snapshots

Snapshot #146 | 10 Things for 9 February 2020

Personal

Currently…

1. reorganizing… my sewing supplies so I might finally be able to finish something.
2. figuring… out some big-picture stuff.
3. wondering… if I’m going to bother with the Oscars tonight. I’m not excited about them this year (at all), but if I skip them, it’ll be the first time since I was fourteen. (Final—last minute—decision: I’ll be staying up to watch.)
4. drinking… all the hot chocolate. It’s been that kind of winter.
5. trying… not to worry too much. Lucy had to go to the emergency vet clinic. She’s feeling better now, but we both had a very stressful week.
6. troubleshooting… more weird technical issues. Fun!
7. thinking… about my writing routine. I’m almost done the current draft of Violet Lane, and I want to outline the next project—whatever that is going to be—while I let that rest.
8. wishing… that the newer WordPress.com themes had font & colour customizations. (I’m super picky. We’ve established that. I’m this close to going back to the theme I used for the first few years of this version of the blog.)
9. getting… to know a new tarot deck.
10. wanting… to bake something, but I’m not sure what.

Snapshot #145 | 10 Things for 26 January 2020

Personal

Currently…

1. having… the worst luck.
2. trying… to choose my next writing project. (I thought I’d decided, but another idea is demanding my attention. After I finish the current draft, of course.)
3. reading… too many books at once. I need to rein that in. Again.
4. chopping… off my hair. It’s very short. I love it. (Still waffling on changing the colour.)
5. making… new plans for the blog. (Always, I know.)
6. hanging… more art. The gallery wall is almost done.
7. feeling… relieved. I’m so glad to have the 366 project out of the way… and I’m brainstorming ideas for what comes next.
8. waiting… out the rain.
9. looking… for new boots. The ones I have are fine with jeans, not so great with tights.
10. watching… some really good movies.

Snapshot #144 | 10 Things for 12 January 2020

Personal

Currently…

1. setting… big goals for the year.
2. remembering… how much work shovelling snow is. Everything hurts.
3. realizing… that some of my plans for the year make it seem very much like I’m training for some sort of revenge mission, which just makes the whole thing more fun. (And will probably drive my wardrobe choices in 2020.)
4. finishing… the Christmas cookies.
5. getting… back to work. It’s been a really good week.
6. downloading… the 2020 edition of Christie Yant’s Tools for Writers spreadsheet. I loved it last year—seeing the calendar fill up is incredibly motivational.
7. trying… to decide what colour to dye my hair. I’m ready for a change. (I’ve narrowed it down to purple or teal—probably purple—but I’m tempted by platinum, too.)
8. editing… so many photos. So many. (Taking a bunch, too. Expect 366 updates to start this week.)
9. accepting… that I’ve got a bit of a cold. Maybe. I can’t tell anymore.
10. thinking… of ways to use up some of the notebooks I’ve been collecting.

Snapshot #143 | 10 Things for 29 December 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. trying… to think of ten distinct things I’ve done in the last two weeks, but it’s all blurring together.
2. getting… ready for the new year. I think it’s going to be good.
3. watching… the discussion unfold re: the RWA. (This is a good summary.) I’m not a member—I don’t write romance—but seriously, all writers should be paying attention.
4. debating… whether or not to cut my hair. It’s just reaching the length where I can do something with it, but… I’m bored. (Also: we’re on the eve of the ’20s. Short hair feels appropriate.)
5. making… too many cookies, as usual. Every year, I swear I’m going to scale back, and yet.
6. looking… forward to a normal day.
7. catching… up on the TV backlog.
8. feeling… tired.
9. starting… to get excited about photography again. (Still catching up on my 366 backlog, but it’ll be done by the deadline. Promise.)
10. wondering… what to read next. It’s not like I don’t have a huge stack of books to choose from, but nothing it jumping out at me right now.

Snapshot #142 | 10 Things for 15 December 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. rethinking… my holiday baking plans as soon as I figured them out. But I’m out of time, so I can’t make any more changes to my list. Really.
2. putting… up the tree. The 15th is the earliest I’m willing to go.
3. crying… over the Black Widow teaser trailer. Several times. (The Wonder Woman 1984 trailer makes me giddy. Both make me impatient for next year.)
4. listening… to DJ Riko’s 2019 Christmas Mix. I say it every year, but these mixes are amazing. They’ve introduced me to so much incredible Christmas music.
5. sending… my last query letter of the year. I’ve still got a few I want to send in January, but for now I can relax.
6. waiting… an absurdly long time for a shipment from Chapters/Indigo. Yes, it’s a busy time of year, but more than a week for my (in-stock!) order to even go in the mail is embarrassing.
7. accepting… that I’m probably not going to get much writing done this week. Or the rest of the year.
8. eating… Lindor truffles at 9:30 in the morning, because I’m an adult.
9. risking… frostbite for a few photos. By the time I put away the camera, I was genuinely worried. But at least I’m taking some photos?
10. realizing… that almost all of my goals and hopes for 2020 are within my control. Not sure if that’s awesome or scary.

Snapshot #141 | 10 Things for 1 December 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. falling… behind on just about everything that isn’t directly related to The Black Sun, including my photography, this blog, and reading other blogs. I’ll catch up soon.
2. assembling… the gallery wall I’ve been planning since I moved into the apartment. (Five years ago?) It looks fantastic.
3. dying… my hair purple, completely by accident. It wasn’t too bad—faded to pink in a day or so, and now it’s just a few very pale pink highlights, which I’ve been getting so many compliments on—but it’s renewed that urge to go properly pink again, so… yeah. Might be a problem.
4. breaking… out the big down coat. Already.
5. running… into a roadblock in the Big Scary Photo thing. It’s on hold for at least another month or two, and I’m so annoyed.
6. trying… to figure out what to bake for Christmas. I’m running out of time.
7. hoping… I can make my phone last just a few more weeks. This is a terrible time to need to shop for a replacement, but I can’t put it off much longer.
8. thinking… about my goals and plans for 2020. I’m really looking forward to the new year.
9. wondering… if all the typing and sewing (I’ve been sewing!) I’ve been doing lately might’ve messed up something in my wrist.
10. taking… a big step in the right direction.

