Last weekend we had our writers’ group Christmas party. TYG and I have hosted it for a decade, pandemic years exempted. Last year was smaller than the usual; this year we must have had around 30 people. Apparently Dec. 9 fell into everyone’s sweet spot for not conflicting with other events.
(Early morning photograph)
It was great fun but prep and cooking left me wiped, particularly after my trip to Florida. Rather than plan out the week in detail on Sunday, I just jotted down what I wanted to write on each day: Monday, stories for The Local Reporter; Tuesday, Let No Man Put Asunder and so on.
Turns out this doesn’t work for me. All the little tasks and chores I try to get done during the week went undone; I kept losing track of breathing exercises, voice exercises, dog exercises and — well, you get the idea. That I slept poorly (I’m not sure why) didn’t help.
There was also much dog drama. Last week Plushie began licking frantically at his left foot so TYG took him in while I was in Florida and got him an allergy shot. He wasn’t very happy afterwards.
This past Monday, it got worse: he was limping and snapped at TYG when she tried for a closer look at his foot. Fortunately we were going in for his physical rehab check up so we asked the doctor to check out the foot as well. It took her and a vet tech but she managed to find a tiny seed buried in the fur between his pads. A couple of days later, Plushie was back to his old cheery self. Yay!
Still I got a fair amount done. First, an article for The Local Reporter and advance work on several articles to come. I learned when I was a full-time journalist that it goes much easier if you keep well ahead of deadline. I also got another 20,000 words done on Southern Discomfort edits. Plus I made it to the doctor this morning for a recheck. Blood pressure and weight are up, something to work on in the New Year. I know part of the reason for the weight gain is the party — lots of good food — but also that after Wisp damaged her leg at the end of June, I spent the next month barely sleeping (she liked beating her cast on the bed to see if it would come loose) and didn’t exercise at all. Which is to say, the condition should be fixable. Hope so.
While I don’t have my newspaper story to link to yet, you can check me out on Con-Tinual panels about comic-book BFFs and Captain America. I also wrote my father’s obit with input and editing from my siblings — truly a joint project. I also posted at Atomic Junk Shop, first another post about Marvel in 1967, and one discussing how the art was great even when the story was off. Below is an example, Jack Kirby showing that even as he became less enthused about his Marvel work, it was still dynamic action. If you’re puzzled, that’s Steve Rogers carrying a Captain America imposter.
On my own blog I hit 284 views on Tuesday which I think is a record; WordPress’ stats page seems to have changed since I last visited so I can’t confirm that I’m right. It’s still cool; if any of y’all are sticking around, welcome! Puzzling though as I don’t know why I’d get such a massive bump. Posting about Taylor Swift? Spider photographs? Just random chance? I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
And earlier today I drew up my schedule for next week. This time I went into detail. For me, it seems that works best.
#SFWApro. All rights to comics panel remain with current holder.
