Happy (late) Thanksgiving to whomever that applies! :)

Not the best start to the month here: I caught a cold that hit me on Halloween and lasted for a few weeks. Fortunately, it was minor as such things go. Symptoms came and went, but my brain and energy levels weren’t as badly affected as when I had pneumonia or the flu. A few days in, I was back to writing during my scheduled time, although under the blankets in bed. Someone (pictured above) was kind enough to guard my laptop whenever I had to make more tea!

Writing Updates:

As I get back into the swing of drafting, my weekly word count on Book 3 has been improving, climbing more into the 4,000-5,000 range. Not bad for a sick lady! But I did have to retread some old ground and rewrite a few earlier chapters; they lacked the impact I was hoping they’d have. You like your characters, but you can’t ever let them get out of things too unscathed. You know what I mean?

At this point, I’ve got about 7 chapters either written out in actual prose or at least heavily outlined. Some sections, I’m leaving a bit hazy because I won’t know what I really need there until the end.

Current Goals:

Learning Latin. Yep! Still fun. My husband and I started playing the Syberia series of video games this month, and I get to be super helpful because German and Latin both make appearances in a few places. Unfortunately, more often than not, the Latin is improperly declined. For example, Abscondo mei sapientia (I hide my knowledge) should really be Abscondo meam sapientiam. </nerd>

Refreshing German. I’ve been thinking about how to keep my German up to snuff. I used to follow news broadcasts; now those are too depressing even in English! My current thought is to look for movies and shows I’m familiar with, and watch them in German with subtitles on. We’ll see how much progress I make here next month (probably not much, as holiday-based obligations tend to be bad for productivity).

Learning Italian. Still keeping this on the back-burner, picking up words and phrases that interest me, but otherwise not making a big push to acquire. I can cheat and guess a lot from Latin. ;)

Updating my blog’s appearance. WordPress finally allows you to draft theme and layout changes—thus you don’t have to make them live, hate them, try to revert back, fail, cry, etc. So this is potentially something to look into, although I don’t know how seriously at this point.

Revamping my routine and acquiring new habits. I’ve begun evaluating everything I do, why I do it that way, and whether it’s worth continuing or changing the process. I’m also trying to adopt new habits to combat the Seasonal Affective Disorder that tends to settle over me in the winter. For instance: staying away from the couch and doing as much work/chores possible during the day, knowing I’ll be a lump once the sun sets; and making myself go for a walk every afternoon, barring illness or severe weather. My biggest obstacle to this plan is my cat, who literally cries until I curl up on the couch with him and a blanket.

Plan/Schedule trip to Rome in 2018. I’ve been researching food and etiquette, and am still gathering ideas on what to see, when, and how best to do it. There’s a dizzying amount of options! It’s gonna be fun, though :)

Later Goals:
Ramp up selling/promotion (after Book 3 is done, possibly later)

That’s all for now! Happy Holidays, and I’ll see you next time!