The First Half of 2023

What a year already!

2023 is halfway over now, and it’s definitely been one of the most interesting years of my life. In some ways, it’s been the best. I won’t get into an internal debate that becomes external about the innocence of childhood and how, in some ways, not much can be better than that. I’ll just say...

There are/have been some things better than that, several of which I’m not going to get into. (If you know me, you surely know I’m pretty private in some ways and you won’t find a lack of full disclosure surprising.)

The things I will get into?

Books

Writing, Releasing, and Such

As of posting this, I have eight books released and one up for pre-order. Last year at this time, I had two out.

I’ve only added to the books I’ve written by one and a half. (Wrote one completely and finished one that I started years ago. Only considering it ‘half’ because it was mostly done, but it went from not finished to finished, which counts for a lot.)

That’s a handful more (the ones that are released) that are ‘done-done’ (meaning I can stop nitpicking them for years and years before thinking of putting them out)!

I’ve been working on getting several more ready to go.

Graphic Stuff (Design)/Covers

I’ve been working on all that as well and feel I’ve definitely improved with it. I recently made (most of) a cover for a book, and it’s probably my favorite of all. (Then I made another one for a different book and loved it even more! I'm excited for people to potentially see them. Soon....)

I’ve had several moments in general of, ‘This looks FANCY,’ while being very ‘impressed’ with myself (it’s a new feeling/thing). It’s been an interesting thing internally looking into why I’m not ever often really ‘impressed’ with books that take forever to work on, but I can feel that way with this. I think it’s because I have zero expectation and faith in my own skill with design in general, so it’s always surprising (and amazing in a, ‘Wow! What in the world‽ I did it? I did it!’ sort of way) when something looks even CLOSE to ‘good’.

I’ve been working on it!

Promotions and Such

I’ve done a few things with that. I ran my first free promotion on Reave. I’m not sure I’ll do it again, but there were quite a lot of downloads, and it hit #1 in all its categories, ALMOST broke the top 100 in general. Getting anywhere even NEAR the top 500 was crazy to me. Passing it was like ...

O.o

o.O

O.O

It was a very exciting few days!

I was super proud!!

I’m not sure about any long-term things with it, but the thought that there might be a lot of people out there reading (and hopefully enjoying/liking) it as I write this...

It's a nice thought! So, we’ll see.

I’ve got a few other things going on and planned.

I’m not a ‘business-minded’ person, so this aspect of stuff is extremely hard for me. I’m working on it.

We’ll see what happens.

(If you have a spare bit of good energy and maybe love the books, if you could send that good energy out and hope with me that things will do well, I would appreciate it a lot!)

Personal

Divorce

My divorce was final at the start of the year! That was a joyous thing for me, and a relief. It was like having a dark cloud over your head finally blown away by the wind.

Luckily, I’ve only been asked once as to whether I’m ‘going to get on any apps’ (for dating).

NO.

Only been asked that once, another time about whether I would get remarried, and only heard one other thing about ‘bringing someone home’.

If you read my post on WordPress early in the year, you’ll know I mentioned something about ‘being alone’.

No dating, no ‘bringing home’. Just no to all of it.

(I have no issues with marriage as a whole, if it might sound that way. Just doing what I need to do in/with the time I have.)

I have everything I need and everything I’m supposed to, and I have work to do.

Made me laugh.

Friendship

It’s been a good year thus far in terms of friendship! I made a new friend, reconnected with a childhood best friend of mine, and feel I’m closer to the friends I’ve always had. I still don’t ‘get out’ or see anyone, but I’m glad for how things are going.

Random

Crochet

In the second half of last year, I picked crocheting back up. ‘Picking it back up’ is something I say loosely, as I only ever finished two blankets, back in high school. (One for myself and a baby blanket for my niece forever ago.)

Since picking it back up, I’ve been making blankies for people in my family.

One is missing, but it's the one I'm working on right now!
My sister's blue one was the first shell border I did! I was proud of that....

