Greetings and Salutations, Blog Readers!

Monday:

Today is off to a strong start. I got up, I worked out, and despite my taste buds being off, I am drinking lots of water, and after half a cup of coffee, I am back onto my green tea.

I was able to play some video games this weekend, although sadly board game night was canceled due to friends not being able to make it.

But that didn’t stop me from having an awesome weekend.

Travis and I went around to a bunch of awesome spots on Saturday, including my favorite breakfast spot, and two nurseries, all of which were awesome, and then I also got to swing by Lush for a resupply on my favorites.

I also grabbed some office supplies for work, which are not only a tax deduction, but also will hopefully help me stay on task, and thus far, they seem to be working well. I have been incredibly productive at work today, so I think it has been working well.

I also read a lot this weekend, and last night while reading a writing book suggested to me by Franklin Horton ( I have reviewed many of his books including the Locker Nine series, The Mad Mick series, and, the  books I will be reviewing soon, The Borrowed World series), and my reading helped me finally figure out which of the types of stories Flake City was.

I have been working on writing outside of Flake City, but I have also been tossing around the idea of rewriting the whole thing, in hopes to better explain and represent the story I am wanting to tell. The book I am reading is giving me clarity for how to approach said rewrites, along with story in general, be they outside of Flake City, or inside.

So, all in all, a fairly good week of productive activity, and the week is off to a strong start.

Let’s see if I can keep it up, shall we?

Tuesday:

Today, it was a struggle to get out of bed, but I managed to, and while I started late, I did my stretching and got seven miles in 30 minutes on my stationary bike. I made something that was nearly healthy for breakfast, and for lunch, a salad, while prepping food for dinner- I am making a cheesy chicken broccoli and rice thing because I have had a craving, and I know I can make a semi healthy one of those.

So, I am on track like I want to be. I am trying very hard to lose the weight I gained when I quit smoking, partially for vain reasons, but mostly for health reasons- hence trying to eat better and work out more often. There is no point, in my mind, to give up something I LOVED, like smoking cigarettes, just to not be the healthiest possible version of myself.

God I miss cigarettes. So much. But I am enjoying being healthier. So I am trying to focus on that.

One of the perks of my VIP package for HalLudoween, and it includes performing with the band during sound check. No idea if anxiety will even allow that, but I want to make sure I have the breath and air to do so. I also want to be able to dance around and not be winded after five minutes of energic dancing.

I want to be able to go up and down the stairs without being winded, I want to be able to run, I want to hike with my full backpack, without being totally gassed after ten minutes.

These are good health goals worthy of my energy and efforts.

Plus, as a low-key survivalist/prepper, it is good to have my health in good shape. Every expert in that field suggests getting rid of addictions like nicotine and getting into your best shape.

I am pleased to announce I have gotten rid of my dependance on nicotine. Sure, I miss cigarettes, so much, I miss those damn cancer sticks every fucking day, but, I am not depending on the nicotine. I can even pick up a pack, smoke them and then put them down again- something I learned while I was moving and had extra stress.

I bought a pack, and over the course of like two, three months, smoked that one pack, so obviously not an everyday smoking situation, and then I stopped once again- with no difficulties.

I do have problems losing weight, but that is probably just because I want to have lost all this weight after a couple of weeks of working out more.

And that isn’t how this works. I am losing the weight in a slow and steady way but it is driving me insane that it isn’t faster.

Honor the progress and be happy with the effort. I will be where I want to be, and likely be healthier than ever, when I get there, I just have to be patient.

Anyways. I am contemplating reworking Flake City Volume one, and maybe making both volume one and volume two into one big ass book. I will talk about that more tomorrow.

Stay tuned to see how that goes.

Till tomorrow.

Wednesday:

I woke up this morning certain it was already Friday, and boy was I disappointed.

This week seems to be determined to make me earn my weekend. Frankly, days in the summer seem so long, and I always struggle with how long the days feel.

And summer is just about here. Most days are well over 80, hitting 90 a few times, and it’s only May. By next month, we will see temperatures in the 100’s.

