June Is the Cruellest Month (This Year, Anyway)

Hello dear reader!

It’s been a month since my last update, though what a month! It was… definitely not a good month for me. At the beginning of June, I had 27 000 words written… and now, at the beginning of July, I have 32 000.

Considering my goal is to have the novel out to beta readers by the end of September, that is… not good. I considered just skipping my newsletter for this month and doubling up in August, but I figured that the point of this is, (1), I’m really bad at social media and this is a much better way for me to connect with friends and potential readers, and, (2), to give an insight into my mind as a writer. A bad month is part of the process!

Caption: Taika Waititi saying, “Sometimes, writing is opening up your laptop, looking at a blank page on Final Draft for about 8 hours, and then feeling sad and then closing it. That’s still classified as writing

I’m still excited about the novel. I feel like it’s really capturing what I want: weird, quirky, compelling characters; interesting questions about what it means to be human; tense action; and a head-scratching mystery.

I’m just going to have to work really hard to get it done on schedule. Still, if I can do 15 000 words this month, 15 000 words in August, and then edit through September, I’ll hit my deadline.

Here’s hoping!

But this month, things were really hard. I finished work, and my mind was fried; I just stared at a blank page, then gave up and played some video games. And that’s OK. That happens. All you can do is pick yourself up and try again the next day.

But Speaking of Work

Caption: Me with the rest of the staff team at LiveWorkPlay. I’m the big fat one in the back with pink hair.

Working in social services, there are times when I do everything I can, and it still ends in failure. But I consider myself very lucky to have a job that I love, and a great team to support me. While there are days I’d much rather stay in bed, I am so grateful to have a job that I look forward to doing. I feel like my contributions matter and are appreciated by the people I work with, both coworkers and the members of LiveWorkPlay.

This year is my 14th with LiveWorkPlay, and if you had asked me if I saw myself here 20 years ago, I would have said no. I still remember, back in 2008, when I was doing my Masters’ and first got offered a year contract to work at LiveWorkPlay. At the time, I had mostly finished my Masters’ thesis, and my supervisor told me it was really good, but I needed to pad it out by engaging with the research (even though he knew it didn’t deal with what I was talking about; I needed to show that to the people who weren’t familiar with it). I hated the work of padding it out, so I figured a year of real work would let me get some space, and then I’d want to go back and finish it.

And then the year ended, and I was offered a permanent position with LiveWorkPlay. I looked at my thesis, which I was destroying by padding it out… and took the position.

It’s a choice I have not regretted! I’ve met so many wonderful people and (I’d like to think) made so many lives better.

More Rugby Photos

Caption: Me holding a ball, smashing into a defender. Behind me is my teammate Angus, who, when I showed this photo to my friends, took all their attention because they think he’s hot.

Caption: me passing the ball as an opponent goes for a tackle.

Until Next Month!

I will keep this update shorter than others. Since my mental health was bad all month, I have less to talk about. I’ll try to do some fancy, showy baking so I have some good pictures of that for my August update. They always get the social media likes, haha.

Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, and be well.

~Payson