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I feel like I should make some sort of Proof of Life post here.
Loneliness continues to be an Issue. I had hoped the warmer weather would bring more opportunities for interaction and I suppose it has but I'm still only seeing a friend maybe once every other week. I understand that my local circle of friends is very small and unlike me, all of them have families and jobs. They have obligations and responsibilities other than me and I'm not mad at them, but it's still hard.
Three years of solitude is very hard on a socially-inclined creature.
The isolation gives me a lot of writing time, at least. Thirteen days in a row I got at least 1k/words a day down on my romance novel. I missed the two week mark because I just could not get through a sex scene so only managed 500 words on Friday. But I averaged a bit over 1.1k words a day for those two weeks and I'll take it! I'm a little concerned that I'm putting all my eggs into this basket, hoping against hope I can find readers willing to pay for my little post-apocalypse solarpunk queer romance. But if I cash out my life insurance policy later this year when my savings runs out, that money should get me through another year. *knock knock* Maybe by then I'll be able to scrape out some sort of existence from my writing and my tarot stuff.
Speaking of tarot stuff, I'm still doing a daily card meditation and writing about them on my Patreon. I've got 23 patrons there and I'm grateful for every single one. They're literally paying my monthly utilities, which is absolutely incredible and so, so helpful both financially and psychologically. I need to start scheduling readings, though. I'm really terrible at selling myself, alas. I plan to offer one free reading a week to trans people during Pride month, though, so perhaps that will help with motivation and advertising. If you are a trans person or know a trans person who might otherwise not be able to afford a tarot reading, please drop me a line! I'll also post this offer to my circle on Twitter.
I also finally started my painting sketchbook. Most of my paint application in the past has been with fingers, baby wipes, and credit cards. Using brushes has been a learning experience, for sure. So has been painting shapes instead of layering the paint onto existing images. Flexing new brain muscles is good, even though it's tiring and rarely results in something I actually like. "It's hideous, but it's mine" is a frequent affirmation.
And now I have an hour to immerse myself in my fictional characters for an hour (my own, maybe hideous, but mine!) before I start prepping gimbap for a lunch guest. Yay for opportunities to feed people!
Loneliness continues to be an Issue. I had hoped the warmer weather would bring more opportunities for interaction and I suppose it has but I'm still only seeing a friend maybe once every other week. I understand that my local circle of friends is very small and unlike me, all of them have families and jobs. They have obligations and responsibilities other than me and I'm not mad at them, but it's still hard.
Three years of solitude is very hard on a socially-inclined creature.
The isolation gives me a lot of writing time, at least. Thirteen days in a row I got at least 1k/words a day down on my romance novel. I missed the two week mark because I just could not get through a sex scene so only managed 500 words on Friday. But I averaged a bit over 1.1k words a day for those two weeks and I'll take it! I'm a little concerned that I'm putting all my eggs into this basket, hoping against hope I can find readers willing to pay for my little post-apocalypse solarpunk queer romance. But if I cash out my life insurance policy later this year when my savings runs out, that money should get me through another year. *knock knock* Maybe by then I'll be able to scrape out some sort of existence from my writing and my tarot stuff.
Speaking of tarot stuff, I'm still doing a daily card meditation and writing about them on my Patreon. I've got 23 patrons there and I'm grateful for every single one. They're literally paying my monthly utilities, which is absolutely incredible and so, so helpful both financially and psychologically. I need to start scheduling readings, though. I'm really terrible at selling myself, alas. I plan to offer one free reading a week to trans people during Pride month, though, so perhaps that will help with motivation and advertising. If you are a trans person or know a trans person who might otherwise not be able to afford a tarot reading, please drop me a line! I'll also post this offer to my circle on Twitter.
I also finally started my painting sketchbook. Most of my paint application in the past has been with fingers, baby wipes, and credit cards. Using brushes has been a learning experience, for sure. So has been painting shapes instead of layering the paint onto existing images. Flexing new brain muscles is good, even though it's tiring and rarely results in something I actually like. "It's hideous, but it's mine" is a frequent affirmation.
And now I have an hour to immerse myself in my fictional characters for an hour (my own, maybe hideous, but mine!) before I start prepping gimbap for a lunch guest. Yay for opportunities to feed people!