Declaration of Reclamation
It's been my tradition for the past few years to take the week around Independence Day off from work. We have a little barbecue, and we get a bunch of stuff done around the house (usually clearing out things that have ended up semi-permanent residents of enormous plastic tubs in the basement). This year I took the week off. We had the barbecue. But there was no 'big plan' otherwise. And it broke me. Every night we ended up staying up later than usual (and I slept on the couch until I finally trudged to bed). Then I overslept, totally unmoved by my morning alarm. So I got up late. I started my Asimov Hours late. I procrastinated and pittered around before even starting to work on my writing. Then I'd end a four-hour session at the computer with an aching back but little else to show for it. Then I'd go downstairs, do a couple little things, and suddenly it would be dinner time. Rinse, repeat. I have never felt so unsatisfied by a week off from the daily grind. And of course, only as I compose this post does it occur to me what project I might have assigned myself to add some sense of haste to my morning. Figures. Add to that, my carpal tunnel is flaring with some RSI and the week away from the cause of it did not seem to help alleviate it. I'll be writing to my chiropractor today for some stretches. It's been so long since I had RSI in my wrist that I don't even remember the stretches I used to do. I've been sleeping with a wrist brace on and wearing my copper bracelet and supports, but something's gotta change. Yes, I'm planning to take another look at Dragon Dictation soon. It's day two of back to reality, and I'm still struggling to get going in the morning. I am optimistic that by week's end I will have recovered and returned to my routine, but in the here and this moment I am quite discontent. It's forecast to rain all week. We had a week of almost perfect weather and I did zero walking (aside from bustling about the house on the 4th). I definitely wanted to add walking back in, but I think I will take advantage of the rain to spend my lunch hours in a coffee shop and get some momentum back for my current revision. Ironic that, with thoughts of dictating and transcribing again, the rain is back and there'll be no walking for that. I need to mooooove. I do think Salvage is much improved, so far, on this pass-through. I plan to have a session with an editor in August to take another pass at it. Yesterday I heard someone described as being 'hell-bent' on one thing or another, and decided I would like for people to describe me as Hell-Bent. I am going to be hell-bent on getting my stress and physical health under control. And hell-bent on being in control of my writing time. Normally I would say I have already achieved those things, but lately something's been slipping. No more. Time to wrap up and hit hard.