, she had what the doctors believed to be another massive stroke.

Immediately, she went from being mobile and speaking, to paralyzed along her right hand side, unable to walk and to speak or swallow on her own. She was still conscious – she was still Mum, but now she was essentially trapped inside of her own body, able to communicate only with simple hand gestures, and facial expressions, when she wasn’t too tired.

I spent every day over the 5 weeks that we had with her, in the hospital. I watched my Mother – a person who I love without equal, die over the course of those 5 weeks.

I’m not going to say that I didn’t allow myself to feel over those 5 weeks, but I tried my hardest to focus on the facts of the matter, so that I could be there for my Mum when she couldn’t speak for herself. My Dad, my Brother and I were powerless to do anything to save my Mum, but still we stayed with her, held her hand, talked to her when she was awake, and tried to make her as comfortable as possible during the time that she had left.

I couldn’t cry for the first 2 weeks after she passed. I was sad, and upset, but it didn’t exactly feel real. I knew that I needed to be gentle with my feelings, and that I needed time to heal, but I had no idea what that really meant until now.

Day to day things are the same as they were before, I haven’t lived with my Mother in years, but it’s during odd tasks when I’ll suddenly find myself completely overcome with emotion, and I have to stop and check myself before I completely break down. Doing completely mundane things: Cooking, cleaning, shopping, even when I’m procrastinating. I can hear her voice in the back of my head, saying something to me about how I’ve always been a terrible house keeper (I’ve never cleaned as often or as well as she would have liked) or to save my money when I’m looking at some stupid thing in the store, and to quit putting something off so long. Snippets of conversations that we’ve had over the years, things that made me laugh, and roll my eyes so hard I was sure they would get stuck in the back of my skull. Mum things.

I feel the void that her presents once filled now, more acutely than I’ve ever felt any sort of loss in my life before.

I’ve known many people over the years who have lost those that they loved, and I’ve always struggled with finding the right words to express my sorrow for them, and always found myself severely lacking. I think the reason why, is because of this. I’d never experienced this form of loss before, and it’s simply not something that can be explained in words, it’s something that must be felt.

Loss is empty, and it is silent.

Friends and loved ones ask if there is anything that they can do for you, and the honest answer is no. Just be there. Knowing that people you love and care about, love and care for you enough to let you know is a balm, and touchstone when you cannot control the pain from rising up unexpectedly.

I’ve appreciated each and every kind word that was sent to me from those that did know about my Mother’s passing, and I’ve treasured all of them, even if I didn’t have the strength to respond back.

My Mum was a pretty private person, who didn’t really believe in social media, but her passing isn’t some sort of secret, just a difficult truth that must be accepted. This is my acceptance.

In a lot of ways, I feel like I’ve only just started to grieve, started to realize what my life will be like now that she’s gone, and I’m finding that it’s a little less full.

I will be forever grateful for the fact that I always made time for her when she asked, that I spent as much time with her as I could, that I always called her when something happened in my life, and that I reminded myself to always treasure the time I had with her. It’s the reality of being a child, of knowing that one day your parents will be gone. It’s that same reasoning that made me glad to spend each day that she was in the hospital with her. It may not have been quality time in some senses of the expression, but it was important, because I knew that it was no less than what she would have done for me, and how could I have looked myself in the mirror for doing any less for this woman who did so much for me.

I don’t regret the time I spent with my Mum, I treasure each and every moment, because it was time spent with her. Whether we were yelling at each other, or she was getting me drunk on homemade wine, she was my Mum, and I’ll never stop missing or loving her.

So now I want to thank you. Thank you for reading this. It’s long, and in every way that counts, this is for me, a way to express something that I’ve had such difficulties with up until now. Thank you for allowing me to leave this here.

Thank you for being kind. Whether it be words or texts, or even just with your presents, whether you knew about my Mum or not, I appreciate you. I don’t have a ton of friends, but the ones that I have are of the highest caliber, and I would be nothing in life if it weren’t for you, and in case I don’t say it enough: I love you.

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Learning my lesson

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Melanie Eden

I’ve been churning out words fairly consistently for the last few days. Thursday was a bit of a flop because of plans, but I had been planning on getting back on track – and even getting a little bit ahead in order to get ready for being back at work for a few days next week.

