Real post

So here it is, as promised, a real post. . . I think I'm just going to go through the list and tell y'all my progress on the items I've been working on lately.

2. I haven't written as much in the past week as I would like. But I am writing fairly consistently and am relatively pleased with my progress. I am going to need to edit the shit out of most everything I've done, but that's to be expected. In the middle of next month, I'm going to Connecticut for a weeklong writers conference. I'm really excited about it. First off, I'll be staying with my aunt and uncle, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them a bit better. But I'm not sure how much time I'll actually get to spend with them, because it looks like the conference has events planned from 9 in the morning until 9 at night. But I'll probably skip out early a night or two so I can visit. The conference itself sounds really good to me as well. There will be seminars and readings throughout each day, several publishers and agents will be around for chatting up, and there will be people available to evaluate manuscripts. Plus, I'm looking forward to meeting other writers. I've not found writers in this area that I've really been able to connect with. It seems like all the writers I've come across are obsessed with publishing. Yes, I know one of my major life goals is to publish. But I want to create something good first, then see if I can publish it. In the writers group I went to, several of the people had self-published, and I looked at some of what they had published, and it seemed like stuff you'd get in a freshman creative writing class. When the group evaluated each other's work, the advice seemed more geared toward "How can we make this more publishable" instead of "How can we make this better?" Maybe the difference between the two isn't that big. I'm probably just a bit snobbish on the subject. But. . . what was I talking about? Right. Yeah conference! Should be fun.

3. I need to amend this list item:

3.1 Update the blog

10. I haven't been doing much yoga lately. I do meditate most days. But I haven't really been doing the yoga as much as I should or would like. I have no good reason for not doing the yoga. I just haven't been doing it.

11. I'm going to Connecticut in less than a month. I went to Saugatuck/Douglas on Lake Michigan at the beginning of last week. It's strange. I used to really hate the sun (headaches) and the beach (sand in the shoes). But I spent all day on Monday in the sun on the beach, and I loved it. For the most part. . . No headaches. Who cares about sand in the shoes?

12. Um. . . I don't really want to talk about the job thing right now. But, my brother-in-law and I are tossing around the idea of starting up a business. This plan probably won't really be acted upon for a while though, so I still need to find work in the meantime.

13. I think my nerves are getting quite a bit better lately. I have a lot more good days than I do bad. I think my progress is probably due to the fact that I'm doing stuff rather than sitting around, ticking, ticking, ticking.

16. Maybe there was nothing wrong with my head to begin with? I haven't been sticking to the diet. I'm not on any headache medication. But my head seems like it's better than I can ever remember it. Maybe the exercise (more on that later) is helping. Maybe I'm just not giving up at the first sign of a headache, not thinking, "Hey, I'm going to have a headache. I better go take a nap."

17. I'm running probably four or five days a week, and I think I'm finally starting to feel real results. I actually feel good during the run, and I have much more energy once I've finished. I didn't run over the past couple of days because of all that's been going on here over the weekend, and yesterday I was just whipped by the end of the day. And I hadn't really done much of anything to wear myself out, but I was exhausted. I think I need that physical activity to keep me energized.

20. Even when I'm not posting, I make sure to do this one every day.

21. I'm such a dick.

22. I play too much poker online.

23. I'm not performing yet, but I am trying to build up a repertoire. I want to have at least ten songs that I can play or sing on the guitar ready at any given moment. That way, when I'm somewhere where there's a guitar (it seems like there's always a guitar) and people say 'Play something,' I won't have to either fumble through the first half of something I never quite mastered or decline playing all together. Right now, I have one classical piece almost completely memorized and learned, and I've mostly learned another that I now just need to memorize.

24. Yeah, yesterday's party kind of demolished my room/the toy room and I've only about half cleaned the place.

26. I don't think I pace as much as I used to. But I do still pace. The only difference is that now sometimes my nephew joins me. He thinks it's a fun game that his uncle likes to play. I wish everyone viewed it this way.

27. I'm frequently challenging myself in my running and guitar playing. Other than that, I think life has been challenging me enough that I don't need to add to it too much.

Alright, that's it for the real post I think. Thanks for reading.

I'm grateful for the sun (20).