Yes, I'm still breathing air... barely...
It occurred to me to check to see the last time I actually posted anything here, because I'm quite aware that I've more or less vanished from view of late. I think the last time I posted anything personal was in November of last year, and the last piece of writing I posted was way back at the beginning of September.
Yes, there's been a reason.
First of all, my Muse simply took a powder and hasn't really resurfaced in all that time. She's ditched me with a number of unfinished novel-length fics, which I really hate - but the good thing is that I've not publicly posted them anywhere, so I'm not leaving any readers very much in the lurch. The only folks who have been waiting because they know what I've been working on are my cohorts at The Lizard Council. I'm grateful for their patience, as my Muse is still AWOL.
Second of all, my musical obligations have increased geometrically. The little artsy-craftsy community of Halcyon has put dibs on my skillz there. I'm now playing the piano (or the piano half of a piano-organ duet team) for Sunday services more often, and always at the very least on my own doing a 15-min musical "meditation" of some sort on the last Sundays of the month. Next month, I'm on tap for three Sundays, including Easter (which is a riot, if you think about it, because I'm Buddhist and normally wouldn't be doing anything other than sleeping in on Easter Sunday morning.) In May, don't even ask. I've been tapped to give a talk on "Harmony" from a more spiritual perspective, helping to conduct a workshop on teaching foreign members of the Theosophical group how to sing temple songs, will be accompanying our intrepid "Halcyon Players" in a musical play - for which I've been slaving away WRITING the music for the last month or so, as well as playing either solo or in duet for services four times that month.
It wouldn't be so bad if the third reason I've been so quiet weren't an issue: I have severe arthritis in my shoulders - to the point that I'm now taking Vicodin a minimum of twice a day (on top of other arthritis meds) and sometimes (like today) up to three times a day. Officially I have a prescription for something stronger for days the Vicodin simply isn't handling the pain, but I've so far refused to even fill the thing - I hate pills and the way the pain meds make me feel. My head is often full of cotton, and three Vicodin in a day makes me downright woozy. Woozy people can't write fiction - or music, for that matter - take it from me. Still, I'd rather be woozy than in pain, if it comes right down to it.
Finally, I've been worried about my kids; each of the three have had their issues of late.
My daughter Súl has discovered that she's sensitive to both dairy and glutin, and it had been causing all kinds of health-related problems up to and including a chronic depression. Now that she's adjusted her diet, she's feeling better; but her attitude issues (as well as hypoglycemic spells and panic attacks) have resulted in her needing to change the salon she works for. Ultimately, this will be a good thing, because Súl prefers a day-spa atmosphere, and the place she's leaving has slowly lost that.
JJ, oldest twin (by 9½ minutes) slid into 2nd base in a Special Olympics softball game and messed up his right knee, resulting in arthroscopic surgery to repair the meniscus on both sides (he was lucky that the ligament was only partially torn.) That meant all kinds of doctor's appointments, as well as Physical Therapy sessions.
Last but certainly not least, up in Oregon, Squeek has come out as a trans-sexual M->F, is currently on hormone therapy, and has changed her name legally. Both my hubby and I accept her decision, altho' hubby has more trouble understanding than I do. I watched a dear friend go through this process a while back; so the only thing that really trips me up now is name/pronoun issues when talking about her. This is something I don't normally discuss with the neighbors (one set tends to be quite fundamentalist Christian in temperment) so figuring out how to break the news to those who don't know is a bit stressful.
Anyway, put that all together, and you have a person who just isn't into writing fiction at the moment - or really communicating a whole lot at all.
My apologies for dropping off the face of the earth. At least now you all know more or less what's been going on.
Yes, there's been a reason.
First of all, my Muse simply took a powder and hasn't really resurfaced in all that time. She's ditched me with a number of unfinished novel-length fics, which I really hate - but the good thing is that I've not publicly posted them anywhere, so I'm not leaving any readers very much in the lurch. The only folks who have been waiting because they know what I've been working on are my cohorts at The Lizard Council. I'm grateful for their patience, as my Muse is still AWOL.
Second of all, my musical obligations have increased geometrically. The little artsy-craftsy community of Halcyon has put dibs on my skillz there. I'm now playing the piano (or the piano half of a piano-organ duet team) for Sunday services more often, and always at the very least on my own doing a 15-min musical "meditation" of some sort on the last Sundays of the month. Next month, I'm on tap for three Sundays, including Easter (which is a riot, if you think about it, because I'm Buddhist and normally wouldn't be doing anything other than sleeping in on Easter Sunday morning.) In May, don't even ask. I've been tapped to give a talk on "Harmony" from a more spiritual perspective, helping to conduct a workshop on teaching foreign members of the Theosophical group how to sing temple songs, will be accompanying our intrepid "Halcyon Players" in a musical play - for which I've been slaving away WRITING the music for the last month or so, as well as playing either solo or in duet for services four times that month.
It wouldn't be so bad if the third reason I've been so quiet weren't an issue: I have severe arthritis in my shoulders - to the point that I'm now taking Vicodin a minimum of twice a day (on top of other arthritis meds) and sometimes (like today) up to three times a day. Officially I have a prescription for something stronger for days the Vicodin simply isn't handling the pain, but I've so far refused to even fill the thing - I hate pills and the way the pain meds make me feel. My head is often full of cotton, and three Vicodin in a day makes me downright woozy. Woozy people can't write fiction - or music, for that matter - take it from me. Still, I'd rather be woozy than in pain, if it comes right down to it.
Finally, I've been worried about my kids; each of the three have had their issues of late.
My daughter Súl has discovered that she's sensitive to both dairy and glutin, and it had been causing all kinds of health-related problems up to and including a chronic depression. Now that she's adjusted her diet, she's feeling better; but her attitude issues (as well as hypoglycemic spells and panic attacks) have resulted in her needing to change the salon she works for. Ultimately, this will be a good thing, because Súl prefers a day-spa atmosphere, and the place she's leaving has slowly lost that.
JJ, oldest twin (by 9½ minutes) slid into 2nd base in a Special Olympics softball game and messed up his right knee, resulting in arthroscopic surgery to repair the meniscus on both sides (he was lucky that the ligament was only partially torn.) That meant all kinds of doctor's appointments, as well as Physical Therapy sessions.
Last but certainly not least, up in Oregon, Squeek has come out as a trans-sexual M->F, is currently on hormone therapy, and has changed her name legally. Both my hubby and I accept her decision, altho' hubby has more trouble understanding than I do. I watched a dear friend go through this process a while back; so the only thing that really trips me up now is name/pronoun issues when talking about her. This is something I don't normally discuss with the neighbors (one set tends to be quite fundamentalist Christian in temperment) so figuring out how to break the news to those who don't know is a bit stressful.
Anyway, put that all together, and you have a person who just isn't into writing fiction at the moment - or really communicating a whole lot at all.
My apologies for dropping off the face of the earth. At least now you all know more or less what's been going on.