Cue the music. [Fanfare for the Common Man, by Aaron Copeland] Bring on the champagne (or at least the freshly brewed iced tea). Don the Ray Bans. Kick back. Here we go.
So where the hell was I?
Hi! My name’s Sare. We knew each other a long time ago, back when I used to blog semi-regularly. Well, semi-regularly is going to kick back into action now, because just as life changed for me a little more than two years ago (when the blogging stopped), it has changed again. Hooray!
The short version of where I was follows. The long version may yet be the subject of several different blog posts in the future.
Some of you know that I’ve been regularly annoyed by migraines since I was five years old. A little more than two years ago I shifted on that scale of how migraines impact one’s life from ‘regularly annoyed’ to ‘utterly devastated.’ I’ve now shifted back to ‘regularly annoyed’, and I’m hoping that said shift will continue right on down that side of the scale till I hit ‘vaguely aware of where the pain killers are located in the house’. This is one of my personal physical health goals, along with walking regularly and doing more yoga.
What now?
Well, now I’m beginning to pick up all the pieces of my life, including all of those online portions, and refit them back in. And the thing about that is that everything has shifted, and some things just don’t fit anymore. One might imagine these would be hard decisions to make, but really, they’re not. They might be hard to own up to, but not hard to have made in the first place. I think in particular about one of my work projects in my offline life – I created and ran a summer reading camp for Kindergartners. And it was time to give that up. Giving it up was a relief. Telling the people it impacted was by no means relieving.
Similarly, I’m not clear that social media is going to have any larger space in my life than it has had for the last two years. I can’t say no to it entirely – I am not a digital hermit, after all – and who knows what the future will bring. But now that I actually have energy to sit up and the capacity to think clearly, I know what I want to do: make stuff. Perhaps that will once more include pithy comments on Twitter. We shall see.
But what about the writing?
The writing is well in hand. Here’s an update:
Fanfic: The Day The Earth Stood Still. I know it’s been years. I still have a hope to continue and finish this. It is not, however, a very high priority right now. But it is a very fun side project that has been put on the back burner.
Fanfic: The Loki of Midgard Series. I know it’s been months. I’m committed to finishing the trilogy and posting, for reasons you’ll see below. As soon as I finish the current editing work, I’ll be returning to writing the third long story, The Meddler, and posting accordingly.
Original Fiction for Publication: The Loki of Midgard Trilogy. (You see why I’m committed to finishing the fanfic?) The first in the trilogy is nearly finished editing, and I’ll keep you posted about when I find an agent.
Random Short Stories: More of these in my future. The topics, I’m sure, will be as varied and sundry as before.
Poetry: Qwertyuiopolis blog: This is a joint project with my husband which will also be resuming shortly. There will be a corresponding Patreon page for those who which to patronize me (in the good way).
What is Sare reading right now?
Well, to finish off this update, it’s only fair I tell you what I’m putting in my head. As I don’t watch much TV at all (really, really bad for my migraines), this is mostly news (from Quartz, the Washington Post, and occasionally NPR and the HuffPost), music, and books. (Most of which I can deal with, even with migraines.) The music can be another day, for I need at least two separate posts in order to rhapsodize on the topic of U2’s two latest albums. But here are the books. Or, at least the new books, as this doesn’t count the re-reads.
Have just finished:
- Forest Bathing, by Qing Li. (Nonfiction) This is a fun one full of research and interesting reasons to spend more time with evergreens. Also, I now know how to make a reed diffuser, and have done so, several times. They’re awesome.
- Wheat Belly, by William Davis. (Nonfiction) This is one of the most frightening books I’ve read in a while. It’s horrifying, what research has shown standard, modern wheat (found in almost everything we eat), does to every human body. So, yeah. I gave up wheat. Easier than I thought it would be, emotionally. And all my food cravings magically disappeared, which really helps when I look at a croissant and think, ‘I like the idea of a croissant, but I really don’t like what it does to me, and I’m no longer looking at it with a deep and profound yearning in my soul, as if I might, in fact, lead a lesser life if I’m not able to eat one or three in the next ten minutes,’ and then move on.
- The Lifetimes When Jesus and Buddha Knew Each Other, by Gary Renard. (Choose Your Own Adventure) This is also a fun book, and depending on who you ask, it is either fiction or nonfiction.
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki. (Nonfiction) Somehow I missed this when it was wildly popular, and I feel like I might be a wealthier woman now if I hadn’t. Anywhoozle, start where you are!
- Legends of the Condor Heroes: A Hero Born, by Jin Yong. (Fiction) A fabulous book. Touted as the Chinese Lord of the Rings, I can definitely see why. It is also an entrancing look at the social culture of China, and this, the first volume, has only just been translated into English.
- Black Plumes, by Margery Allingham. (Fiction) Fabulous, fun, and amusing to wade through the period coloquialisms.
- An Arrow of Love; Tempted to Love; Caught by Love; The Irresistible Force; Love in the Dark, all by Barbara Cartland. (Fiction) I don’t love all of her work, but I love a fair portion of it. Of these ones, Love in the Dark and An Arrow of Love were my favorites, and I’ll likely return to them at least once more this year. The others I like well enough to keep in my collection.
- A wide variety of other novels that I can’t immediately recall. I believe a gypsy featured very highly in some of them. Between the local branch library and a massive used book sale I attended recently, I’ve been well stocked.
Am actively reading:
- Skin in the Game, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. (Nonfiction) Excellent and thought provoking. My husband and I have already have several fascinating conversations about risk, mitigating it, not pawning it off on others, and how taking outsized portions of risk is not always quite as noble an endeavor as Taleb describes in his charts. We shall see if it was as good as his last book, which was his best so far, Antifragile. Which I probably need to reread at some point very soon.
- Warren Buffett Invests Like a Girl And Why You Should, Too, by Louann Lofton. (Nonfiction) You know, I like this book and I don’t. I love the point of this book, that there are 8 essential principles of investing that the average male investor does not abide by, but to which the average female investor is more inclined, and as it happens, they are some of the principles that Warren Buffett seems to live by. Some stories to illustrate that are nice. And that would be a book about a quarter of the size of the one on my desk right now. So, I skim through the feminist rants and the sensationalist writing, because I want what she’s selling, even if I think the packaging is indigestible.
- A Year with Hafiz, trans by Daniel Ladinsky. (Poetry) Because… life is better when I read Hafiz.
- The following comics on WebToon: Let’s Play, by Mongie; Lore Olympus, by Rachel Smythe; My Dear Cold-Blooded King, by lifelight; Assassin Roommate, by Monica Gallagher; and SubZero, by Junepurr.
- Not actively following any fanfiction at the moment.
Cued up for after:
- Everybody Always, by Bob Goff. (Nonfiction)This is a book apparently about becoming love in a world full of setbacks and difficult people. And if that isn’t my life and my preaching, I don’t know what is.
- The Warren Buffett Way, by Robert Hagstrom. (Nonfiction) Because I want to be able to start thinking like Warren Buffett, at least when it comes to assets and liabilities.
- Mutant Message Down Under, by Marlo Morgan. (Choose Your Own Adventure) Recommended and borrowed from my middle sister.
- Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, by JK Rowling. (Screenplay not Reference). Because I haven’t actually read it yet, and that’s just not right.
- The Historical Jesus, by John Dominic Crossan. (Nonfiction) For work.
- The Social Setting of Jesus and the Gospels, ed. by Wolfgang Stegemann, Bruce J. Malina, and Gerd Theissen. (Nonfiction) For work.
- The Historical Figure of Jesus, by EP Sanders. (Nonfiction) For work.