Hello again. I was out last week for medical reasons, I hope you’ll forgive me. For those same reasons, it’s been a low-key week with little to update you on, just a few small things.

I’ve been finding more time to read and managed to finish the book that was taking me way too long. I’ve happily moved on to a new one. I’m trying to be more active in my use of Good Reads to track what I’ve read, to nudge myself if I’ve been letting something fall by the wayside. It’ll also let me keep track of what’s on the “to read” list (and thank you again to everyone who made recommendations).

I also had a lovely burst of creativity in the form of a new story idea. Surprisingly it’ll be a sci-fi story, which is not my usual genre. I’m not planning to write it yet, as it’s an idea that still needs to ferment (and needs some research on my part of the science involved). Still, it was fun to have a new idea show up after a long dry spell and to jot down those thoughts and feel creative. The idea itself isn’t related to anything I’ve been reading, but I definitely think reading more, getting my brain more into that story mindset, helps fuel the creation of my own ideas.

There are exciting things coming up on the writing front too. Heretic, this year’s one-shot anthology from the Toronto Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers group will be published soon, with another story from me. I’ll give you the details once I have the date. Like last year, it will be on sale with Amazon at a bare minimum cost to cover the printing and Amazon’s fees. The writing group and the writers make no profit from it due to its nature as an unedited, very raw form of fiction.

The other exciting thing (at least for me) is that next weekend I’m joining some of my friends from the writing group at Can-Con in Ottawa, an annual speculative fiction convention. I’ve not attended it before and I’ve not been to any conventions at all in years. I’m looking forward to this time with my friends and fellow writers, as well as some interesting panels and finding new favourite authors and books. I’m hoping for it to be another spark in reigniting my motivation.

So another week of small things, but I think as long as I’m trying to make little bits of progress, I’ll eventually get where I want to be. I tend to think big and get frustrated when everything is not exactly as I want it to be, but I’m doing better at remembering that big journeys happen in small stages. I’m keeping my writing in my mind and in my actions, even if it’s not at the capacity I want. I’m stubborn and I refuse to let my book fall by the wayside completely, no matter how much I’m struggling with it at the moment.