For a while it seemed I was struggling a bit with the writing, particularly this blog. I wrote several blog posts these past previous weeks that just didn’t seem “good enough,” which got me discouraged about what to write. Normally blog posts flow out of my fingers, because they’re fun and don’t feel like work. The week I took off I had the post polished and ready to go, complete with social media posts and image, but it just didn’t feel right, like it was somehow off. Instead of posting something I wasn’t happy with, I decided to take a break and focus on other things.
The last two weeks have been all about relaxing and prep work for summer school. I got my courses all polished and ready to go, then took a few days off. You would think with the end of the Spring semester coming to a close things would slow down, but they kept on going. It seems like busyness never sleeps—there’s always something to do, even when relaxing. Now classes have begun and students are humming away through the coursework and I have my sights set on polishing my fall classes.
I also can see the finish line for the first rough draft of my cat poetry book sequel; I’m about 15 poems away from wrapping that up. Then I have to self-edit before it’s off to my editor and into the hands of beta readers. I’m hoping for a late summer/early fall release.
Cat art abounds as well. Stress has been rearing its head, and this time my muse speaks to me in art form. So I’ve been creating cat art and enjoying wearing some of it out and about. It’s pretty cool to meet a fellow cat person who exclaims over one of the shirts and I can say, “Thanks, I made that.” Plus they’re comfortable. You can check out my shop here.
Is that it, MG? Is that all?
Nope, I’ve got other things brewing. There are a lot of balls in motion, and I’m struggling a little to juggle them all. I think stress will be a theme this summer, but hopefully there won’t be many (if any) burnouts like last summer. I tend to go hard when left to my own devices, pushing to get everything done, but I’m going to try to make this summer a self-care season as well, and spend moments sitting on the porch with a good book, or doing something to wind down. No burnouts this year—this girl is aiming high with lots of downtime.
May your plans also entail some relaxation time as well.