I’d gotten an extra few hundred words done last night before bed, and although this morning had started out slow, I was almost 1 k words into my word count for the day. I’d gotten past a particularly descriptive part of the story, and was anxious to move into more plot – when my lappy started to give me problems. It’s been great the last few weeks since I upgraded my set up, I never expected it to simply turn itself off for no reason in the middle of a workday.

Normally I’m super good about saving my work – I’m almost obsessive about it, but for some reason, I’ve been less concerned about it the last few days. Call it passivity born from simply not having computer problems for so long, or forgetfulness – either applies, and they both come down to a loss of words that is no one’s fault but my own.

Truly – 1 k words isn’t much to suck back and re-do. I’m lucky that I had been working on the part I’d lost so recently, that it’s still relatively fresh in my mind. I know it’s not going to come out exactly the same as I had written it the first time, but the major points will still get across, and at the end of the day I’ve re-learned a valuable lesson: Save, save, save.

If you’ve written a sentence, and need to walk away for any reason: Save.

Interrupted by anything, Phone, email, texts: Save.

I’m glad that this happened so soon in the month before I have more done, but honestly I’m hoping it won’t happen again either. Saving.

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Creating a new (temporary) routine

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Melanie Eden

For the last few years that I’ve done Nano, I’ve taken almost the entire month off of work. The first year that I attempted to do this writing challenge while still working full time – I felt like I was going batty. It doesn’t help that I normally work a ton of overtime, and I’m the sort of person to bring my work home with me either. Needless to say I wasn’t able to complete my 50k, and as such was unable to cross the finish line.

So after that experience, I decided that if I was going to make a fair shot of it, I would need to focus myself almost entirely on writing, and I would need to find a way to block out all of the other distractions that life creates.

My solution was taking my vacation in November. I’m lucky to have the option of doing this – I know many really couldn’t indulge in this luxury from year to year. Either they don’t have a month of vacation time, or they don’t have an employer who is as understanding as mine.

The time off has worked well for me the last two years – I’ve been able to figure out what I need to do in order to get the words down, and each part of my story written. I might just be working on drafts – but the amount of words that I’ve gotten down during the last three years of committing to NaNo has been more then I ever would have been able to do if left to my own devices.

There used to be a time when writing was the most important thing to me, and I could focus on it almost entirely, but times and my own personal situation have changed, making it harder and harder to find the time or the inspiration to slowly pick at a story during an hour or two over the weekend or in the evening. I feel like I save up all of my writing stamina for November now – so much so that this year the words seem to be coming out easier then they have in quite some time. I don’t feel like I’m struggling to find the right thing to say as much as I have in the past – of course this is likely a temporary situation. As we all know, the words slow eventually as you come across your first hump or a part where you are trying to figure out what is going on.

I hope that hump is a long way off – I’m really enjoying myself this year. I love getting up early, and sitting down with my shake to get the words out on paper. (Or the computer as the case may be). I love watching the sun slowly come up through my office windows, and even being able to spend more time at home with my other half – who programs video games out of his home office.

I realize that I’m rambling slightly, but I think the point I want to make is that while some wouldn’t consider taking a month off to write in a personal competition relaxing – it’s about more than that to me. It’s about getting back to my own roots – without the stress of a job that I live and breath the rest of the year. Its not about going away and sitting on a beach (which I would love to do at some point) or goofing off, it’s me taking a month to do what I would love to spend my time doing more often, and being serious enough about to to treat it LIKE a job for the month.

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NaNoWriMo 2016

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Melanie Eden

So today is the first day of Nano 2016.

I struggled to figure out what I was going to write this year. I wasn’t sure if I was going to start something brand new this year or if I was going to add to the same series I’ve been working on for the past 3 years.

When I finally made the decision to continue with my “Touch of Destiny” series, I was happy, but the decision came only after taking a hard look at what I’ve done with it for the last few years.

Originally when I had started writing it – and when I was planing out how the story would be laid out – I had assumed that it would be a trilogy. I enjoy reading trilogy’s myself, and thought that I would enjoy writing one. They are long enough that you can get a really good feel for the characters, back story, and a wonderful buildup to the main conflict without having to worry that your just going to have a story that never ends. Good trilogy’s are self-contained (in my opinion) and leave you feeling rather satisfied at the end of them, as though you’ve been taken on a fairly sizable adventure that’s immersed you into this new world enough that you’re invested in the characters and the story line – but there isn’t so much story involved that you feel like you need to refresh yourself each time a new book comes out / becomes available.

