Everyone is Tired

Blog Post No. 518

I’m not a scientist. I say that not because I think you’ll mistake me for one, but because I’m naturally not someone who takes notice of things around me. Maybe it has something to do with writing, but I’m often in my own head in day-to-day life and even when I’m out in the world supposed to be experiencing things. I know some folks who are really good at keeping track of things like how what they ate made them feel a certain way or how when they do a certain thing it makes their back hurt. Then, they act on that information by either changing their diet, not doing the back hurting thing, or taking that information to a doctor.

Late at Night

Blog Post No. 505

I used to be a night owl. Throughout my childhood, I always had trouble falling asleep. I’m a light sleeper, too so any other activity in a house full of people older than me, would wake me up. I remember listening to my old tape player, setting up stuffed animals on my bed, and playing pretend long into the night. By the time I was in high school, I would usually get five (or if I was lucky) six hours of sleep a night. Like a classic teenager, I would stay up late (past my super early bedtime) and struggle with getting up in the morning.

No Events

Blog Post No.463

We had anther virtual writing retreat last weekend, which was good because it forced me to start on the second draft of Snow. I had planned on doing as much of it in one day as possible, but I didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before and started later than planned. I did manage to get a third of the second draft done in one sitting (and I finished off the rest over the next two days with two subsequent sittings). Not what I had intended, but I think it’s a step in the direction I wanted to take.

Another Milestone

Blog No. 392

I’m nowhere near finished the first draft of the Invasion Novel and a lot of that has to do with my lack of effort over the last few days. My sleep is still all over the place and after a few bad nights I failed to reach my minimums. It’s not uncommon for me to have one or two completely sleepless nights in a month, but seeing as I haven’t had a particularly good sleep in a while, I felt like a zombie the last few days. That’s my excuse at least. With that in mind, I have reached a new personal best. The Invasion Novel is now the largest story I’ve written (and I’m not finished, yet).

Scratching out a Day

Blog No. 388

The last thing I wanted to do on this blog was to write a post (or several posts) about the quarantine. I’ve mentioned it in a couple of my previous posts, but my attempt was to do so only in regards to other topics (ie a book release, writing a novel, and being laid off). Now I’m in what feels like simultaneously a weekend and ten a year of being at home. My book is still out (and I’ve done a few deliveries to people in the city) I’m still writing the Invasion novel, and I’m still laid off. I’m also still having trouble sleeping, but magically, getting into a habit of reading before bed has helped a little there. Two birds, one stone. The problem is, that’s it. I watch too much TV and play too many video games (same as always but more) I spend more time making food, and, I go to bed and wake up and do it again.

Laid Off

Blog No. 385

I feel like a real writer, and not because I’ve been managing to write every day since I sent Broadcast Wasteland to the printer. I’m now officially laid off from the day job for the foreseeable future. It’s, apparently, temporary. I have no reason to believe that it won’t be temporary, but this quarantine is going to last a lot longer than some people expect (especially when people won’t just stay home). I’m not sure how all the details with Employment Insurance and/or the federal aid will work out, but I’m sure I’m going to waste the rest of today working on it. I’m in a comfortable place right now, so I’m not terribly worried, but having some income coming in would make me feel better.

Update!

Blog No. 384

I have a few days left of my time off from the day job and I’m waiting to hear if I will continue to stay home (probably) and if they will keep paying me (probably not). In the mean time, Broadcast Wasteland is at the printers in the processing stage and I should be able to order copies within the next few days. I’ll probably order a few test copies before I jump in with a big order of 100 and start selling them. I may see if I can get them to Biblioasis since they have been doing deliveries, but I haven’t really thought about a distribution plan beyond that. I wanted to get all my accounts settled with Biblioasis before starting a new one, but these are strange times.

The Importance of Sleep

Blog No. 253

Back when I was in high school, a good night’s sleep was a solid six hours. If I managed five, I was good to go. Sure, I’d struggle to stay focused, but high school Ben didn’t really care about things like that. To be fair, most of it was probably my fault. Drinking pop too late, watching TV until my parents forced me to bed, listening to loud music all night, leaving important things (like homework) until the last minute (or to be honest, unfinished). And, who knows what else I could have been doing to contribute to the issue. The fact was, though, that I struggled to sleep, and it didn’t seem to be detrimental to anything (except for my attitude if you ask my parents). It was just the way things were and I thought that was part of me forever. (Except for on the weekends and in summer when I’d sleep all day).

Ben VS the Uncommon Cold

Blog No. 206

I work up on Sunday morning and knew something wasn’t right. My weekend had been the culmination of two solid weeks of work (no time off for good behaviour, or writing). Lots of terrible thing happened that had no choice but to be dealt with. Friday night was seven hours of crap that stuck to me through Saturday morning for my back-to-back shifts. While I managed to get a solid chunk of text written Friday morning, nothing was getting done on Saturday. As soon as I got home from my thankfully easier shift (minus having to mop the floors as the cleaners failed to do for the umpteenth time) I took a much needed nap and prepped all my stuff for Sundays RetroRama. No time for love Doctor Jones. I did my best to get to bed early Saturday night, knowing what was in store for me.

Original Goals

Blog No. 191

I’m tired today—unbelievably tired. I haven’t felt this exhausted in a long time. I can’t even remember when I was this wiped out. It’s not like I did anything extraordinary. I have had a few nights that went later than usual (some my fault, a few definitely not) thought that’s not terribly unusual. Perhaps the number of night in a row has become abnormal, but they really weren’t so late. The heat has affected my sleeping, and I have been sleeping poorly on top of that (for reasons I’m not allowed to know apparently). There seems to be no end in sight (for either the lack of sleep, or today, which is dragging like one of those dredges, or maybe an anchor). I’m not sure what that has to do with anything other than it’s the most prominent thing in my life today. When you’re tired, everything else seems to fade a bit. The amount of red squiggly lines I’ve had to go back and correct is absurd.