I thought I could only make the one thing, but recently, I started trying to make hats. The first few didn’t go so well! But I got it (mostly) figured out and have made some really nice ones. (They don’t have their poms yet, and I haven't weaved the ends....)

Good hats on the left! Not-as-good hats on the right! (The pink and white one on the (middle) left is the one I'm keeping for myself! I love it so much. It will be better when it gets its pom, though....)

Still having issue(s) with the fancy stitches! (Mostly with counts. And mostly with counts not due to the counting but that first stitch after turning. ‘This goes... here? Where? Wait. I missed it on that one, didn’t I? Or, er, uhm... put it in the wrong spot! Dang.’)

The stitches are so fancy and beautiful. I just messed up. Somewhere. Somehow. Someway. The first line or so was just fine! (Isn't that life? ;) ........)

I’ve also started making another (different type of) blankie for myself, and I’m hoping it will be a little heavier. Not for the warmth but for the weight on me feets. (Yes, I said that how I meant to.) The first few lines of it, I felt...

This is the most beautiful blankie.

Had to decide if I would keep making it the most beautiful blankie or get it to match my room. (Oddly enough, matching it to my room was the choice, as I’m hoping to tie together a bunch of stuff....) Still hoping it will be beautiful! We shall see, hopefully in the next of these. (I’m planning to make these posts regular.)

It was, at that juncture, the most beautiful blankie I'd ever seen....

And Such....

My mom and I redid Pig’s (flower) bed, and that looks nice. Getting that done was super important to me, so I’m really glad about it. In more ways than one, it also felt like the sky getting cleared of darkness.

I started composting. (No pictures of that are going to be put on here! Ha) That’s been an interesting and oddly fun thing. I feel like I’ve learned a lot, far more than I expected to and in a far larger sense—about having the right balance of things in life in order to have a healthy environment.

Funny, how things can have unexpectedly large impacts on your way of viewing things sometimes....

I made some pen boxes. I felt very crafty!

I was super proud of these, too! And they definitely are handy!

I hurt my hand at the beginning of June. Quite badly. I was thinking, ‘It’s almost healed now!’ Writing this up has shown me...

No. It’s not. But it’s getting there!

Funny, isn’t it? When you hurt the one thing that won’t let you do what you need to do. Then it gets into a massive thing about self-imposed needs from the head and needs from deeper in. Where I’m at with that, at this moment?

The things I feel I need to do must not be needed to be done at this very moment if at all. So. I’ll be doing what I can, which I feel will be as I should. And we’ll see what happens! (I certainly can’t write right now!)

In Conclusion....

In general, I’m extremely happy with the way this year has gone thus far. Most every day, it feels more and more like walking from a bad place to a good place, each day getting closer to where you want to and should be. And I mean that in absolutely every sense possible. There have been more than a few hard days here and there, but even those feel different now than they ever have before. No matter how scared I am at times about things, life in general is brighter and more beautiful than I ever knew it could be.

I hope so much that everyone is and has been well, that the first half of the year has been kind to and beautiful for you. <3

For a ‘category’ of Upcoming Releases?

I’ll just say...

Stay tuned. ;)

(Extra) Scenes from Life....

There were some mistakes made....

I realized I made an oopsie....

There were cookies....

They were delicious....

There was a cat in a tree. (Yes, it got rescued. No idea whose cat it was.)

Next time you get an internal nudge to look up?
I would suggest doing it. You never know what you might find....

And there was this old girl.

There was a dog staring longingly out the window.

There were significant things about turtles and some turtles seen....

There were storms that tried to take away some of my favorite things....

One of my favorite trees. It's in almost every picture I take back at the lake.

Some of them did precisely what damage they intended.

Losing this tree, in some ways, oddly, was like losing a family member. It's been here and with me for so long, and I loved it so much. it's an interesting thing how, sometimes, damage gets focused on precisely what will cause you pain.

But.

There's so much to be grateful for, and there's far too much beauty for any storm to eliminate it entirely.