October Update

These past nine months have been both slow and fast. Some of the slowness is much appreciated; the chance to stay home and rest, develop close relationships, and not feel guilty for not "getting out there" and "doing more" has opened eyes to the way we've set up our lives and the manic pace many of us maintain. But so many more people are not able to find those pleasures, because the stress of being an essential worker or, conversely, no longer having a job to work at all. Trying to navigate the unemployment system, scrambling to keep food on the table and a roof overhead - and none of us knowing how long this quarantine and pandemic life will last. I'm lucky that I have a partner, and we both managed to get approved for unemployment. We each work a fraction of the time we used to work, but we have little debt and are managing.

I've had every intention of posting a new blog. My last one here was August 2019. I had a family trip to Florida in September 2019, where my husband, my brother, and I visited with our mother and spent time with our dying father. He passed away August of this year, and I'm sorry I didn't get one more visit in, but am grateful for that one last year.

I had a half-formed idea for a novel that I tried for NaNoWriMo 2019. I wrote almost half - 22k words - before I shelved it for another time. (Still fighting that anemic fog!)
 

In December, I focused on creating six writing workshops. I built a new website on Wordpress (But I have to admit, I'm still learning how to do it!). I rented a great space, and held the first one in January. The second one was visual storytelling through vision board collage, held on Leap Day. There was already a weird buzz in the air about the highly-contagious respiratory coronavirus, and   my turnout was very lower than expected. We had a good workshop, anyway. Of course, a week later, the world was shutting down for quarantine. 

      

My day job as a massage therapist was out of the question. I've never had so much time away from it! My husband's catering business dried up in a flash. And yet, with all that free time... I could write nothing but cleaning protocols and health tips.

Some days in May, more in June, I managed to work on a poetry project I had started in December (still in progress).

I joined a friend's writing group for Camp NaNoWriMo in July. I set a goal of 35k words, and came close - 30k - on a non-fiction manuscript (still working on it!)

August started with my annual GISH scavenger hunt, and I did a lot of fun things, including painting on black velvet, creating watercolor with tea and coffee, writing and recording a slam poem, a protest song, and an interview with a shelter dog. I donated my voice to the Human Voice Bank, and helped raise money for charities benefiting Criminal Justice Reform and Nothing But Nets (fighting malaria around the world). All this creativity gave me a good kick in the pants.

Finally, half-way through September, I started to feel a few fiction sparks. I did a flash fiction story for a NYC Midnight competition, which I actually like. I plan on working it a bit more soon - making it longer and developing the concept more. I also wrote a short screenplay that will most likely stay in the "thanks for the practice" category, and one more this past weekend that I like better.

I've gotten more tips to tweak my health recovery process - taking my iron and magnesium supplements thirty minutes apart, and thirty minutes before or after eating, with just vitamin-c/OJ. Seems like that is improving my absorption rate, and my iron (ferratin) was up to 37 in July (on a scale of 15 to 150, where I started at 5).

Three months to go until 2021. I am NOT about to say "I can't wait", "good riddance to 2020" etc. because in 2020 time, three months is equivalent to half a decade. And, we can make significant changes in our lives on both the micro and macro scale in those three months. If nothing else, I believe this crazy year of pandemic and disaster will push everyone to re-evaluate what's important.

I bought the latest oracle deck created by Colette Baron-Reid, called The 7 Energies.

 As I become familiar with these cards (used as focal points for meditation and reflection), I've drawn three cards about once or twice a week. Inevitable, no matter what question I pose, one of the cards that turns up is that number 33, "Ears Wide Open," which speaks of deep listening as a way to immerse ourselves in the truth of the world/ When we are fully present, we open our hearts and minds to that which is communicated through more than words. And, often, it is in these subtle clues that we are given opportunities for more than we could have imagined.



I am doing my best to put down the phone and be fully present in each moment. Attempting to do less multi-tasking, and more mindfulness. I am interested to see what I might see that I might've missed, in the coming months.