Percolating and Planning

Mercury is in Retrograde... from March 5th until March 28th. If you are unfamiliar with this, it just means that from Earth, it looks like Mercury is going backwards in the sky. Actually, the fast little planet is just making its way around the other side of the sun ahead of us. Why does this make any difference to us? No idea, but it sure seems to. Mercury is the planet of communication, and when it goes retrograde (about three times a year) we experience breakdowns in communication: inexplicable network failures, computer glitches, failed credit/debit transactions, phone problems, failed alarms, and human interaction errors, too - missed appointments, misunderstandings, etc.

It's been helpful to me over the past couple of decades to be aware of this event, because I used to get really frustrated with my computer, spend hours trying to fix errors or glitches, then give up just to find everything mysteriously in working order the next day. I also make sure to double check and confirm all my appointment times/days/places, and do any of the "Re-" and "back" items on my list: repair, re-tune, reiterate, review, reassess, and back up, backtrack, back off. Rest, ruminate, and research.

OK, so anyway... I've been active on research this week. I've been researching writing conferences, workshops, and events and filling in my calendar, planning on which events I want to do. So far, I'm definitely doing a Spring Revision workshop with my friend and amazing writing coach, Sonya Lea in May, and I am leaning towards attending the Write on the Sound conference in Edmonds. I've always wanted to check it out, but it's in early October, and I always take my big two-week trip in September/October, so it's never worked out. Also, the PNWA Conference is in September this year, rather than July, so that will be a busy time.

I wrote up a list of some of these events, calls, and events of interest for a newsletter to my writers group. I used to keep a calendar on the Meetup site, but they removed some of the features I used for this. I switched to sending out news every month or two, but totally fell out of that habit during my Year of Anemia. No energy for those things...now it's coming back.

I have two major project ideas that I have been sitting on for at least two years. I am currently researching both...gathering information and hoping to get a plan of feasibility in place soon. More to come later!

First Post of 2019? Picking up where I left off...

Now, where was I?

Oh yes! Anemia! My January blood test showed my iron level up from 5 (on a scale of 15-150) to 18. I'm over the crest of "healthy" levels... although how can there be a 135-point range of healthy iron levels to begin with??) I am still taking iron supplements twice a day, and my brain and body are starting to wake up.

I still have a LOT to catch up on:

• Friends, family, social contact that was lost to the narcoleptic haze.
• Getting back to marketing and newsletters - both my massage therapy business and my writing group newsletters have been idle. I started several articles, started several update letters, but never could keep my eyes open or my energy up long enough to finish the writing and send them out.
• Writing Practice! Very important one, here. I bitched and moaned a few times the last two years, as my energy fizzled, about not having the right place/space and time to write available to me. There may be truth in that, but my lagging health was not helping. 
• Submissions! Goes along with the inability to stay focused and awake. Since my progress was in such small increments, I never really finished anything and therefore had nothing ready to submit for publication. Must rectify that gap in my resume, now. 
• Plans for further creating classes and teaching and facilitation writing events. 
• Personal goals like getting back to regular exercise and continuing to go through, sort, and purge old papers, books, media, and stuff; declutter and organize.

I keep remembering ideas I had before my energy was depleted. Now, these ideas are coming back to me and I am trying to prioritize them and the steps I need to take to make them reality. Everything from business ideas to travel goals to story ideas... they are back on the front burner.