Made it to the summer and I get a week off until I’m back for a summer session.  It’s completely voluntary, so don’t feel sorry for me.  I’ll get another 1.5 weeks near the end, which I’m hoping to use for new writing.  Fingers crossed.

Diving right into the writing side of things, I didn’t get the third chapter typed in like I had hoped.  Darwin & the Beast Collector made some progress, but I got caught up in stuff last weekend.  Mostly, I was supposed to get 3 hours with my son and planned things around that.  His friends wanted to do a hangout at that time, so I forfeited the block.  I was happy he got to see his friends since they usually just do Facetime.  Still, I was a little down that I didn’t get to spend time with him, but that’s something I have to get used to as he grows up.  Time with friends is less common than with his old man even with a 50/50 custody schedule.  Anyway, the change meant I had to do things in a different order and I only got 2 chapters done.  Part of a third was completely Wednesday night . . . Using what little energy I had.

There were two big obstacles.  One was that this was the week leading up to Pokemon Go-Fest, which is the biggest event of the year for this game.  So, special mini-events were done every night while this weekend is the big one from 10-6 both days.  Guess you know where my son and I are going to be today and tomorrow.  That would be the park, which my plantar fasciitis isn’t thrilled about.  The foot roller is helping as I write this, but the damn thing tickles far too much.  The pain is worth it to see my son enjoy himself, relax, and get some exercise.  Last year, he was with his mom, so I’m thrilled that I get this experience with him this time.

The second obstacle was the heat.  Starting Sunday night, we had high 90’s and even low 100’s until Wednesday.  Tuesday was the worst and my car’s air conditioner could barely make a dent.  The unit in our classroom was struggling as well, so I ended the workdays drained only for it to be Pokemon time.  We hit the park on Monday when it wasn’t so bad, but Tuesday forced us to the mall.  It was still warm and humid in there, so we left feeling gross.  Recovering from that took precedence, so I wasn’t able to do any editing.  Too busy rehydrating, staying cool, and icing my feet.  On the plus side, I got a lot of puzzle time done.

I did accomplish a little blog planning though.  Picked out the Sunday topics for September, which I’ll work on when my son is doing his summer reading or getting ready for bed.  Made a list of October posts too.  The theme this year is going to be different types of ghosts, which I hope goes well.  I won’t bother with the Sunday posts for that month or even write the ghost ones for a while.  My plan here is to keep myself ahead in order to give myself more writing time.  So, I’m only going to prep blog posts when my son is here and busy doing his own thing.  I feel like this will allow me to make progress on my blog and editing at equal rates.  That and I never know when he’s going to decide it’s father/son time, so pausing a blog post is easier on the nerves.

The first half of next week is for my son and then he’s with his mom.  So, we’re going to relax, play Pokemon, try to see a movie with friends, and make some headway on various shows.  Once he’s with his mom, I’m going to have to get a few personal situations taken care of while editing.  There’s a week-long Pokemon event, but I can do that at my leisure, especially since I’m not going to do much for July 4th.  I don’t find fireworks that enjoyable these days and the local drone show isn’t as much fun without my son there to share it.  If any friends invite me out, I’ll go, but I might just seclude myself in the house with editing, the Roku, and a bottle of seltzer.

Noticed I lost a few reviews on my books just now.  I’m betting they were 4-5 stars since negative reviews never disappear.  Good to see this issue continues with Amazon, but I guess it means the person’s account was removed.  Honestly, I don’t care as much as I used to, but it’s still eye-catching.

Hope everyone else has a comfortable start to the summer.  Probably missed something, but it’s been a wild week.  Goals?

1. Enjoy Pokemon Go-Fest with my son.
2. Work on future blog posts.
3. Hydrate.
4. Get 5 chapters of Darwin & the Beast Collector edits typed in.
5. Massage and ice feet.
6. Stationary bike when possible.
7. Puzzles!
8. Appointments and phone calls . . . Adulthood always makes an appearance.
9. Continue watching ‘Re: Zero’ when needing a rest.
10. Catch up on sleep on days I don’t have morning stuff to do.