Snapshot #140 | 10 Things for 17 November 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. underestimating… the windchill. I’m still figuring out the right combinations of coat+sweater for this weather.
2. trying… an apple from one of the trees that’s gone wild next to the parking lot of my apartment building. (What? I’ve been curious.) The verdict: tart-sweet and very crisp, reminded me of a russet in both taste and texture, but it didn’t have the leathery russet skin. No idea what it was, but it wasn’t just the result of some kid throwing away an apple core thirty years ago. (This was farm/church land 60-100 years ago, and I know that some of the apple trees are from that era.)
3. running… behind on pretty much everything blog-related. I’ll get caught up this week.
4. watching… Dolemite Is My Name. It’s one of those movies that makes me want to make stuff. So much fun.
5. making… some amazing bread.
6. planning… a couple of craft projects. Because I’m not busy enough right now, apparently.
7. panicking… because a technical glitch somehow sent my online pizza order halfway across the country. (I got it sorted—kind of—but it was still a nerve-wracking few minutes… and a late pizza. Also, I feel bad for the delivery guy in Ontario who may have had to go to what streetview suggests is a creepy deserted corner of an industrial park and didn’t even get paid for it.)
8. starting… to think that my running season might be coming to an end. I might have a week or two left before it’s consistently too cold.
9. painting… the living/dining room. Finally. Now I just have one bedroom, the kitchen, and the entrance to do and I’ll be done with this awful beige forever.
10. looking… forward to a (slightly) more normal week.

Snapshot #139 | 10 Things for 3 November 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. wishing… for a normal week. It’s hard to build a routine lately.
2. getting… inspired. I’ve got a bunch of new ideas for These Modern Things all of a sudden. (Probably because I’ve also got a huge list of revisions to do on The Black Sun.)
3. accepting… that my Lomo’Instant is dying. (It still technically works, but only in full sun, and even then it’s iffy.) It’s such a cute camera, but… yeah. I’m annoyed that it didn’t last longer.
4. trying… not to go overboard on Hallowe’en candy. (And failing.)
5. daydreaming… about converting a school bus into a tiny house. Someday….
6. waking… up at 4:30 in the morning because the cat hates this particular time change with a passion.
7. watching… so many movies.
8. shifting… to a traveler’s notebook for my bullet journal and other day-to-day stuff. (I’ve had it for a while, but I wanted to finish up the book I was using first.) I’m not sure what I think of it yet; I might end up switching back to a Moleskine in January.
9. recycling… another bag of stress-inducing clutter. Such a great feeling.
10. feeling… a bit overwhelmed.

Snapshot #138 | 10 Things for 20 October 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. putting… off the upgrade to Catalina; it’s going to break too many applications I rely on.
2. reaching… the point where I have to decide whether I’m going to try (again) to grow out my hair, or if I’m going to chop it all off.
3. falling… down a rabbit hole entirely composed of Japanese stationery supplies. I might have a new obsession.
4. planning… the final (for now) round of edits on The Black Sun.
5. emptying… another one of those boxes I’ve been hauling (unopened) from apartment to apartment since at least 2008. The decluttering process is slow, but it’s still moving along.
6. thinking… about making some changes to the newsletter. Is there anything you’d like to see? Writers or photographers who do it particularly well? If you don’t subscribe, is there something in particular that would change your mind? Let me know in the comments, or via the contact form if you’d rather get in touch that way.
7. starting… my Christmas shopping. In early October. There were specific budget-related reasons, but I’m still pretty sure that’s a new record for me.
8. feeling… relieved. I took care of a few chores that were really stressing me out—nothing serious, I’m just terrible at adulting—and I’m so glad to be done with them.
9. realizing… that I’m a little bit out of practice when it comes to grinding coffee by hand. I had a good routine down in the spring, but I’ve been drinking cold brew in the office all summer. It might take a week or two to get the muscle memory back.
10. finding… my way back into a good writing routine.

Snapshot #137 | 10 Things for 6 October 2019

Personal

Currently…

1. thinking… about what comes next.
2. baking… a batch of doughnuts, mostly to test the pan I bought a while ago. They were so easy (and good), I have a feeling this is going to turn into a regular thing.
3. reminding… myself that I spent a long time debating the merits of different WordPress themes before switching to this one, and I really don’t need to move to a new one already. Even if I’m really tempted.
4. daydreaming… about opening a bookstore/cafe. I actually wish the thought hadn’t popped into my head, because it’s definitely not feasible and it’s still all I can think about right now.
5. digging… out the scarves and fingerless gloves. It’s time!
6. wishing… the WordPress block editor cooperated with Markdown. And proper HTML, honestly. (The dedicated Markdown blocks don’t cut it, and I hate the extra steps needed to manually add alt tags to links—enough that regularly skip that step, and then feel guilty about it.)
7. making… up my mind.
8. abandoning… Pinterest. Now if I can just wean myself off Twitter and Instagram, everything will be perfect.
9. trying… not to let anxiety get the better of me. (Not just the stuff I was talking about the other day. Everything is difficult right now.)
10. running… late.