Personal Digest Saturday - June 13 – June 19

Life news this week:

• Saturday I worked on making notes about band songs and edited In Bloom some more. I finished the edit! It is now 122k words and change, which is such a huge difference from where I was before. Still on the VERY long side for YA but it's science fiction so maybe they'll give me a break. I also did my usual blogging and reading and I decided to clean the bathroom, which triggered a weird cleaning streak. Also did a voice-over audition and wrote some more of my new rewritten short story.
  
  
• Sunday was another very productive day. Did a bunch of cleaning in between working on band stuff and doing my "assignments" for the day. I did my aerobics, read through my planner for photo dates (I'm in a phase of this that the planners are VERY helpful, as it turns out!), did a karaoke song, recorded my voice-over lines for the new project I got cast in (very minor), and did my laundry and trash. Then in the evening Kari hung out and I showed her my new toys. Finally I did some more cleaning and reading the planner.
  
  
• Monday I overslept a little but I showed up for work. Attended a debrief meeting and edited a letter and sent out teaming requests to other consultants. Listened to Polos from Meg. Did a bunch more cleanup in the house. Practiced music. Did some voice-over auditions. Wrote more on my new short story. It's OK. Looked at SU stuff. Found out my new Sunstone toy is missing an arm?? Weird. I unpacked all my toys and used it as an excuse to dust the toy shelf, which is arduous.
  
  
• Tuesday I worked on timesheets and surprise utility assignments, and did project research. I did a bunch of voice-over auditions and entertained myself reading one of my own short stories again. I finished writing the new short story's new edition. And I worked a lot on the new project of making split karaoke files for all our band songs. Did some aerobics too. And I stopped obsessively cleaning stuff.
  
  
• Wednesday I did more timesheet stuff and project research and attended a bid meeting. Did more recording of songs for the band project. Did some reading and put away laundry. Jeaux temporarily can't drive so I went to his house in a Lyft and we ate at Yard House. We went to the grocery store and I decided to simplify life by just taking a Lyft home from the grocery store, which kinda cut our day short but that happens. Then I worked on more karaoke tracks and actually started querying on the new book. (!!!)
  
  
• Thursday I was busy at work--four teaming quests, credit card data entry, and various organization. I did more recording of the backing tracks. Wrote my comic. Did some aerobics. Submitted a short story. Finished all my comic drawings early.
  
  
• Friday was a success as well. Busy at work again--finished the credit card data entry, had to make some labels for a public involvement outreach, and did my usual reports. I did all the song tracks for the band and finally finished. That's 39 songs! That I made vocal files for and then created separate files for each player where their instrument is not on the recording so they can "karaoke" with it for practice! I posted my comic (which took longer because it was issue 1101 and the 01's always have a lot of reorganization to do to transition to the next folder of 100). Then I did some reading and walking.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• The Invisible Orientation is cited in the references of a Bristol University Press article called "Compulsory romance: introducing an emerging discourse."
• Note.com user nemo posted a note called "Books I read to understand Aro/Ace" and it includes The Invisible Orientation.
• My story "Aquarius" was accepted into the Common Bonds 3 anthology, and Claudie's Instagram post about my story is promoting the BackerKit campaign for the book.

Health Plan Update:

• Nutrition stuff: I got my three servings of fruits and veggies every day this week, and met my protein goals 6 out of 7 days. Restaurant Day was the predictable day I couldn't meet it, but I actually just barely missed it. I am still taking my vitamins.
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. Based on my phone's app, my low day was Tuesday at 10,067 steps, and my high day was Saturday at 13,203 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: The Legacy of Yangchen by F.C. Yee. I'm on page 230.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

   

#1101: weaver #168: about business.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

None.

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,435 for swankivy (lost 1), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 214 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 67 for Tides of Time Band (no change) 9 for Vinyl Impact Band (no change). Twitter followers: 739 for swankivy (no change), 3,343 for JulieSondra (lost 1). Facebook: 285 friends for swankivy (no change), 620 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 78 followers for Negative One (no change), 242 followers for So You Write (1 new), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,409 (no change). Instagram followers: 312 (lost 1). Threads followers: 90 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 470 (1 new).

