2 posts tagged “getting healthy”

I've actually had an amazing amount of personal stuff get in the way of my usual activities, some of it health related, some of it family related, and a whole lot of it disruptive.  Things appear to be settling now, for the most part, and I've made a few changes to make my days easier for me.  Not sure they will get me on this blog more than usual, but they are already helping with the writing aspect of things.  Now we just need the weather to be cooperative...which is not likely to happen consistently any time soon.  We need the water, don't get me wrong, so the rain is welcome.  The tornadoes and lightning, however, really aren't as necessary as they seem to think they are.  ;)

Of course, the biggest concern has been my health.  I had to go back on my iron to combat anemia, and finally gave in and went to the doctor when the last 2 weeks proved to be far more difficult than they should have been.  He's put me on medication as a stop gap measure (which is already working) and is having testing done to see what we can do to keep the issue under control in the future.  A lot of this has to do with my weight, and a lot of it has to do with my age.  I was taking tiny steps towards a healthier me when the newest wrinkle showed up.  With the temporary measures already having a dramatic affect for the better, I'm already trying to get back into some of the habits that were helping me before.  I may hold off on exercise for a bit, though, just to allow things to stabilize before I go adding something back into the mix.

One of the biggest changes I've made is to my schedule.  I'm not sure why, but months after leaving my substitute teaching job, I was still on the working girl schedule: up early, awake all day, to bed around midnight.  For most people, this works...except maybe the midnight thing.  For ME, this is a nightmare.  I hate mornings (I like to say I'm allergic to them) and have always done better with a night time schedule--meaning to bed at 3 AM (or later) and up at 10 or 11 AM.  I don't even start to feel creative energy until 1 AM or later, so being in bed at midnight robs me of my most creative time.  After talking with the husband about this, it was agreed that I should try to go back to my own schedule, with a small change: I still have to get up to get the kids off to school.  I just go back to bed once they are on their buses and sleep until 11 or noon.  The old work schedule rears its ugly head still, so the shift over is proving a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, but, as I said earlier, the positive results are already being seen.  I've been working A LOT faster on A.C. than I was before starting to switch over.  Nothing beats working within your own creative cycle.

The editing job has also gone through some changes.  Our acquisitions editor resigned for personal reasons that had nothing to do with her love for us.  She just didn't feel it was the right fit for her.  As a result, my position as senior editor is now merged with acquisitions, and I've had to do some shuffling around with my responsibilities to get everything to fit.  Fortunately, it's still quiet for us.  It may not stay that way once we have our August launch and release.  I'm looking forward to it, but we also still have a lot to do to get 3 of our 4 books ready on time (the 4th may or may not be ready, and we're okay with that).

In other news, my essay "When Tears Fall" has been reprinted in Voices of Autism, an autism anthology.  I am VERY excited about this antho.  It's already received at least one wonderful review:

The fifth entry in the Voices anthology project from the Healing Project, this work includes over 40 different stories and vignettes written by parents, teachers, and people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) that showcase how families and caregivers measure perseverance, understanding, and success. Many of the selections stand out, including an author’s account of her autistic son, a seventh grader’s perspective on her two siblings with autism, a memoir by an adult with autism who relied on a tire advertisement to get through tough times, and an account of the challenges of dating an adult with Asperger’s. The book’s real strengths are the adult-penned passages, which will give readers a better sense of what autism truly is. Taken individually, the stories show glimpses of the impact that autism has on individuals and those they love. Taken collectively, they paint a rich landscape that many will find familiar. Highly recommended for public libraries and academic libraries with disability collections.

-- ­Corey Seeman, Kresge Business Administration Library, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor

I hope you will consider picking up a copy.  Autism is probably one of the least understood but most prevalent disabilities in the world today.  1 out of 166 people are diagnosed with autism, and it affects everyone in the autistic's life.  Probably the most frightening part of the disability is that those who have it look normal.  It's not like so many disabilities where you can tell there's something different just by the person's appearance.  When you combine this with the lack of knowledge about it, the result can be devastating for the family.  I've been a target of the blame game, of being told I should get another opinion because it's probably not autism, of having to fight for everything that my son is supposed to get by law.  The only thing that will help is education.  The essays and stories in this book come from our personal experiences as family members of autistics and from those with autism.  Nothing could inform better.

As has been most this past year, it's been a busy few months, but some major changes are going to allow me to change my focus in the future.  It's all good, but requires me to come up with a routine for my day that works.  I'm very excited about it all though.  :)

The best news right now is that I'm no longer subbing.  A lot of reasons went into it, including a boss change for my husband, which also means a schedule change.  The new boss expects people to be in to work at 7 A.M.  and they generally don't leave until 3 or 3:30 p.m.  Our son's bus picks him up at 9 and drops him off at 4, and my husband's new schedule prevents him from being home for the boy at either time.  At the same time, the latest I can be in a classroom as a sub is about 8:30.  My husband's job makes more money, so I resigned my subbing position.  And happily so.  The one thing subbing showed me is that I'm not nearly as suited to being a teacher as I once was.  If I had started when I was younger, it might be different now; but a lot has changed about me since my days in college, and my patience with snarky kids appears to be one of the changes.

This does not mean I'm not working, though.  I've resigned my editor position with one small press to accept the Senior Editing position for Lilley Press, a new, Canadian, small press.  I read slush (guidelines, guys, guidelines!  Yeesh!), hire editors, assign accepted manuscripts to editors, and do some editing myself.  Our first publications should come out in ebook format early in 2008.  First hard copies, depending on how well the ebooks do, should come out in 2009.  That's the hope anyway.  I'm very excited about it, but the slush alone is going to keep me very busy.

I'm about 8 chapters behind in my A.C. revisions, but they are getting done and reactions from people who have seen the new v5 have been good.  A new Alden novel, Phoenix Rising, is in the notes draft stage.  I need to work on world building for both as well.  As usual, my shorts are getting the least attention, but I'm okay with that.  Some of my newer stuff is on the dark end of things--rather pessimistic in their view of humanity.  It's an interesting change in my writing, but one i hope isn't permanent.  ;)

As for other projects, Alden.nu is still a mess, but on my list to tackle early in the year.  Most of my other web related work is on target.  The house things I've been trying to tackle will take time since they need some financial investment and we don't have enough for that right now.  I am working on healthier living--a journey you can read in my new journal  It's About Time.  I'm mostly working on the routine and adding exercise into my day.  I'm not really working on food changes, but I am watching my food and will eventually make changes that are healthier.  Become unhealthy is easy; turning it around is a step-by-step thing that takes time.

The plan is to write in Journeys at least once a week now.  My old writing journal is unlikely to become active again since to pull it together means re-posting 100s of entries.  I'll probably leave what's done as it is, but I can't easily create new entries for it.  It was probably about time, though.  My LJ has become home to most of my word count and other writer related posts, and Journeys is home to writing and whatever is left.  Sometimes, you just have to accept the changes and move on.