An Update About My Home, My Health, and My Writing, And Plans for 2019 · 8:20pm Dec 30th, 2018
Firstly, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hearths Warming (does that need an apostrophe? 
), and et cetera.
A lot has happened in the past few months for me. And since it's been over a year since I've written a blog post (
), I'll give a lengthy update here:
My Home
In June, the apartment above mine caught fire, and we had to vacate. This was because the sprinkler system went off in our place, and flooded our apartment (as it should, I reckon; I don't have enough experience with these sorts of things to know). The people had to renovate the apartments above ours, and ours to stop mold from growing in. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the process. Some furniture was lost, but that was the extent of the damage.
As far as I know, the family above us is doing well. We've been in another place for the past few months, one far more cramped. And with three people going through puberty simultaneously, and with my mother and stepfather in a strained relationship, it's been hard for my to concentrate here. I do most of my writing at home, so that has been a problem for me.
The update is, we'll be moved back into our old apartment in about 2-4 days from my publishing this blog. Some semblance of normalcy is expected to be achieved.
My Health
It's hard for me to say. I don't want to say that I've been depressed these past few months, because if it's not been depression, then I would be insulting people with actual depression. I have been feeling listless, lacking in energy, stressed and unmotivated for a good while now. I've been trying to keep my head up, and outwardly I have been fooling my family about half of the time.
But for the past few months I've been having pains in my left arm and my chest. I've had it looked at twice: once a few months ago, where I was told that I was under extreme stress and told to relax, and the other two days ago, where I was told that I've had an ongoing pinched nerve. I've been prescribed gabapentin and ranitidine (in case an ulcer has also been playing a part in it). I also need to get an x-ray and an ultrasound, to rule out a fractured rib, pleurisy and blood clotting (my family has a history of deadly heart disease, so I need to take this precaution).
Still, it could be worse. My mother has to have a single bypass surgery for a clot in her heart, and another close relative of mine has been diagnosed with HIV. It's been a mess for my family the past week.
My Writing
It's been on and off. I've still been working on my non-fanfic novel, and published one chapter for A Little Cream. Unfortunately, that chapter was so bad that I lost one of my long-time readers. I can accept that the quality of the chapter was bad, and I apologize to that person for letting them down.
Recently, I've been feeling a little more motivated. My health problems, my family's health problems, and finally getting back into my old apartment has been a bit of a wake-up call for me. Those haven't been the only ones, though.
I'm about to end my employment at Pizza Hut and begin working at a Naval shipyard. It's not what I'd like to do with my life, but it will give me enough money to pay off my debts and finally move out on my own comfortably. The wake-up call wasn't getting this job, though. It was something my stepfather told me a while back about it:
"Keep all of your paperwork. In ten years, you'll have to redo this whole process [of updating your information] again."
And that got me to thinking: ten years? Working here will net me a lot of money, but is this what I really want to be doing with my life? Did I really go to college for five years to not do anything with my degree? To give up my passion for reading and writing to pursue a career that, though while paying me handsomely, isn't where my heart lies?
My family and friends have been encouraging me to pursue my writing my novel (and trivia, which is also something I enjoy doing greatly, but that's not related to this site). I decided, a few days ago, to keep the naval job, but to throw myself into my writing with as much power as I can.
Plans for 2019
I'm not hoping to do great things at the beginning; rather, I'm going to use January to create habits and cues to push me along to where I want to be. Here's what I'm going to attempt to do:
1. I'm going to continue A Little Cream for a Lotta Coco
It hurt to write a bad chapter to a story I cared about, but I've done it before with Big Siblings (which also involved a risque extrovert; I'm not good at writing those) and I came back from that with a stronger chapter. I'm going to work to replicate that, and then continue with the story. The big thing is to take the criticism to heart: to make Photo Finish more socially in command and less of a babbling fool, which is where I was going. She is meant to be the strong, confident one, but that's been ruined to try and go for a surprise factor.
I'm going to continue writing the story. It will either be complete or cancelled by July 7th of this year. If I don't finish it by that time, then I won't continue writing it; that will be too much time.
2. I will be posting updates for my novel at the A.K. Yearling Society of Original Writing weekly
This is an accountability tool, and I hope that it will both motivate myself, and motivate others to work on their original writing as well.
3. I will be beginning a new story
This is not going to be a fetish story. I've been wanting to pursue this for a while now, and I think with the types of stories I want to write, that this one is the one to really work my writing skills. I will be hoping for greater criticism on that one than my other stories have been receiving.
4. I will be bringing back either the Simply Slice of Life or the For Those that Yearn for Adventure series
I would like to get back into the reviewing game, and since these were the series that I had going, this is what I'd like to be doing
Things I'd Like to Do
A. I'd like to change my name
I no longer want to be Not Worthy on this site. I'd like to change my name to Learn For Life, which may sound corny, but is more who I am now.
B. I'd like to get back into the Write-Offs
I think I'm a bit too emotionally unstable for it right now; I always feel like I'm wasting their time whenever I write a crappy story there.
C. I am going to attempt to review Daetrin's "The Demon of Cliffside" and bookplayer's "Pierside"
I've been putting these off for way too long.
D. I'd like to continue A Rumble in the Distance
A story not many people read, and I don't know if I can do the original idea justice now.
That is the update. I hope everyone has a wonderful, prosperous, peaceful 2019, and I shall see you then.
I have been writing stories about the founders of Equestria for two years now, and I do not know!
The difference between depression-as-a-mental-illness and depression-as-an-emotion is simply whether you have a good reason for it. With everything that's been going on with you, it seems likely that you are depressed because you've been in a stressful, depressing situation. You mentioned some of the factors contributing to that seem to be getting better, so if I were you I'd see if your depression gets better at the same time. If it doesn't, then seek some help for it.
I'm very sorry to hear that. Take care of yourself, and you and your family will be in my thoughts.
A wise move, for many reasons. Best of luck on both!
Also, tell me about this trivia thing. Do you play HQ, by any chance?
I actually really like this idea. The Not Worthy name always kind of worried me, not to mention that it feels weird when I include you in a list of worthwhile reviewers or people with too few followers... you could use some work on your branding, is what I'm saying.
I'm very glad to hear that! I hadn't seen an update in a long time, and wondered if it was set aside. And it does motivate me to work on my original fiction.
I look forward to reading it, whatever you have to say. In fact, anything you say about Pierside I've probably thought myself at one time or another.
It sounds like you have a lot on your plate, but I'm glad to see you back in the saddle (...as it were.) And if you're ever interested in prereading for me, either ponyfic (I've got the end of Sun and Hearth in prereading right now) or some OF stuff in the same setting as Pierside (and if you didn't like Pierside, I promise this stuff is way better,) drop me a line. I always look forward to hearing your thoughts.
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Thank you for the well wishes. That means a lot, especially with everything that's going on.
The biggest worry is my mom's surgery, and that's just a waiting game at this point. We're moved back in now (spent all day X() and I'm feeling better with the gabapentin.
As for trivia, I've been passionate about random facts since I was a child. I haven't used HQ Trivia, but I have won pittance on Fleetwit and Trivia Time. Free trivia apps and sites I've used are QuizUp, Sporcle, Funtrivia, and Trivia Tower on Facebook.
I'll continue keeping an eye on Sun and Hearth. Let me know if you need any help with that, and I'll be there.
Have yourself and your family a Happy New Year!