I adore longer series – and there are a few I’ve read and re-read so many times that even though there are double digits in the amount of books included, and each book is a solid 8 hour read, I know them as well as the back of my hand. This is not every multi-book series though – and I recognize in myself the fading interest that comes with some series that seem to stretch too long after when they comfortably should have.

I don’t want the ‘Touch of Destiny’ books to be like that – I have a story to tell, and I know approximately where it will end. I don’t feel a need to drag it out unnecessarily.

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Not all books are written equal

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Melanie Eden

I read a lot.  Sometimes I read a new book every day, or when I’m really busy, it’s at least one new book a week.  Not all of the books I read I identify enough with in order to write a review about, but sometimes I read ones that I find absolutely fabulous or intriguing, and I can’t help but share my thoughts on them.

There is something to be said for books that are published both traditionally, and non traditionally.  I’ve read wonderful books released by both, and when it comes to what side of the fence I’m on in regards to how an author should choose, or be able to publish: whatever you’re able to do, or whatever you feel comfortable with is where my opinion lies.

That being said, if I have ever come across a book that I’ve had major problems with in regards to the ease of reading / grammar / editing – It’s not surprising that likely the book was released in a more indie publishing fashion.

Just recently I read a book like this.  I had read the authors first book – and actually quite enjoyed it in terms of the story line, plot and characterizations.  My problems with the book were more to do with the format of the writing, and the fact that it was clear not enough time had been spent ensuring that all of the major editing had been caught.

When I saw this, I found myself in a terrible situation.  I want to be frustrated that these things had not been done for a book that has been released as something that the author is asking money for, but on the other hand, I realize how difficult it can be to find good help to work on these sorts of things when you are going the indie pub route.

As a writer myself, working on my first book / series in my spare time – I know how something I write seems fine to me, but when it’s read by someone else before I’ve had a chance to go through it with a fine toothed comb, they feel the same sorts of frustration I felt while reading this person’s published book.  It can also be difficult to find people to give you an honest opinion of your work when you are going to friends / family for advice, and they care more about not wanting to hurt you feelings then wanting to make sure that you are releasing a truly wonderful piece of work.

The main difference is of course that I haven’t made anyone pay for a book that I’m not one hundred percent happy with – and I’m not sure that my anal tendencies would me allow me to.

With how easy it is now for anyone to simply put a book up on amazon or some of the other electronic book retailers, readers need to be sure that they are paying more and more careful attention to the books they purchase to ensure that they are not buying a product that isn’t up to the quality that they expect.  This – of course – is the obvious solution to not putting myself in the situation that I’ve found myself in with this particular author, and their book(s) if I don’t want to continue being frustrated with the formatting and editing, or lack there of.

The other option that I have is to send an email to the author, or submit a review to the book, giving my honest opinion of the book.

I find it to be a difficult choice to make.  On one hand, I have actually submitted a review to the author’s first book – with some of the more obvious problems I found while reading it, and then found that the second book was written with the same things occurring.  This leads me to the obvious conclusion that the author is not interested in actually changing anything.

Truly, this is a soul searching decision.  Do I enjoy the author’s works enough to see past the problems I have with the formatting / editing, or is it really too frustrating to warrant trudging through another story filled with more of the same?

It wouldn’t be the first time that I completely gave up on a book / author and found another one to occupy my time.  It’s not like there aren’t enough other books to choose from in the world, but this particular decision has me stymied.

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Nobody’s Goddess (The Never Veil) – Amy McNulty

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Melanie Eden

Nobody’s Goddess was brought to my attention the same way most of my random Kindle books are, and after a cursory read through the description I decided that it was worth a read.

I had been expecting a YA romance, maybe one that taught the importance of looking beyond the surface of those whom you don’t expect to love, but was surprised by how wrong I was. The story is primarily a coming of age struggle for the protagonist Noll, and how the disdain for the fate of all people in her village to pair up eventually grows to raging hate as her best friend finds his goddess in her own sister.

The story tells of Noll’s quest to find out more of how this fate came to befall her people, while trying desperately to hold her own grudgingly besotted man at bay – a man for whom she seems to feel nothing but disdain.

I enjoyed following Noll, who grows much as a character during the course of the book, as she learns hard truths, and never ceases her quest to understand more about the world she has been born into while refusing to simply accept things as they have always been.

