The things they need from you, if you do your research and make an educated decision about the right fit, will start to feel like second nature with time. Their companionship is so good for the soul, and the difficulties are worth it.

Be prepared for an adjustment period! Dogs feel like they take a huge amount of time and energy at first (look up "puppy blues" and know that this also applies to adult dogs as you mutually adapt to each other). But once they wear a groove in your life, living with them feels almost effortless (ime)

Thanks! Progress is progress, I'm grateful to be moving forward.

Let's put it this way: a month ago I would not have described myself as a person with religious trauma. And... WELP

It WILL be cathartic, but it's a lot to push through right now.

R o u g h, to be honest. I'm still plugging away, but it's a few hundred here, a few hundred there, a thousand if I'm lucky. I won't hit my goal at the end of the month, but I'm still pretending I could. Realized this book is more deeply personal than I thought, grappling with Feelings about it

Update: I have successfully Written at Home (!) and now I have acquired some chocolates and am going to spend the evening playing one of my comfort games.

Thanks! It's not too bad, I'm just super phlegmy and tired. I'm hoping to be up and running properly in a few days.

Honestly, I'm usually an enthusiastic outliner (and it ABSOLUTELY counts as work). This one is a challenge because its original form was heavily vibes-based, and getting into the headspace to rewrite it is pushing me back into that discovery place. But it actually requires planning to work, so

The rampage was basically the whole point when I slammed out the zero draft in 2020! But I also thought, back then, that it was a "just for me" sort of project, and now I think it has a lot of potential for an audience. Just needs the front half to work with the back half.

I'm outlining tonight, which makes me feel like a goober compared to all the words I've written this month, but I decided to count it because it's important to maintain forward movement in the first (non-rampage) part of this book

I did it??? this coffee shop is magical??? I can NEVER come here except to write, this is too sacred

adopted. hashtagged. no notes.

and i DID

I'm sitting down at the coffee shop across the street with something called a blackberry swirl latte to hammer out some words. I'd like to crack 2k for today's session if I can.

1200 down, sitting down for the final stretch now. I always over-schedule myself on Nov 1 but I am d o i n g i t