October wasn’t any less turbulent than September. My second surprise biopsy in as many months (benign, thankfully, but I had to wait 2 weeks to hear that), accidentally injuring my foot and damaging my car in unrelated incidents, my husband out of town for multiple weeks (still not back yet), and a shooting that makes international news happening half a mile from my house. The past few days have been surreal. I need to cry once in a while, but I’m doing my best to focus on the positive things that happen from day to day. I feel healthy and my foot’s doing much better; my car’s fixed; the sun is out (sometimes); my cat, neighbors, friends, and city are awesome.

Writing Updates

My Book 3 draft is up to 36K words, and I’m halfway through Chapter 9. Since I’m rewriting almost completely at this point rather than tweaking what’s already there, there’s pretty much zero chance I’ll be done with this draft by the end of the year. I have been and will continue to lose writing time to health-related matters; so it goes. Spring seems like a more attainable goal. Of course, I’ll continue to take my time and finish with something worthwhile rather than rush out something crappy.

Current Goals

Well-rounded Latin practice. Studying vocabulary flashcards daily, textbook work and conjugation/declension practice most days, listening to podcasts. I also found a local group of people who want to practice speaking Latin on a weekly basis! There were only 2 of us at the first meeting, but it was still enjoyable. I hope the local practice will give me courage for the week-long immersion seminar taking place next year. I’m holding out a little longer on applying to that, mostly to ensure that I can travel—but I’m also very nervous!

Listening to German. Still listening to news and audio lessons from Deutsche Welle. It was bizarre to hear about Pittsburgh in the German newscast, but at least they were reporting about the thousands who went out for vigils and protests against hate.

Civic Engagement. Aside from voting next week, I’m looking for ways to help my city recover and move forward. I can’t give blood, but I did donate to HIAS, a group that aids refugees. And I’m lucky in that I really haven’t been exposed to hate speech or racist behavior, but if I ever see that shit, I’ll try to do something to stop it.

Travel 2019? No idea, lol. I go under the knife next month and then need to wait out a third biopsy. As much as I want to make plans well ahead of time, I feel like I should hold off until I’m sure I’ll be able to travel.

Good luck with everything you’re up to, be safe, and I’ll see you next month!