It is a romance novel without the romance, an adventure without ever leaving home, and a story with an amazing capability to keep you guessing until the very end. I recommend this book for anyone who is looking for something a little bit different then your typical YA.

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Volition – Lily Paradis

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Melanie Eden

I just finished reading this book, and although I can say with confidence immediately that it is by far one of my favorite books, its not for the same reasons that I would recommend it to others.  I’m not sure I would recommend this to anyone to read.  I don’t remember what it was in the books description that caught my eye, or peaked my interest, but it was something, and its that same something that is strangely quiet and contemplative inside of me right now after having finished reading the last page.

I’m sorry if this is more of a blog post then a real book review, and true to how most of my reviews seem to pan out – I think that a description of how I felt about the book rather then a description of what it is about seems more appropriate.  I don’t like writing traditional book reviews – but that’s a story for another day.

Its more then important to note that before you go out and spend any money on this book – you should read the forward at the beginning.  The author clearly prepares you for what is not necessarily a happy book, it is filled with darkness and struggle throughout.  I will be honest and say that I found myself silently crying more then a few times as I continued to read – unable to stop once I had started.

If you manage to read through the author’s forward about the book, and still decide that you want to continue, then I recommend that you get comfortable to read the whole thing without pause.  Its the sort of story that engulfs you and takes over your thoughts until the very end.  Even now, I’m finding it hard to pull myself away from all of the thoughts and feelings it has stirred up inside of me.

This story was not about the world building for me, it was about the characters and the harsh realities of their lives – that on the outside aren’t so harsh.  The emotional struggles are real and palpable, and I felt myself suffer along with the pain and heartache, and then try to recover myself to being hopeful and strong.

To say that this book has impacted me would be a grand understatement.  I felt such an overwhelming identification with the characters in ‘Volition’, that I’m both slightly unsettled, and deeply moved.  But that is the dark part of me talking, the part that the book was written for.

I haven’t spoken since reading the last pages, I’ve turned myself over to writing down my impressions before I’ll be ready to.  Written words are cathartic to me  in much the same way that writing ‘Volition’ was for Lily Pradis – as she states in her forward.  The need to put down something on paper so that you can look at it from another point of view, and then find a way to accept it for what it truly is, without hating it or or making excuses for it, to slowly craft those words into something that you’ll be ready to let go of, for better or worse – that is what this is for me.

Even as I write this, I feel myself slowly slipping back out of the dark place I found myself in while reading.  Its a place I will go again when I re-read it in a years time – because that is the sort of book this is for me.  Its a dark indulgence, a chance to feel all of those things that don’t have a place in your normal life, but you know that if you shut them out for too long, they will come roiling to the surface when you aren’t ready for them.  I will re-read this book for the same reasons that I love ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’.  The dark conflicting strange beauty of them will forever draw me back, to indulge myself in something so completely different from what I normally read, and a world that I don’t live in everyday.

Thank you Lily, for sharing ‘Volition’.

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The Truth about Editing

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Melanie Eden

Editing sucks.  Its the bane of my existence, regardless of knowing how essential that it is to the writing process.  There is no possible way to avoid doing it, we’re only human and we all make mistakes, and there is always room for improvement on a good idea.

I could write a whole series of posts about all the things I don’t like about editing my own work, but today I’m going to focus on my current dilemma: stabilizing world creation.

There are two “Classes” or “Types” of writer’s apparently – those that plan out the entire work before they even put pen to paper, and know about everything in the world and story they are creating.  They have detailed notes about what is supposed to happen when, and how each of there characters is important to the story and each other, and how the mechanic’s of the world with affect them and their decisions during the course of the novel.  Then there are those who just sit down with nothing more then an idea and their imagination and get busy.

The second type is more like how I start out, although I know I’ve grown as an author because of the last few ideas I’ve had –  and how I’ve started the planning before actually getting any of the story it self down in a recognizable format – although I still largely go with my gut and a blank piece of paper to create on when it comes time to let the story out.

Ideas for stories hit me like lightning – one moment its not there, and then bam!  I’ve hit the inspiration mother load.

