check-in

100 Day Project – Halfway There

Standard

Within the last fifty days, I shared with you my intention to begin and complete a one hundred day project following Suleika Jaouad’s The Book of Alchemy. I’ve read her chapter introductions, and then each of the ten essays by various authors, absorbed their stories, dove into the prompts, and for the most part wrote for as long or as short a time that my essay needed.

Before I get into the weeds of this project and process, I would like to readily admit that I think I’ve succeeded in my non-stated goals. I am writing every day; not just these prompts, but working on my book, writing posts to publish on my website, taking notes for future writing projects.

Because the authors are so varied in their backgrounds, their writing styles, and the stories they choose to share, one thing that I’ve been doing is thinking and contemplating what I want to write about, how much of my personal experiences I want to share, and really concentrating on continuing to grow as a writer. I’m seeing that many of the prompts can be blended together, I can create multi-part essays and longer pieces, and there is a lot of inward looking. I can see going back again to some of the prompts and expanding what I’ve already written, starting the prompt anew, continuing or creating a chapter/monthly series on one or more of the prompts.

I do intend to share some of what I’ve written with the world.

Word counts are not the end all be all of writing. I could easily write over 1000 words a day, but is it worth reading? Not if it’s crap. Having said that, it’s still important to have touchstones to know where I am in the writing process. While the essays I’ve written with these prompts can be left as standalone pieces, some may be refashioned, edited, and of course, everything can be made better.

For the fifty days so far, I have written approximately 25,133 words, which amounts to 503 words per day. Some days there were a hundred words written, some seven hundred, and there were one or two days when over a thousand words were completed.

While the book gives you no special rules, and you decide what you want to get out of the project, I started with six simple suggestions that I fashioned for myself. They were to keep me on task, accountable, and focused.

Continue reading

July Mental Health Check-in – Week 2

Standard
Pretzel.
(c)2025

I feel twisted like a pretzel, trying to get my goals organized and sorted and focus on the many things that need to be done.

Overall, I think I’ve done okay. The one success I can see is not hitting the snooze button. I’m still pressing snooze but not as often. This is definitely a good thing.

I’ve been working on my presentation for next week, and the good news is that all of the work for that is also useful for my book.

I do need to crack down on my Cursillo responsibilities though.

I need to reschedule a couple of medical appointments in the next few weeks, and I need to plan our family vacation.

How did all of you do this week?

Let me know in the comments.

Mental Health Monday – July Check-in

Standard

I have struggled throughout June with publishing on this site. I don’t know if I’m too busy, if it’s writer’s block, if there’s just nothing to say – well, there’s plenty to say, but how to say it without insulting, offending, condescending, and pissing people off, that is the question.

But ultimately the real question is how do I evolve my writing while I’m doing other types of writing and work.

I went and returned on a research trip to Montreal, spent the day on Sunday at the Kanatsiohareke Strawberry Festival, this weekend is my husband;s birthday and the next weekend is St. Kateri’s feast day when I will spend the day at the Kateri Shrine, both for pleasure and business. We are planning a family vacation which circumstances caused it to be longer than anyone wants, which sounds great until you have to live it, and I’m about to begin working full-time, and yet, the house will not take care of itself. I say that as someone who has an enormous amount of help from their spouse.

I also fucked up all three of the taxes I filed for myself and two of my kids. I’ve decided to pay someone next year, but how to explain my filing system? *shrug* I’ve got about six months to figure that out!

It’s all still so stressful. Health issues abound. A conflict with a medical receptionist is coming to a head. Bills are piling up, and for the third time I’ve sent paperwork for financial assistance from a group that I need to continue to be nice to.

Some days it’s a hundred degrees, and others it’s sixty-five, and that fluctuation doesn’t help anyone.

I put my first draft together and it’s a lot less than what I thought it was.

So, how do I turn this mental health mountain back into a molehill?

I’m not sure.

And I haven’t even addressed the ongoing dystopian and autocratic nightmare that this country is turning itself into. It’s scary for most of us, but as someone with young adult children and who, with most of their family is Jewish, these are very scary times; times I never expected to witness outside of a history book.

How to Cope?

I’m going to go back to my old standard of lists.

Lists for home.

Lists for writing.

Lists for work.

Lists for kids.

I’m going to give myself some scheduled breaks. Even at work. I can breathe. I can read. I can play a word game on my Kindle. I can visit Starbucks, and I can take a walk to the mailbox.

Any other suggestions welcome.

How about you?

How will you get things done while maintaining your mental health?

How will you focus when your mind only wants to drift? What can you do to get through the days ahead?

Before our family vacation, I am going on retreat in about four weeks or so. Between now and then, and then once after the retreat, I would like to check-in once a week. Let’s say on Wednesday. I’ll post something public, but I’d also like to do something different. If you’re interested, drop me an email (kbwriting11@gmail.com) with your first name (or what you’d like to be called) and your email, and we’ll do a little email newsletter once a week, just for the people interested.

There is a sign-up, but it is free to join. Let’s see where this takes us, and see if we can support each other in our struggles, whatever they are.

For the next twenty or so hours, think about your personal goals for the next four weeks. I’ll think about mine, and also what I can offer in these weekly emails that will benefit all of us.

Breathe deeply and have peace,

KB