Personal Digest Saturday - June 6 – June 12

Life news this week:

• Saturday I dragged my feet reading old comics again. Then I did some exercise and cleaned up the house a bit. Did my blogging and some walking and practicing music. Kari came over and we caught up and watched an episode of Bojack Horseman. After she left I finished an edit for my book and worked on memorizing some lyrics.
  
  
• Sunday I was a little aimless in the morning reading old comics and organizing band plans. I practiced music a bunch, did two loads of laundry, and took out the trash. Then I read some old journals for the photo project. I finally made a plan to edit my novel down to the word count I want and was forced to do math to make calculations. (The horror!) I then kicked words out of the book in between practicing music.
  
  
• Monday I did some project research and a meeting. I played DDR and wrote some of a new short story that I'm developing from a very old short story I wrote in 2002. It's going okay. I then worked on my novel edit and band songs, did some voice-over auditions, and coordinated on band stuff.
  
  
• Tuesday I edited a letter at work and went to two meetings. Did some more new work on the short story. Then did some band notes/practice and some novel edits. And did some reading.
  
  
• Wednesday went according to plan. I bothered people and processed a new employee at work, and attended a meeting. Did some DDR and got some voice-over auditions done. Went out with Jeaux and we visited the Box Lunch store so I could buy Steven Universe toys, and I got all the ones I wanted plus two extras! Then we ate at Vallarta's, our favorite Mexican restaurant. Jeaux and I showed each other silly stuff and after he left I submitted a query, worked on music, and edited In Bloom. Today, the book fell below 125k words and I'm amazed.
  
  
• Thursday I had to do a transcript an invite people to teams and process new-guy stuff. I did more music practice and book editing again. I got a positive message about one of my short stories that may turn into an acceptance later. And I got one of my long-awaited toys in the mail. cool. I wrote the storyboard for my comic and played games with my friends (without Meg because she's on a road trip). Got notification that I'm being considered for one of the voice-over roles I auditioned for. Talked to Jeaux on the phone about some silliness he did. I walked, practiced music, and submitted a short story.
  
  
• Friday I did my usual timesheet stuff and project reports. Then I finished my comic early and posted it. I got selected on the voice-over project I was being considered for but I didn't get the role I actually auditioned for. I'll just be doing some background stuff. That's okay, can't win 'em all. Finally I did book editing and music practice.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• Crawfordsville District Public Library has recommended some Pride Month books, including The Invisible Orientation.
  
  
• Instagram user hc_illustrates did an illustration of me for Pride Month. Nice portrait.
  
  
• I'm mentioned in this Publishers Weekly piece about Being Aro.

Health Plan Update:

• Nutrition stuff: I got my three servings of fruits and veggies every day this week, and met my protein all seven days! Restaurant Day was at the Mexican restaurant and therefore the beans helped meet the goal when usually restaurant food has too much fat to balance it out. I am still taking my vitamins.
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do DDR or aerobics every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. Based on my phone's app, my low day was Wednesday at 10,106 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 12,019 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: The Legacy of Yangchen by F.C. Yee. I'm on page 192.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Walk Away" by the James Gang.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

   

#1100: dax #157: smart.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

None.

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,436 for swankivy (2 new), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 214 for Not-So-Giant Women (lost 1), 67 for Tides of Time Band (no change) 9 for Vinyl Impact Band (1 new). Twitter followers: 739 for swankivy (1 new), 3,344 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 285 friends for swankivy (no change), 620 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 78 followers for Negative One (no change), 241 followers for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,409 (no change). Instagram followers: 313 (lost 1). Threads followers: 90 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 469 (2 new).

