Writing to you while the winter storm swirls outside

I’m writing this on Saturday night from a cozy spot on my couch while the winter storm swirls outside. I can hear the wind whistling outside my window, but there’s a hot mug of coffee to keep me warm, a mountain firepit video crackles away on the TV, and my partner sleeps peacefully in the recliner beside me. It’s the relaxing weekend that I needed, and I am just sinking in to enjoy it!

Here’s what’s on my mind this week…

Workspace vs. writing space — creating my writer’s nook

As many of you know, I have a condition called myasthenia gravis, and the eye problems that come along with that mean that I’ve always had my workspace set up in a certain way to avoid discomfort. Monitors that aren’t at eye level quickly turn into a droopy right eyelid and dizziness. Or at least that was the case when I wasn’t being treated for this condition!

My friend April recently suggested working at a cafe, and without thinking, I started to tell her how I couldn’t do that because of all of the above. But then the proverbial lightbulb appeared over my head and I realized that I haven’t tried working on a laptop since before my diagnosis two years ago. Since I started taking Mestinon and/or Huperzine A for the myasthenia, I have been able to read books more comfortably and just look down at things more easily in general, so why would working on a laptop be any different? It was time to experiment.

I haven’t tried the cafe trek just yet, but tonight we did a fresh Windows and Scrivener install on our neglected Galaxy Book 10, and as I said above, I am writing this from the comfort of my couch. I’ve been poking and prodding this blog post for over an hour already, the paragraphs below having been written before this one, and my eyes are not complaining one bit! The table is even a bit wobbly, and it’s a non-issue. It’s fantastic!

While this apartment is too small to really carve out a separate writing nook, I think this spot will do just fine. I can relax here in the evenings and chip away at those manuscripts that are begging to be completed and released this year! A cozy couch is so much more conducive to creativity than the desk where I run my business and work my day job. I really do need a little delineation between the two!

From self-doubt to self-confidence

The past several weeks have been very productive at work and at home, and my body and brain are both feeling it. There’s the relief of knowing that I’m making steady progress on these projects, but there’s also the need for rest. I haven’t taken a week off or anything resembling a vacation in nearly four years.

But hard work does pay off, and when I do take that vacation, it will be well-deserved. I had a wonderful meeting with my boss this week where the spectacular results reminded me to ditch the self-doubt for some healthy self-confidence, and I completed some heavy-duty decluttering projects at home that have me feeling genuinely free and at ease.

I mentioned Parkinson’s Law in my previous post, Writing goals for 2024 — poetry books, horror novels, and more, and that idea applies here too. Work expands to fill the time allotted. I’ve complained of being overwhelmed in both the work and home spheres of my life, but it turns out that some confidence was all I needed in both cases. How? By having enough confidence in my work to not waste time overthinking it, and by making some bold decluttering decisions at home so that cleaning wouldn’t be so time-consuming.

I have a lot of thoughts in this area that I think are worth sharing. Probably enough to fill another book. Maybe when I finish the others that I mentioned above, wink wink!

More to come next week, including some creative updates and hopefully some good news! Thank you, as always, for your support!