Between the (not) Rapture and the solar eclipse and the planets doing some weird once-in-a-century tango, this week was a doozy … if you believe in that kind of stuff, which I don’t, or if you’re looking for non-depressing ‘reasons’ to explain why life seems like a dumpster fire, which I am. Somehow, the idea of the universe having laughs at my expense feels less oppressive than, well, the other current alternatives. Ahem.
I managed to be mildly productive in between anxiety spirals, finishing another round of edits on The Mysterious Affair at Gaunt Hall. There was far less to chip away this time, but I did add about 2,000 words to the word count. It’s now at 84K, which is still well within genre conventions, yay. I really, really, really need to psych myself up for starting book #5, but haven’t managed it yet. I think it’s because I’ve slipped back into bad habits (cough, doom-scrolling, cough) that are undermining both my concentration and time management. As someone with AuDHD, I’ve found that writing successfully (i.e. finishing a complete book) requires a high degree of discipline and structure to maintain focus and momentum. I know I can do it because I’ve done it before – four times – but it’s still a bit daunting at the start.
It’s officially fall now, and the weather is starting to change. Weirdly, most of the trees haven’t started turning colour and those that have seem to be doing it in a slightly different than usual. It’s really throwing me off. Sometimes I’m convinced I’m imagining it, which has me wondering if I’m gaslighting myself or the universe is. Or, you know … maybe it’s my imagination, maybe it’s climate change. Tra-la-la!
Sorry, guys, I really am trying not to be a bummer.
Last weekend, we went to another wedding – our second of the year, which is a record for us in this season of life. I almost wore the same outfit as for the last wedding (completely different crowd), but then at the last minute changed my mind and went with a vintage 90s dress I thrifted a few weeks ago. Very Rachel from Friends except red, which isn’t a very Rachel colour … nor a colour I wear, head to toe, very often. It ended up being a good choice, although the shoes I wore with it nearly destroyed me. I can’t believe I used to wear heels every day. It took my feet, like, 3 days to recover (and I spent a good chunk of the evening just sitting). Pics to come … soonish.
Have a great weekend.
I genuinely don’t know how I ended up on your blog, but I’m so glad I did! Your style is incredible and I can’t wait to read through the archives! Please share more about your wavy/curly hair routine because your hair is fab!
Thank you and welcome!
My wavy hair routine is basically, umm, perimenopause. Lol! My hair texture changed in my early 40s and now it looks like this. I use Olaplex bonding oil and leave in conditioner because my hair is super coarse and dry, but nothing I’ve tried gives me bouncy waves. When I need some oomph, I just curl a bit with my wand (not curling iron). It makes more of a wave than a ringlet type curl.
i am interested in what to me is a new pairing of images and “captions,” storylines, connections to the images.
I am a 10+ year reader and have in mind your avatars as I read, and your post today felt like a whole new way to understand your style choices… like the avatar in real life.
Thank you!
That’s interesting, thank you for sharing.
When I switched to this format, I wasn’t planning to have the writing serve as “captions” for the images. Friday Feels is more like a page from my diary, with illustrated (but not necessarily related) photos. I should add that the photos are never posted in the same week that the outfits are worn (and never have been) so there is that too.
But I can see why, in a way, it would be easier now to connect the style choices to my avatars and so on, because the writing is far more personal and broad-ranging than before. So even though I’m never talking about the outfits themselves anymore, I am talking about the things that (directly or indirectly) inspired them.