Its hard to tell how ‘Touch of Destiny’ came to me, it was a long time ago, and I’ve had parts of it written down in random notebooks for years, gradually adding to different parts of the story as the whim struck me.  I’ve always known that the story would be too much for one book, and that it would likely be a trilogy, and I’ve always known how it was going to end, but the journey has been something that’s only really started to evolve since last November when I wrote out the lion’s share of the first complete rough draft I’ve ever had for it.

Now after having spent time writing ‘Touch of Destiny’, and delving fairly extensively into the second book ‘Hand of Fate’ – I know more about the world that I’ve gotten myself involved with – and how much I need to actually show potential future readers.  The world is so much larger then I had originally envisioned, and things aren’t as simple as I was naive enough to think last year.

The basics that I had originally planned on have largely remained the same – – the main kingdoms and the leaders of each, basic beliefs of the common people, the logistics for pulling forth magical and arcane abilities and what place those abilities have within the hierarchy of normal life.  I knew that there would be a cost for every gift – – but the price has changed from that first rough draft on a long forgotten scrap of paper.  The stakes have been raised.

The politics of the world are coming more into play – – something I couldn’t even fathom before this had been more fully laid before me.  I’ve been watching as this spark of an idea I had in a long forgotten corner of my life, has grown into a small blaze before me, causing me to pay more and more attention to it – to give it the life it’s calling out for.  (That might just be a flowery way of saying I’ve become more and more obsessed with seeing this through until its the best that it can possibly be.)

I’ve gone from simply telling a story about a group of characters, to telling a story about the lives and the world that these characters live in, and what outside influences cause them to act, and how the experiences and knowledge that they have causes them to react and make the decisions that they end up making along the way.  Its beginning to feel more and more whole the more time I spend going through the rough draft I have.

Its defiantly been a learning experience writing something as long as this is turning out to be.  I’ve written short stories and far more fanfiction then I care to admit some days, and I’ve found that those sorts of projects are relatively easy to deal with because of the simplicity of the fact that you are either telling a very specific story, or that you are borrowing heavily from a pre created world.

I read quite extensively, and often its the world building,  the background that the author has painstakingly crafted that keeps me enthralled long after the story it self has been told.  Anyone can tell a good story – but its the world building that makes it believable, sincere, and tangible.

This is what I’m slowly adding to ‘Touch of Destiny’, it’s what has been causing me to take longer then I would like to get past the first quarter of my editing – but once I have it just right, I know that the overall feel of the story I’m trying to tell will be so much more then it is in its current state.

I still hate editing, but it’s a necessary evil.

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Splintered – A. G. Howard

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Melanie Eden

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I’ve read a couple ‘Alice in Wonderland’ inspired stories over the last six months or so, and I’ve really enjoyed them.  This one had me more interested in the interpersonal interactions, and the plot then the descriptions of wonderland and the personal spin that the author chose for the setting.  World building for this story gets a 2/5 from me – only because it wasn’t anything new – truly, but a new spin on an old idea.  The plot / story line was much more enjoyable for me, and interesting gets a 4/5, while the characterizations get a 5/5.

The main character – Alyssa – tries to deal with her sordid family history in present day USA while trying to maintain a normal teenage life – – or as normal as one can be with a strange ability to hear the voice of bugs and flowers, and a mother in an asylum for admitting to have the same power, on top of the fact that she had what appeared to be a psychotic break when Alyssa was only 5, and attacked her with garden shears.

Alyssa is an aspiring artist who’s medium is dead insects, which she uses as the basis for her macabre collages.  Her best friend, neighbor – and secret crush – Jeb, is also an artist – a year ahead of her in school, and in fact is graduating in the next few weeks before he heads off to London to pursue his career.

Due to a strange series of events – Alyssa begins to have flashbacks to strange memories from her childhood featuring an enigmatic boy – Morpheus – with jeweled eyes and large black moth wings.  She passes the flashbacks off as more of her family’s craziness – until she is contacted by the boy again, and finds him grown and far more dangerous then he ever was when she was a child.

He promises to help rid her family of the curse it’s been under ever since her ancestor – Alice Liddel – went through the rabbit hole and entered wonderland, bringing back the strange abilities that now plague Alyssa and her mother.  Alyssa has to make a decision as to weather or not to trust this strange creature that she is starting to remember, knowing that he isn’t human, and doesn’t posses human reservations about using people to forward his own agenda.

