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January 2014 Round-Up
Well, that's the first month of the year gone and it was, mostly, a good month. For me things seem to be working out well, although things are still difficult due to James' medical issues and the problems he was having at work. He's working on applying for some apprenticeships and some other jobs, but at the moment there isn't a lot available, especially as he wants to leave retail behind. The plan always was for it to be a job for a time, while he worked things out, until life happened and we found ourselves renting a room due to him losing his home through no fault of his own. Now things are more difficult, but I really want him to be doing something that he loves rather than a job just to pay the bills, which, sadly, is made more difficult by said medical issues. Hopefully they will be something that we learn to manage as time passes, but for now they make things harder than they would have been this time last year.
February brings with it James' 26th birthday, which isn't going to help his depression, even though we aren't in that bad a position. We have a roof over our head, even if we are only renting it, food to eat, and he does have money he can spend on things that he needs to wants, although he is awful at buying anything he doesn't need unless I nag him. He is lucky enough, at this time, to have some savings and some disposable income, so while he has that I think he should occasionally buy himself something just because he wants to. Especially as most of his money goes towards keeping the car running and that's also where a lot of his spare time goes, when he's feeling up to it, so taking some time out to play games is something I think it's important he should do, as it helps him to relax. Me, I read a book or write something (I am going to be working on doing some more fun writing, to relax myself, even though I don't find any writing particularly stressful), and I try to make sure that I have time to do those things, because I enjoy them, so I want James to have the same time to be able to do the same. Unfortunately we both view time differently - I see an hour as a time when I'm likely to be able to write 2000 words and he sees it as too little time to do anything, which always makes him feel like he doesn't have any time. I wish there was something I could do to change that, but right now it seems impossible.
January became a writing month rather than an admin month. This isn't a surprise. I put off doing all the admin work, because I find it the most difficult part of having my own website, but putting it off just means it piles up. Some of my time today has been spent trying to find some plug-ins that will make things easier, but so far I haven't had any luck, and I'm beginning to wonder if I will. As much as I like Wordpress there are some things that aren't as easy to change as I'd like them to be, especially as I don't have much experience with coding. If anyone does that's something I would happily trade for at the moment - I pay in word count per hour, so, depending on how difficult things are, I usually offer between 2000 and 5000 words per hour of work done to help me out.
The raffle starts today, so the post for that will be going up after I've finished the round-up, and will end on the 15th. I'm thinking of having a prompts session towards the middle of the month, because I have an idea that I'm hoping might spark some interesting stories, and something else I believe might be of interest to some of my readers is an story idea post, where I'll post up some of the more recent ideas I've had for fiction and see if anyone is interested in them at all. Writing something is much easier if I know someone is likely to read it when it's done, which is why I'm always after feedback. It lets me know what I should be focusing on.
My focus this month will be on two collections that I haven't written as much for as I'd like - Kim's Earth and the Inquisition. Both ideas are ones I've been fascinated with for years, but as most readers seem interested in my fantasy collections and the Donor House they've been neglected. So if you have any questions you want to ask about either collection or any stories you would like to see then let me know.
Fiction posted:
The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments: part 9, 57th continuation; part 9, 58th continuation; part 9, 59th continuation; part 9, 60th continuation; part 9, 61st continuation; part 9, 62nd continuation; part 9, 63rd continuation; part 9, 64th continuation; and part 9, 65th continuation
Bonus Story: Aulus: Looking Back
DVD Commentary: The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments
Sponsored: Nick: Nick's Village; Nick: Nick's Village (part 2); Blake: A Human Auction; Nimue: First Visit to the Donor House; Nick: First Night at the Donor House; Alice: First Night at the Donor House; Dominic: Arriving at the Donor House; Lacey: First Night at the Donor House; Lacey: First Night at the Donor House (part 2); and Morgan: Meeting Lacey (all from the general fund)
Free: Uriel: Talking to Mikhael; Uriel: Talking to Mikhael (part 2); Uriel: Talking to Mikhael (part 3); Uriel: Talking to Mikhael (part 4); Opal: Talking to Margery (part 5); Xavia: Making a Decision (part 3); Mirica: A Thief in the House (part 5); Jillian: Hunted (part 2); Clay: Making an Informed Decision (part 3); Rachel: Becoming Human (part 2); Bethany: Waking Up (part 2); Lauren: A Change of Ownership (part 2); Chloe: Waking Up (part 4); Skye: Stealing Shoes (part 2); Astrid: Arriving in Little Hill (part 5); Luna: The Book Portal (part 4); Matt: Arriving (part 5); Anna: Stepping Onto Another World (part 6); Rachel: Becoming Human (part 3); Clio: Running (part 2); Daniel: Turning Back Time (part 5); Kara: A Conversation with Lucas (part 2); Kara: Meeting Daniel (part 2); Becoming Human (part 2); Rynne: The Portal Freezing (part 2); Tatiana: Arriving (part 2); and Kieran: Ice Magic (part 2)
Other posts:
2013 Fiction Posted; Update: 2nd January 2014; Word Count January 2014; Update: 8th January 2014; Update: 20th January 2014; 2013 Raffle Winners; and Update 28th January