Hello,
Yes, I'm still here. It's been a year... Not just from the pandemic but also in the way of loss and health.
So, as we come into the last week of month number one of 2021, I want to take a second to recalibrate.
This year has been rough.
I said goodbye to my Dog, Kenzie aka Doodle, in September. That was one of the roughest things I have dealt with all year. Then, my best friend's Grandmother passed away. She was like my third Grandmother.
I changed jobs at the beginning of 2020. I now work at a subsidized senior apartment complex. 3 months into that job... COVID. You can imagine how much fun my job has been since. (Luckily, we all get vaccinated Thursday.)
Writing fell by the wayside and was at a minimal and dismal state for many months. I absorbed myself with Card Collecting and video games. The creativity well was drained.
When September hit and Doodle passed away, I was pretty lost. Then in November I started to notice issues with my breathing and my heart rate. I was getting extremely dizzy every morning and sometimes throughout the day. Finally, I went to the VA. My Diastolic Blood Pressure was hanging out between 90-100 everyday--which is dangerous when your family has a history of it on both sides. On meds I went!
Started to feel better but still have some lingering issues. My health is not great but we are working on it. As of today, I have an infection in one of my molars. Always something.
Thankfully, I have a wonderful wife and loving (mostly) cat to keep me going, so I decided to turn it around.
In December, while this was happening, I sent a short story to the L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. It's the first submission I have made in almost a year.
On January 1st, I chose to move forward no matter what. I set a daily writing goal of 250 words which is now at 300 words daily. I am determined to write 15 new short stories over this year based on 15 songs. (1 is done and 1 is half done already.) And before this month is over, I plan to send my one completed novel to at least one agent.
It's time to get back out there.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that we are stronger than we think and can endure. We just have to have the courage to move forward and fight through the hard times.
I hope you have all survived 2020 and are getting yourself back out there. You can do it. I believe in us both.
Joe