The love connections in this story were a mix between and sweet and exciting, while the plot moved along at a good pace – keeping up with the intriguing set up of the story line.  I found myself unable to turn away from this book until I had gotten all the way through it, and would defiantly recommend this for anyone who loves both the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and YA genre.

This is the first of a trilogy, and while I’ve read the second book and the novella in this series – the first book is capable of being a stand alone.

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After Nanowrimo / Christmas & what’s next

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Melanie Eden

I wanted to write a blog post all through the month of November – to get my thoughts out about Nanowrimo, and how this year was different from last year for me – but no time felt like the right time to work on it.  I felt that if I had time to write – – I should be adding to my Nano project.

On one hand that way of thinking might have been the difference between winning and loosing this year.  I was able to complete the 50k words needed to ‘win’ this year, and I’m incredibly happy with what I was able to get finished.

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The story I worked on last year was called ‘Touch of Destiny’ and I’ve known that it was going to be the first part to a trilogy for a long time.  I wasn’t able to finish the story last year, but I had time to pencil out the ending for the story so that I could start work on the 2nd part this year – called ‘Hand of Fate’.

Although I was able to ‘win’ Nanowrimo, I was not able to finish the first draft of ‘Hand of Fate’ – it turns out that the story is much longer then 50k words.  So a win – but with the promise of more work ahead of me before I’m finished.

The other thing that I think really helped me win this year, as opposed to last year, was the fact that I planned for November this year.  I took nearly the whole month off of work, and made sure that I had my office all set up for the grueling days of sitting in front of my laptop.  I even managed to weather a pretty severe cold over the first two weeks of the month while still managing to keep a decent word count going.  The last two weeks were hard in a different way, I had the time and the health looked after – but I seemed to loose focus on my characters and their goals.  It was during this time that I learned to love sprints.  I think those little things saved me in the end.  Its amazing what you can get down on the screen when you just let the words flow without second guessing yourself or your characters.

In 2013 I was only able to make it to just over 30k words, and I managed to add another 10k over the rest of the year.  Not enough to finish ‘Touch of Destiny’, but enough to give me a really good idea about where I needed to start ‘Hand of Fate’.  I hope to get more finished this year before I start the 3rd novel in November this year – ‘Arms of Light’.

I didn’t touch my writing at all during the month of December – – between returning to work and Christmas preparations – – there really wasn’t time, and I needed the break from anything to do with my story.

This year, the boyfriend and I stayed with my parents and had a quiet Christmas with them as well as my brother and his girlfriend.  We decided not to exchange presents this year, so it was a simple affair – but enjoyable.  We also ended up seeing the boyfriend’s family this year – although it was unexpected – including his sister, brother in law, and the 3 munchkins, the boyfriends mum, and a slue of his elderly aunts and uncles.  So many presents!  With this gathering under our belts, it was with waning enthusiasm that we also saw my extended family for boxing day.

As much as I love Christmas, and everything that surrounds it, this year felt like too much.  Too much family, and too much rushing around.  I was glad for it to be finished.

This year prompted the boyfriend and I to consider a 3 year rotation – 1 year with my family, 1 year with his family, and 1 year to ourselves.  We’ve never had Christmas on our own before, but thought that it might be something nice to try – – just the two of us.  Guess we’ll see how it goes.

January has proven to be a busy month as well – the beginning half of the month being filled with plenty of overtime at work, as well as working on preparing a baby shower for a close friend.  I got sick again before the shower – a flu I found out – only a week before the shower, which was being hosted at my place.  Thankfully, I was well enough to finish everything that I needed to, and everything managed to go on without another hitch.

There was no writing done in January, unless you count today.  Today has been the first day that I have actually sat down with the express purpose of getting things done – the first item being a blog update that is so overdue I’m embarrassed.

I have had a few days off of work this week – with which I’ve spent reading as much as humanly possible.  I’ll work on another post with a list of what I’ve read the last few months – some of the books have been fairly interesting and I’m anxious for the next installments to be released.

With one more week off of work – for the most part – I’m hoping to get some more work done on both ‘Hand of Fate’ and ‘Touch of Destiny’ in preparation for November 2015.  I’ve also managed to score the month of May away from work to get some serious work and revisions done.  I’m really excited to start writing again, it feels like I’ve been away from it for too long, so long that it’s actually started to call out to me again.  Its the happiest feeling in the world to know what you really want to spend your time doing – and be able to allot time to pursue it.

Well – until Sunday 😀

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