Last weekend was about as productive as I thought it would be, which isn’t much.  I only finished editing one chapter of Darwin & the Demon Game.  I thought I could do two on Saturday, but I had a few extra errands and got stuck hunkering in shelter to avoid the rain while playing Pokemon Go.  There were also chores, so I only got the one chapter done by the end of the day.  Sunday was for family and ended up being a longer day than I expected.  By the time I got home, I just wanted to finish a Lego set and crawl into bed to prepare for work.

Conserving my energy was a big thing this week in general.  I went to bed early a lot because everyone around me had colds.  Needed to make sure I wasn’t wearing myself down and leaving myself open to getting really sick.  Managed to make it to Rosh Hashanah break in decent health.  Only issues I had were the usual chronic ones like anxiety, funky breathing, and slight dehydration.  I’ll call that a win even though it meant I sacrificed editing on all but one evening when I got part of the next chapter done.  Really should tackle the rest this weekend.

I will admit that I tried to use my limited free time to my advantage.  So, I made a lot of progress on the December blog posts.  That might not sound like anything special, but it means I can utilize the breaks in October and November for editing.  Thinking of making the January posts rather simple like Questions 3 on the 5 Wednesdays, Top 5 of 2024 on the Fridays, and something on the Mondays.  Are there any types of posts that I haven’t done in a while that people liked?  Wish I had more ideas for Ye Olde Shoppes, which are fun to write.  Not sure if I should re-publish a few of those.  Got plenty of time to figure that out.

Geez, that’s why I wasn’t able to edit on Sunday.  Been such a crazy week with so much personal drama that I forgot it was my niece’s 4th birthday brunch.  A worthy reason to not be writing.  Sadly, I didn’t have my son that weekend, but they’re coming today for Rosh Hashanah.  We’ll eat with them after we go Pokemon hunting for the event in the park.  The game is becoming a big father/son bonding activity, but I have to play when he’s not around to make sure I don’t fall behind and earn his teenage-style mockery.

This coming week is going to be a full one of work with appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday . . . This is why I can’t get much done during the week after work.  The whole thing ends with Yom Kippur starting Friday evening, which means I need to eat and rest as much as possible on Saturday.  Of course, there’s a big Pokemon Go event that involves a special Pokemon debuting on Saturday afternoon.  I’ll be dragging myself out there with my son, so that we can catch it.  We get 15 free tries, so I said we’ll do that and go home.  This might require that I eat a little before sundown, but I’ve been getting dizzy with hunger on most days around 1 PM.  Not sure what’s going on, but this year might not go very smoothly.  Probably should buy a breakfast bar and not try to nosh on candy with an empty stomach.

Really can’t think of anything else going on.  I knew that the change in school times would have a massive impact on my free time and progress.  Didn’t realize it would be combined with 4-5 appointments a week, which kills it almost entirely.  Probably a good thing that I’m editing instead of writing anything fresh.  With any luck, things will settle down with the appointments after the new year, but I might not get to Darwin & the Joy Path until next summer.  Not sure what’s going to happen in general either because I keep forgetting to reach out to the cover artist.  Hard to get myself to do that when I can’t even get to editing.  Publish a book and try to promote it when I can barely breathe?  Feels like a daunting task and my confidence is in terrible shape.  Next free day I have, I’m going to reach out and get my act together.

What are the goals of the week?

1. Try to edit one chapter of Darwin & the Demon Game.
2. Rest up when I can.
3. Time with son when possible.
4. Finish reading library book and return it.
5. Make it through Yom Kippur.
6. Tinker with notebooks if possible.
7. Extra sleep on Wednesday to help get through the rest of the week.
8. Do more December blog posts.