Personal Digest Saturday - May 30 – June 5

Life news this week:

• Saturday I wore my contact lenses again for the first time in a while since my eye seems to be improving. It's actually better when I wear contacts. I worked on a video for my asexuality channel in the morning and afternoon, and then Jeaux came over and we had pizza and he tried to teach me how to use a video game controller. (It was a remedial class for sure.) Then I made a Polo for Meg, processed my video, got my blogging done, and did some reading.
  
  
• Sunday I got distracted reading old comics. I can have a relaxing day once in a while. I also worked on processing my So You Write comic. I was supposed to hang with Kari but she had some stressful stuff happen so we couldn't hang out. I did laundry and trash chores, did my DDR, and did some extra walking while looking at houses I might be able to move to if I decide not to stay in my current house.
  
  
• Monday was a low-energy day at work. We found out we didn't win a project we'd been shortlisted on. Boo! Spent some of the day updating some data. Worked on my monthly goals post. Wrote a journal entry, walked while practicing music, read some old journals for that log project finally, and worked on my In Bloom edit.
  
  
• Tuesday was another attempted productivity rampage. At work we had FOUR letters due so I was busy, and I also had a utility coordination request. Did some journal reading and finished documenting stuff from my 9th grade journal. Did my DDR exercise, some edits on In Bloom, and worked on band stuff for an upcoming gig we have. Did some voice acting auditions.
  
  
• Wednesday I attacked the utility coordination stuff at work. Sent a Polo to Meg. Did some reading. And also read some more journals from high school. Did a bunch of dishes. Edited my novel. Went out with Jeaux but Mandola's where he had a gift card was closed so we ate at Best NY Pizza. After he left I revamped a query letter and sent it out.
  
  
• Thursday I did some data entry and timesheet stuff and wrangled questions about project numbers, plus had to go to a meeting and compile some contacts. I played DDR and then spent a bunch of time on band stuff. We have to add a bunch of songs because it's a long gig. I wrote my comic storyboard and went to game night. Worked on my novel. Submitted a short story and recorded a karaoke song.
  
  
• Friday was a weird day--had trouble being motivated. I did get my data entry and reports done at work, and slogged through drawing my comic interspersed with practicing old songs to see if I remember the words. Had to rush to get my comic done and was within 10 minutes of missing the deadline! Rarely happens. Then I made a yummy tofu and rice dish with mushrooms and zucchini and ate it after midnight while working on reading and writing.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• The Paper of Montgomery County online has a Pride Month feature that mentions my book.
• Loud in the Margins lists 12 LGBTQ+ Nonfiction Books and my book is recommended.
• An asexual person named TanMan49 made a YouTube video for Pride Month about discovering their orientation and mentions reading my book as a resource. 
• On the aromantic subreddit, a reader discusses Being Aro and appreciates my introduction (with a slight misquote).

Health Plan Update:

• Nutrition stuff: I got my three servings of fruits and veggies every day this week, and met my protein goals five out of seven days. Usually happens if I get restaurant food because of how high-fat and high-carb it usually is, and I had pizza one day and Italian food another. I am still taking my vitamins.
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do DDR every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. Based on my phone's app, my low day was Monday at 10,079 steps, and my high day was Friday at 11,016 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: The Legacy of Yangchen by F.C. Yee. I'm on page 156.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar.

Stuff drawn:

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write:

   

#180: one-page synopsis.

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

   

#1099: adele #267: for each other.

Videos Made: 

A new asexuality video is out: A New Asexual Flag? Some thoughts on the new ace flag created by Ashabi of Ace in Grace. (Well,  more my thoughts on people's reactions to it than about the flag itself.)

New photos:

None.

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,434 for swankivy (3 new), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 67 for Tides of Time Band (no change) 8 for Vinyl Impact Band (no change). Twitter followers: 738 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,346 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 285 friends for swankivy (no change), 621 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 78 followers for Negative One (no change), 241 followers for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,409 (no change). Instagram followers: 314 (4 new). Threads followers: 90 (1 new). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 467 (no change).

May Goals Update

Here we are in June already. Which means I should look at how May went in terms of goals.

