This post is the first thing I’ve written in a month
Greetings from Fresno, California! Your intrepid blogger has relocated from the Sonoran Desert to the San Joaquin Valley, trading 100+ degree temperatures for… more 100+ degree temperatures.
Yeah.
Anyway, I’m slowly settling into a new routine, and writing this month’s IWSG post is another step on that journey–writing again after a month of packing, cleaning, moving, learning a new place, starting a new job. It’s… a lot. But I’m still standing (or actually sitting–in my makeshift home office, typing out these words).
For anyone who’s new here, this post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Feather Stone, Kim Lajevardi, Diedre Knight, C. Lee McKenzie, and Sarah – The Faux Fountain Pen. Click those links and leave them some comment love.
Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question: Do you use AI in your writing and if so how? Do you use it for your posts? Incorporate it into your stories? Use it for research? Audio? I actually partially answered this question a few months ago with a post called Two ways fiction writers can use AI ethically. I haven’t used AI other than experimentally. Someday I’d like to take a class on prompting so I can better harness its power to do my research and scut work, but for now, I’m content to manage all aspects of my writing on my own (when I’m actually writing and not packing and moving and… yeah. Where is the AI assistant who can pack, move and unpack all my crap?)
I have to leave for the aforementioned new job soon, so this post will be short, but I do want to include a couple of updates for those of you who’ve been following my journey.
- I’m ready to start writing again. I’m settling into a new routine and figuring out how to fit writing into it. It’ll be difficult, because my new job requires significantly more time and energy than any job I’ve ever held (except for my brief stint as a high school teacher. Teaching is exhausting, y’all. If there’s a teacher in your life, buy them wine and/or chocolate. They need it.) But I’m determined to get back on the write track–with bad puns, apparently.
- I mentioned many months ago that my short story, “The Fine Print,” had been selected for the Best of Deathlehem anthology. That project appears to be on hold. I’ll plaster this space with over-the-top announcements as soon as it gets moving again.
Thank you, dear readers, for sticking with me even when I’m not blogging or writing much. Your comments and care mean the world.
The memery
Just a couple of memes this morning, but they’re pretty good:
Too bad Dickens and Schrodinger weren’t contemporaries. Perhaps then we would have had a very nerdy parody entitled, “A Tale of Two Cats.”
That’d have me out of my clothes faster than an 80s groupie at a Def Leppard concert.
And on that disturbing note, I’m off to work. Catch ya next month!
18 Comments
Pat Garcia
Hi,
Good luck with your new job! That was a big move that you made.
Take care and have a lovely day.
Shalom shalom
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
Barbara Ann Mealer
That last meme had me checking my bra. Can’t undress since I’m at the dealership having my car repaired. Anyway, miss you, so you better keep sending out ‘stuff’ and writing. Good luck with the new job and enjoy the change in weather (couldn’t resist that). there is reason I live in N. AZ. Not fond of extreme heat.
Janet Alcorn
LOL. Hope the car’s now healthy and well. Miss you too!
Natalie Aguirre
Congrats on your new move and your job. It’s great that you feel ready to get into a better writing routine. I hope your short story publication moves along soon.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
alexjcavanaugh
Sorry the anthology is on hold. Jobs in general are exhausting and the older I get, the more tired I become. Hope you are ready to dive back into writing.
And I’ll email you about co-hosting – thanks!
Janet Alcorn
I hear you about being more tired. I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to have the energy I had when I was 18. But I’m grateful to be alive and mostly healthy.
joylenebutler
I found a spider in my bed this morning. I was horrified because I have no idea what kind of menace he’d been up to. Cheers to your new adventure, Janet. They can be a great opportunity for new things. Hope your job is inspiring.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! I’m 7 days into my new job, and so far, so good. It’s going to be exhausting, but I think I can make a difference here.
And spider in the bed? Gah!
Elizabeth Seckman
I’m glad you’re settling in and getting back to writing! I’ve been lax at hitting the writing goals myself. I need to find the better balance too.
Janet Alcorn
It’s so easy to get off-track, especially when life happens. Hang in there! I hope you find that balance soon.
alohagmb13
I would definitely read “A Tale of Two Cats”. My writing came to a halt until our writer’s group started meeting in person again. So easy to slack off. Our anthology was planned for last December but is still in the works. Congrats on “The Fourth Man” prize. Thanks also for stopping by and commenting on my blog site.
https://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com/
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Meeting in person definitely helps, though virtual can work for me. I hope to find a local writing group here—as soon as we get moved into our permanent digs and unpack a bit.
csuhpat1
Welcome back to California. Hope that you are enjoying life in the Central Valley. Hope that you are well. Also, welcome back to writing.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Doing well so far, just a lot going on to get settled in.
Hal DeRoos
Welcome back to California!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!