I can’t go outside much, as it is, because of how scorching the sun already is, and I am fighting my own version of seasonal depression, when I can’t go outside for how sunny it is.

I am beyond ready for summer to be over, and it has hardly started yet.

But enough about that.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am contemplating rewriting and reworking Flake City. I have checked my ego in regards to my writing, and have been working hard to make my writing better, to learn more, and in that learning, I have realized there are many things I can do for the story, many things I should do, and, if I intend to publish it on Amazon, I will have to remove it from my blog anyways.

So, I am considering taking Flake City, all thirty chapters or so, down from the blog, and also reworking the pages to incorporate my learning, to make a better product, and possibly also include both volume one and two in one large book.

It is a challenge, to even think about removing so much of my writing, knowing I will be deleting large chunks of my work, reworking and editing things I have edited and reworked several times already, but I also know that I have work to do, and it would make my work better.

I have been getting solid encouragement from several sources, a key one being Franklin Horton, the author of the Locker Nine Series, The Mad Mick Series, and the Borrowed World series, the first two series I have thoroughly reviewed, the last one I am about to start posting reviews of.

He has lit a much needed fire under my ass to take my writing a bit more seriously, and now I am getting down to the actual work needed to make my writing the best possible work.

So, if you are wanting to read it before it gets taken down, and this version is gone forever, I suggest you get on it, as it won’t be long before it’s gone.

But, in terms of a daily update, today was good. I got up early, despite my difficulties, biked seven miles on my stationary bike, knocked a lot of work out at the office, used my lunch break to finish some chores around the house, and now, the work day is over, and I am getting ready to wrap up some of my own stuff, do the dishes, make something easy for dinner, and hop in the bath and finish reading the Borrowed World book I am in the middle of, Blood and Banjos.

Not bad for a Wednesday, we shall see what tomorrow brings.

Till then-

Thursday:

Wow. Thursdays are always insane for me but today was a bit more than usual.

Regardless, despite being DEAD tired this morning, I hauled my ass out of bed and got over six miles in, within 30 minutes. I did dishes and contemplated food on my lunch break before finally opting for a smoothie, and I haven’t even finished my smoothie.

I have an insanely busy day tomorrow, one where I will likely have to use my lunch break to accomplish my household tasks, and probably will have no time to also eat. If I even get a lunch, at the rate today was and the way tomorrow is shaping up, I may not even have time.

But, I am not wanting to whine about it, I am very grateful to have my job and I actually do love it, it’s just a very busy time right now.

And right now, all I want is food and a hot bath. For dinner I am having grilled cheese with tomato soup.

And I can’t wait. I will do my best to update more tomorrow, I can’t always have a ton to say.

Oh! But I did (briefly) talk to Amber about us getting away for a weekend to mediate and recover our energies, so I am looking forward to that in addition to my concert trip in October. More on that as I develop the plans. Hopefully much more tomorrow!

Friday:

Oh it is finally Friday! I am going to try to update over the weekend if time allows, because honestly the work has left me pretty drained. If I don’t, stay tuned for a early Monday morning update.

In Closing:

I didn’t work on this over the weekend, but I did have a great weekend, one that helped restore my energy levels a bit and leave me able to attack this next week. I don’t want to go too into detail, as I want to discuss it on this upcoming weekly update blog, but I will say it was great.

Last week was a lot of work, and was fairly draining, but I am making improvements to make it less draining. I want to make sure I am not draining myself or practicing habits that leave my energy levels lower than they should be.

So, moving forward, I am working on learning new and better ways to keep my energy levels up and my productive efforts moving forward. I want to make sure I stay on track with my goals and not fall off because I am so tired.

Thus, I am going to wrap this here, and work on the next blog that will cover the current week I am in. I appreciate everyone being with me, and I hope you are also making daily moves to improve your overall situation, be it working out, saving money, eating healthier, reading more, whatever it is you have in mind for yourself, or all of the above and then some, I hope you are nailing your goals, and I am hoping we all keep thriving and leveling up together.

Thanks for Reading,

Abbi