Do you ever have those moments where you realize you just need to take a quick stock of your life? Like, do a quick reflection and see what’s going on? I’m having one of those this morning and since I started this blog as a way of letting you into my head more … you get the update too!
June Writing
Things are going REALLY WELL on the Apocalypse Project. As mentioned previously on the blog, I started drafting this one in order (even though it will eventually be out of order). I’ve finished all the THEN chapters that will be events that happened before the big catalyst point. I even wrote the big catalyst point, so that was cool.
I’m probably about halfway through the NOW chapters. The tricky part is quite a bit of these have to happen before you really know the catalyst event. So I’m trying to build in hints to that, things that will read like “OMG how did I miss that” clues if you reread. But I’m also working up to the big twist that I wrote, the one that makes this different from everything else in the genre.
Note: YES the catalyst event and the big twist are different. Part of the rationalization for splitting this timeline into THEN and NOW was to make it seem like the catalyst was the big one, making the twist even more unexpected (if that makes sense).
Basically, I’m hitting my word goal EVERY DAY so far, the story is making good progress, and I’m happy with how it’s shaping up.
This may be the best start to a writing month I’ve had in 2021, so that’s AWESOME.
Reading, on the other hand …
So it started off really well. I flew through the official TBR (which was 4 books) in less than a week. Then I decided to squeeze in a library book I impulse picked up. I figured I was already ahead of the game, it would be alright to hold off the wheel for a few more days.
The problem (if you can call it that) is that this book I picked up (The Witch Elm by Tana French) is DENSE. You have to really focus on it, there’s a LOT of words on a page, and it takes it’s time. That’s a GOOD THING, it’s one of the reasons I love Tana French, but it makes for slow reading progress. In 3 days of reading it I’ve barely broken 150 pages and this baby is over 500.
I sort of have unofficial expectations of myself (I know, I said I would stop doing that in 2021 but some habits are hard to break) to read 150 pages PER DAY. I did NOT make that the last 2 days. I didn’t even hit 130 the last 2 days.
I’m trying to relax about it and just enjoy the book (which is really, really good) but every morning when I check that progress it hurts a little to see myself not hitting that.
Note: YES I realize that being on my 5th book already in June is AMAZING. Yes, I’m aware that the speed I read at is a little ridiculous and holding myself (even unofficially) to that standard is irrational. Hi, I’m an irrational perfectionist, have we met?
LIFE
This is a chemo ON week for hubs (he’s on alternating weeks for 8 treatments, this is number 2 of 8). In some ways this week is better than the first week-he’s gotten ahead of the nausea with meds, which is huge. But of course it’s still chemo so it sucks in a lot of ways too-the first bite of anything makes his jaw hurt like it’s spasming, he’s exhausted, and really he’s just not hungry most of the time. We’re incredibly hopeful that this is the end of this crazy, awful year of dealing with this. We want good news at the end and we’re just hoping all the positive energy manifests it.
My hair–yup let’s talk about that.
If you know me (like REALLY know me) you know I absolutely hate my hair. Always ALWAYS have. It’s thick. I don’t just mean kind of thick. I mean shock-every-hair-dresser-I’ve-ever-been-to kind of thick. I mean the kind that makes even hairdressers who say they also have thick hair pause and say “Wow, this is really thick”. The hair follicles themselves are thick AND there are a LOT of them. It’s really kind of insane.
Add to that the fact that it’s naturally wavy. Get it wet or have a little humidity and HELLO WAVES.
Obviously, I’ve lived with this hair my entire life. But literally no one in my family has hair like this. My Dad’s is probably the closest but he keeps it short so it’s really not the same struggle. My Mom and sister have rather fine hair. My sister probably has AS MUCH as me … but the follicles are thinner.
All that to justify what I’m about to tell you … I was literally in my late 30s before I realized washing my hair the way I’d always been taught to wash it was not working. I was in the shower one day, right? I’d done the same routine I always did: wet the hair, shampoo the hair (root to tip), rinse the hair. Then I was checking on this spot on my scalp that always felt like a bruise (it’s right at the back, almost directly opposite my nose). That’s when I noticed something that SHOCKED me. The hair in the middle up near my scalp was DRY.
Seriously. DRY. I’d wet it, soaped it, and rinsed it and that hair was DRY. How the heck does hair in the middle of my head stay DRY after all that water? Yup, it’s that thick (told you it was crazy thick).
Anyway, that started my journey of looking into curl patterns (2A in case you were wondering) and washing tips for my hair type. I learned I absolutely have to wash my hair in sections. It took some trial and error but I’ve figured out the magic number of sections for my crazy thick mane is 4. I figured out most shampoo/conditioners have too much oil for my thick hair. They actually make it heavier and thicker, stifling the natural wave.
Then, recently, I learned the most interesting thing. Those heavy products for “normal hair” that are likely weighing mine down can also be the cause of the sensitive scalp and even headaches.
WHAT?
That was enough of a game changer for me to consider trying these curly embracing methods. So, a week ago, I made the switch. I bought products designed for curly hair and just went with it.
The results?
Well, I LOVE it. It’s lighter, softer, and cooler. I haven’t felt that burning need to grab a hair tie and throw it back in a ponytail because my neck feels like it’s a thousand degrees. I haven’t had a headache this week. I haven’t had that feeling like my hair doesn’t fit or that my scalp is bruised. AND I actually like the way it looks.
It’s crazy that I could get to almost 40 and barely be learning how to properly take care of my wavy thick hair, but I’m SO GLAD I tried this.
So that’s the updates.
Positive start to the writing month, mostly positive start to the reading month, chemo going well, and learning to love my hair.
Not bad, right?
I’m honestly just hoping the end of June can live up to this.
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