1. Health Goals: Four glasses of water per day; three servings of fruits and veggies; taking vitamins; walking 10,000 steps a day plus an aerobic activity every other day; visiting health professionals on an appropriate schedule.

2. Personal Project Goals: Complete editing on In Bloom, share with test audience, collect and incorporate feedback, develop pitch materials, start querying it; start another book; write two more short stories; submit queries and short stories; finish the photo project and start the SU site, autobio site, and essays/rants site; practice music; post regular webcomics; post ace videos; submit voice-over auditions and complete assigned voice-over work.

3. Reading Goals: Read at least every other day.

4. Relationship and Communication Goals: Document more consistently; keep up with e-mail and online messages; keep social life active.

5. Other Goals: Get rid of garage items; clean the house; watch TV shows; plant herbs; wear pajamas/have a night routine; use a new coffee cup every day; do something cool with my hair.

Progress Update:

HEALTH GOALS:

Summary: Had another day where I didn't get all the walking done--it's really weird when that happens. Everything was fine with the water goals, fruits/veggies goals, vitamins, and health professional visits, though I do seem to be relying on raisins a lot for one of my fruits and probably should have more variety. My health professional visits this month included a mammogram and two eye doctor visits (unfortunately those were not my annual checkups, and I still have to do those).

Here is my Health calendar of progress:

(Click these calendars and they will expand so you can actually read them!)

PERSONAL PROJECT GOALS:

Summary:

EDITING: I have gotten a bunch of editing done on the young adult novel but I'm not satisfied with its length yet. I did develop some pitch materials for it and am gathering info on what to use for comp titles. I also edited the novella I wrote last month and ended up adding 4,000 words to it. Oops.

WRITING: No new active writing beyond the scenes added to the novella. The book I wrote the introduction for, Being Aro, came out this month, and its reception seems to have been positive.

SUBMISSIONS: I've kept up submissions of queries and short stories. I still have two outstanding statements of interest from different publishers on another story I've been trying to sell for a while.

Writing Progress:

PHOTO PROJECT: I didn't manage to pick up my project in the second week of May like I meant to. I was pretty distracted with the new novella and preparing my writing for submission, but there has been some slacking going on and I do intend to jump back in. I need to work more on actually assigning these tasks to myself so I'll actually do them instead of slobbing around.

VOICE ACTING: One of the shows I was in wrapped in May but the associated post-show interviews and whatnot have not been released. I got shortlisted on another role at the end of May. I've been assigned some new lines in my oldest ongoing project but to be honest it just seems like this director has no idea what he's doing and keeps changing his mind about what he wants (and I don't mean pickups; he's just redoing the concept over and over again and making new scripts without using what we've already done), so it seems like it's never going to go anywhere. Still looking forward to another show that will release in August. I did put out some auditions this month but am still way behind.

REGULAR CONTENT: I have posted my Negative One webcomic every Friday; my So You Write webcomic on the last day of the month; and a new asexuality video for the month.

MUSIC:
Our first band performance at an open mic night happened in early May. We recorded our performance and now have a YouTube with a band sampler. And the singing contest I entered on my favorite karaoke website ended with me taking third place, getting a prize of three months' worth of use of the site for free.

Here's the Projects Calendar:

READING GOALS:

Summary: I missed fewer reading days than last month but still didn't have a perfect run. I'm not reading a whole lot per day most times, but it's still progress.

Progress:

RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS:

Summary: I've been doing Jeaux Day, Game Night, band practice, and hanging out with Kari here and there. I have not caught up on any extra journaling. Correspondence is up to date.

Progress:

OTHER GOALS:

Summary: No movement on the stuff I need to sell from my garage. I cleaned my house up a bit and started thinking about if I want to move to a new place this year, but so far I haven't found anything better than where I am. The plants I planted in pots outside DISAPPEARED. All three pots are just gone. I don't know who took them. My night routine has been truly awful--sleeping in my clothes and not washing my face again, unfortunately. I guess I'll work hard to be better to myself because I like a nice comfy bedtime routine and it sucks when I don't meet my goals.