Monthly Archives: June 2024

Enforced chill, week 3 of 3

anime nerd corner, Checking In, games nerd corner

Almost to the end of Recuperation Times. Apart from a little cabin fever, it went quite well.

  • Assembled 3 small to medium Lego sets; I still have 3 Animal Crossing ones un-assembled
  • Did a jigsaw puzzle early on, which is a prime Calm Down my Frazzled Brain activity
  • Some crafting for Christmas presents, ahead of time for once
  • Watched 3 one-season (so far) anime series, mostly while walking on the treadmill: Villainess Level 99, Fairy Ranmaru, and Chainsaw Man. The latter I binged over two days, which is not something I normally do.
  • Writing: The rough/first draft of Therapist 8 (Ballad of the Bardbarian) is done, though it’s one of those drafts that feels like it’s going to need a lot of added chapters to feel complete. It’s currently sitting aside while my alpha reader reads it. Also working on the Non-Agna-and-Keifon-Healers-world project, The Strangers’ Crossroads, which I think is unstuck now, and has a fighting chance of existing before Healers 4 does.
  • Gaming: Played all of A Little to the Left, most(?) of Strange Horticulture (though the dour music and atmosphere is getting to me), and a metric ton of Palia. I started Palia a month or so ago knowing that I would have a lot of downtime this month, and it worked. There is some jank, especially on the Switch, but it has been an effective diversion. I’ve gone as far as connecting a keyboard to my Switch, but not as far as buying a fancy outfit yet. I probably will eventually, just to throw a little money at the devs for all the time I’ve spent on this game.

Back to work on Monday, and back to a new, hopefully more energetic normal. Feeling pretty good.

Update (good)

Checking In

Somewhat TMI, fair warning. Bodies are weird, and if you don’t listen to them and ignore early symptoms, sometimes they go full body-horror WTF on you.

Back at home and doing pretty well. Turns out general anaesthesia hits my brain like a truck, because it took me longer to come out of it than the surgery itself took. So that’s the lesson of the day.

[CW: Links are both to reproductive health articles] The procedure went well, and extracted the body part that was going rogue; it was even more rogue than we expected. But that’s resolved, and I’m very glad to be rid of it. And the near-absence of pain is almost eerie. I was in a little bit of pain most of the time, punctuated by much worse symptoms that came and went. It’s wild that eventually, once everything heals up, it might not hurt at all.

Now I just have to take time to heal and not pick up anything heavy for several weeks. Sounds like a plan.

What’s self-control?

The Healers' Home (Book 2), The Healers' Purpose (Book 3), The Healers' Road (Book 1)

As a gift to myself, a long-overdue update, and a general “stop waffling and jump into the deep end already” move, I’m commissioning custom art for new covers for the Healers series. I probably should wait till they’re complete and do a big unveiling, but I’m excited, so I’m going to say it now. eeeee!

So if you’re midway through the series and want them to match, I hope to have the new edition ready within a couple of months. Just FYI.

Besides that, my Big(ish) Medical Thing date is Tuesday 6/4, so I will probably drop off the radar for a few weeks after that. It shouldn’t be a difficult recuperation (fingers crossed), but I am going to make a conscious effort to limit my internet use while I’m recuperating. It’s a bad time to doomscroll. I intend to keep writing, mental clarity permitting, and work my way through my TBR pile. And, let’s be honest, build Lego sets, watch some anime series, and take naps.

Goals:

  • read all/as many as possible of the books I bought from Cozy the Day Away before the next sale
  • finish the first draft of the current project (Therapist 8, a.k.a. The Ballad of the Bardbarian) by the end of June

Bardbarian is turning into a short-for-fantasy novel (75k?) rather than a novella, but it’s progressing.

Wish me luck and happy Pride Month (in some regions), everyone.