When your body does not cooperate with the plans your mind made.
I am having to face an uncomfortable truth that the only consistent thing about me these days is how inconsistent I am.
Inconsistent in my health because every day is a new adventure with my chronic conditions so variable. Will I have enough energy for my plans or will I need to just rest? Can I make my nutritional goals or am I just too tired to cook? Can I make my exercise goals or am I in too much pain to move?
It is a constant assessment each day to determine the art of the possible, and what is going to just be impossible.
I’ve been focused on getting myself better over October while doing some writing on the side. Overall, my health has improved. I feel a little stronger day by day. I’ve rejigged my diet to help support my needs better – more greek yogurt, focusing on foods high in B12, adjusting my portion sizes on fats and carbs to help battle insulin resistance. I have been doing some exercise 6 days a week, usually a 20 minute walk. I try to make sure I do have a rest day, and I don’t walk on the days I clean or do other activity such as painting my bathroom.
That has been the major complication to my plans in October. My shower in the attached en-suite to my bedroom stopped working right at the end of September. I needed a new shower which was going to mean tearing out the old one which would then, in a classic domino effect, mean having to tile the bathroom again, redo the floor, etc. I got quotes for a new bathroom. This past week I’ve been sleeping in my Dad’s room downstairs (he is away at the moment and back at the end of the month) while the new en-suite has been done.
The other necessity was repainting the bathroom – shiny new fixtures meant the old magnolia would have looked weird. Unfortunately in the interest of keeping the budget down, I’ve had to pick up the painting myself. The fitter finished putting in the wall panels for the new shower on Tuesday; Tuesday evening, I prepared the walls, skirting boards, and door; painted the ceiling and the wall where the mirrored cabinet was due to be installed on Wednesday. Wednesday, I went back over and did a second coat on the wall, painted the rest of the walls and unfortunately mucked up some of the ceiling edges. Nobody will ever hire me as a painter and decorator and, quite honestly, I would prefer never to paint anything ever again.
I decided to stop painting anything else until the bathroom was done as I was just exhausted and physically done. I mean, I have an extension roller and it is a small room but golly, I’m physically not really fit enough to do it.
The bathroom was done on Thursday except for a couple of small jobs which were done on Friday. I spent Thursday evening vacuuming my house to get rid of the building dust and made the executive decision just to rest on Friday.
Today, I have spent all the day cleaning – half the day just on doing a full bathroom clean on the new en-suite and my bedroom which was covered in dust despite protective sheets. I am knackered. Tomorrow, I will need to finish my usual house clean and move back into my bedroom fully (I’m giving the room a complete airing tonight and staying in my Dad’s room as the smell of the silicone sealant is still pretty evident). Finishing the painting is going to be next week’s job. I need to do the skirting boards and the door, go over the other walls, and touch up the edges. I’m going to leave my Dad’s bed made in case I need to sleep in it to avoid paint smells.
Ideally I would have finished the painting on Friday and moved back into my own room over the weekend knowing everything was done, but with my conditions pacing is key and I was just too exhausted on Friday.
What has this all meant for my writing?
Fiction: I haven’t finished the final edit of the novel. I do however have a book cover! Thank you to everyone who commented and let me know their views. “B” below received the most praise so it is the chosen one! Next week I’m hoping to do the final edit, review my marketing plan, and I’ll be coming out for advanced readers.
Fanfiction: So, good news and bad news. The good news is that I have fully finished writing the third story in the Step to the Right series, Another Dimension. The bad news is that I have missed my plan to post today. I am half-way through a final edit/grammar/spell check as this past week with the bathroom hasn’t given me much time to do this at all. I am planning to post next Saturday on 7th November. Since AO3 is down for the next few weeks (and how pleased am I that I have this site and don’t rely entirely on AO3 as a place to post), this will mean the story will be here as a website exclusive for a couple of weeks.
None of my other planned projects for this month have progressed at all. I’m going to review my fanfic plans for the rest of the year. I’d like to do maybe do some shorts over the next few weeks.
Non-fiction: I will be doing a VisionQuest review once the series is over, and I will hopefully see Avengers: Endgame Encore in a cinema before I see Doomsday – I have been avoiding spoilers like a mad woman! I have more non-fiction writing planned for my consulting business and we will see how that goes.
Despite all the issues over October, I am pleased with my progress. I’ve achieved a lot and I can’t be unhappy given the state of my health and the whole bathroom issue. But I am looking forward to having time just to write in the coming weeks without worrying about having to get something else in the house fixed. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I will also try to accept with grace that my inconsistency is not an imperfection. It’s a quirk. It’s just how I am now. And that is OK when I can continue to make progress and see my goal of a published novel achieved.
End Note: Please like, comment or share if you enjoyed this writer’s log! If you would like to buy me a coffee in support of my original writing, check out my Ko-fi or my subscription/donation page.
Leave a Reply