Tris Talks... July newsletter!
I have not been good about newsletters.
When I say that, I feel as if I am in a confession booth, whispering my sins to a priest. I should probably state here and now that I have never been baptized nor confirmed, and was raised in comparative religion (Congregational father, Catholic mom, and friends all across the spectrum of many religions). I never went to actual confession.
But the point is: it’s a vibe—to whisper a fault, and wait for the penance to be applied. Reciting the Hail Mary multiple times doesn’t really apply here, but I’m not sure exactly what would.
(If you’ve ever wondered what my brain is like when it starts wandering off into the distance, well… welcome to that.)
I’ve been exhausted a lot lately. Life keeps being life, y’know? Family things are going on—multiple folks needing procedures, so I am the emotional support person (and the driver, and the caretaker). My children have been traveling for fun and work, all over the world, and while that doesn’t actually take any effort on my part, it is a weird sort of mental drain wondering how they are as they are halfway around the globe and all.
And of course, day job is still day job, and kind of required for income (do I continue to count the days until retirement? Yes, yes, I do) and insurance. I am exceedingly grateful to have good insurance, and continue to hate how things are done in this country when it comes to health care. That’s an entirely separate rant, I know.
The big thing accomplished in July…
Of course, the big thing I accomplished in July was traveling to Readercon. I attended without being a panelist, which was really kind of fun. I went to panels! So many panels. I actually exhausted myself in the first day and a half and had to cut back for Saturday and Sunday because my brain was spinning from the weird stress of trying to be places on time.
I also assisted at the Duck Prints Press booth in the Bookshop, which was absolutely lovely. It was wonderful to see how many people now recognize the press and come looking for what new material we’ve published. Sheer happiness!
Next year I have a goal of trying harder to get on programming for Readercon. There are never any guarantees! And I will admit, it was nice being an attendee instead of feeling vaguely panicky with performance anxiety. But at the same time, I would love the excuse to interact better with the other writers attending the convention. That said, I did get to see old friends and make some new ones, which was awesome.
Things published and progress made…
I have not gotten much done. With life being life and all, I have yet to get caught up with editing ITS and getting that back to Claire. And my brain continues to believe that if I have to edit, I cannot write (oh, being Neurospicy is So Much Fun sometimes). I have a hard goal of doing editing—no matter how hard it is on me—this week. I need to get that done so we can move on to the next round.
With luck, I’ll have progress to report next month!
I’d like to sit down and do some planning, but a part of my brain believes that is simply procrastinating the actual doing of things. And if I’m going to procrastinate, I could do that more productively, like accomplishing the dishes, or other chores, or organizing the pantry… you know how it is, right?
Also, planning never seems to survive life lifing all over the place. Interruptions abound (such as the incoming interruption I have just been warned about which will put this particular writing session on pause—but it’s good to see my kids, too).
Where will I be…?
My next convention will be Albacon in September! The program selections look awesome, and I cannot wait to have my schedule in hand.
Albacon is a completely hybrid convention—every panel can be a pure mix of in-person and remote attendees, all given equal weight and validity. So attending the convention online is as close as we can get to being there in person. None of the panels are restricted away from online attendees; everything is available. The only hard part is the social bit (and that’s what Discord is for). And well, we cannot shove ice cream through the ether for the Ice Cream Social Friday night. :( But we can encourage folks at home to grab a treat of their own preference and hang out online with us.
Moving forward…
Right now, my goal is to take things one step at a time. One breath at a time. Keep going and try not to slide backward too much. If I can crawl up the hill, I’ll still get there, same as if I run—it’ll just take longer.
In the meantime, I am also focusing on refilling the creative cup so that I’ll have energy when I have time. I’m reading, and knitting, and enjoying the summer season of anime.
Oh, and Kevin and I are (finally) watching Ted Lasso and we absolutely adore the show. It is definitely a comfort watch. It is so full of heart, and it absolutely hits one of my favorite tropes of found family.
And now…
In the interest of being good and trying to get editing done, I’ll let this go at this point. Because ITS is calling to me, and I really really want to finish that up.
In the meantime, if you’re curious to see snippets as I work, all paid levels of my Patreon are treated to early chapters of PHU when it is posting, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at works in progress.
I might even babble about editing as I go along.
And find me on social media if you want to chit-chat or just hear me natter on about life, writing, and fandom. I’m tryslora everywhere!
Thank you for reading Tris Talks...!
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