Timely Reminders

I recently read an article by Jill Kemerer (visit the original article here) that served as a great reminder for me.

A month or so after I got over Wuhan Virus, I started experiencing post-WuVi (my term) symptoms. Some include short-term memory loss, severe lack of focus (way worse than my normal ADD), and quick exhaustion. These symptoms come and go as they feel like it, disrupting my train of thought and ability to accomplish goals.

You might have noticed my blog has been more miss than hit so far this year.

The thing is, I still have goals that I want to accomplish. I'm frustrated that these symptoms are not allowing me to do so.

When I read Mrs. Kemerer's article about writing through one's moods, this hit home for me. Not necessarily about writing through a wide variety of moods, though that's necessary too. But to write through the symptoms I'm continuing to deal with.

It hasn't been easy since I realized that on June 9. My writing has still seemed to only trickle in the following weeks. Not for lack of trying. Not for lack of motivation. Solely because of symptoms I couldn't seem to lick.

Then I received an e-mail encouragement from the hostess of Go Teen Writers' 100-for-100 Writing Challenge that I'm participating in this summer and autumn. In that e-mail, Stephanie Morrill shared the following quote by James Scott Bell:

Spring Cleaning + Camp Prep {a personal invitation}

It may not yet be spring, and I may not typically do spring cleaning, but this year feels like I am. In February, my water pipes froze and then burst in the sub-zero temperatures north Texas experienced. I ended up having to use a ton of blankets, comforters, and towels to sop up the water that spilled into my house before my dad got the water turned off. Since I didn't have working water for almost two weeks, I fell behind on washing dishes and other water-related chores.

Now that my pipes have been fixed (thanks, Daddy!), my spring cleaning this year is catching up on laundry and washing dishes.

There's a bit more cleaning going on around here, and some reorganizing too, but the water-based chores are definitely top priorities this season.

In other news, I'm also getting prepared for writing camp. The next session of King's Daughters' Writing Camp (KDWC) -- a writing camp for Christian ladies -- takes place in April. This month I'm outlining, doing a bit of preliminary research, and dipping my toes into several different stories I've got in the works. Since I'm dealing with post-Wuhan Virus short-term memory loss, my creativity is struggling more than I'd like. So I'm trying to figure out how to beat that even as memory issues plague me at the moment. The good news is that I've found pockets of inspiration in the last week or so. The writing sessions of 150; 300; and 500 words (averages) have added up to over 5,000 words already this month. I'm shocked by that number, because it's felt like such a huge fight to get each sentence onto the page. While that number is super low for my normal monthly pace, it's a huge milestone for me with my current memory situation.

I'm celebrating with ice cream tonight, because fighting my way to this milestone has felt like climbing Mount Everest.

Would you like to join me in writing camp next month?