I’m not sure I’ve ever been more relieved to reach the end of a (work) week before. Work itself was fine this week, but I was not. I’ve been hanging in there, but only by the proverbial thread, and it’s time to do something about it, rather than simply hope that things will get better on their own. I’m planning to totally unplug this weekend, perhaps even take an extended social media break, because the idea of being constantly “on” — which is, unfortunately, the reality for indie authors — has become completely overwhelming. There’s burnout and then there’s … whatever this is. Oof.
I don’t like complaining (too much) on the internet, because the internet is forever and because I know I’m pretty damn lucky, no matter how difficult life feels in the moment. But I also don’t like pretending, in those situations, that it doesn’t feel difficult, because that doesn’t seem authentic and, frankly, takes energy I don’t currently have. Extending myself the same grace I would to anyone else in my life — to feel their feelings without trying to make them palatable to others — is a lesson I’ve been working on this year, and it’s time to put it into practice.
There were a few highlights this week. Last weekend, I thrifted myself a new (old) iMac — an impulse splurge but not really, as I’ve been needing a new personal computer for a while — and to complete the set-up, I also bought a new (new) keyboard. It’s shaped like a cake that’s also a cat, and it lights up like a mini discotheque. It’s completely unserious and I’m obsessed with it. It makes the creamiest, “thockiest” sounds — perfect ASMR material.
On a different thrift visit, I ended up talking to a very nice young woman at the jewelry counter for a bit. Our conversation made me think that she would enjoy reading The Mysterious Affair at Gaunt Hall so I worked up the courage (to overcome my fear of being a weirdo and/or imposing on a stranger) and offered her a copy. She was thrilled and accepted, and that felt great. Since I’ve not felt great about writing recently, it was lovely.
Another highlight was reading Trust by Hernan Diaz. It has an interesting meta-fiction premise that kept me riveted all the way to the end. Highly recommend. If the random video that popped up in my IG feed, coincidentally as I was finishing the book, can be trusted, Dua Lipa and her new husband met-cute over this book. I am not sure why these people are suddenly all over my social media bubble, but I guess they have good taste in books?
I’ve also got a couple of other books on the way that I’m very excited about: a collection of short stories by Silvina Ocampo (friend and collaborator of Borges), and a novel by Stanislaw Lem, one of my fave sci-fi authors. Will update you on those … at some point, hah.
We were supposed to be taking the kids on a little roadtrip to Calgary today/this weekend, but the weather is expected to deliver another rainmaggedon, so we’ve changed our plans and staying put so we can keep an eye on the house. (Lots of folks in Edmonton had basement flooding last weekend, and they are forecasting similar volumes of rain this weekend.) But we do have some fun, local adventures planned, which will hopefully make up for missing out on a visit to Fair’s Fair and some of our other fave Calgary spots. Gotta look for the rainbow, right?
Have a great weekend!