despite the good news of my first paid publication, it's not been a stellar week. oh, it hasn't been a bad week, it just had enough not so good stuff to make it a not so good week, and i sorta ended up pulling a bit of a disappearing act. up until yesterday, i pretty much got next to nothing done. well, not next to nothing - there was getting more boxes and doing more packing, but my writing has suffered this week. a retyped lecture yesterday was the first actual writing of any kind i've done in over a week. i've been fighting a cold or something for about 2 weeks now and have been pretty tired, and this past week i found out why.

my cycle hit pretty hard and pretty quickly this week, literally putting me to bed by the end of the first day. which explains the sick and tired problem - my iron was bottoming out these past 2 weeks. anemia affects energy and health anyway, but when i'm getting ready for the female thing it's so much worse. that's why i get sick right around that time. that's why my motivation tends to fly out the window: i go from tired to exhausted. then i had my typical problems only worse. i so seriously wish this whole menopause thing would just kill my period and get it over with. i can deal with the hot flashes and crap for a bit longer, but i really wish this one thing would just go away. i'm tired of the expense, i'm tired of the mess, i'm tired of the cramps, and i'm particularly tired of the 2 or 3 sleepless nights i'm forced to endure when dealing with it.

add to this that i've been waking up with an asthmatic wheeze this whole past week and i'm sure anyone can see that this wasn't one of my better weeks physically. however, these reminders of my weaknesses have "forced" me back on my meds again, which is a good thing (and, yes, i know i shouldn't be letting myself go off the meds, it seriously just happens). i even managed to purchase enough iron to keep me going till after the move. and early next month i have an appointment with my regular doctor. i figured this would be a good thing to do before the move. i can get my iron levels checked and discuss the menopause thing and maybe even my concerns about how heavy my period is. not sure how much can be done about anything with only 2 1/2 months left until the move, but we can at least talk about the options, get them in my file, and, hopefully, have a place to start when i find a new doctor in georgia.

however, it wasn't a complete bust this week, despite my physical incapacity. my story was published, and i've been pretty much grinning about it all week. i was surprised at how quickly he got that out, but "into stone" is in the premier issue of cosmic speculative fiction. weeeeee! the funny part is he messed up my byline, using my real name as author of the story instead of the indicated byline on the story and the pseudonym in my bio. it's no big and the issue is already out so there's not much that can be done about it, but it was worth a chuckle to me. as long as the right name is on the check, i'm cool with it. and i've ordered my "reward" for publication: a "the writer at work" coffee mug with the words 'finally published! and all i got was this coffee mug.' on one side. richard actually created the mug by my request. i wanted a comic on the opposite side of the text, but the logo works for me.

and while i didn't do much of anything in the writing department, i picked up my cross-stitch again for the first time in years. it was actually nice to do something so non-writing related that i'm going to try to keep it up. perhaps i'll cross-stitch when watching tv instead of crittering the way i have been. i know i need to keep focused if writing is going to be any kind of career for me, but a break from it is also a good thing. i went out and picked up some materials to work on a couple of pieces that i had started literally years ago but had gotten stained and also found a beautiful wolves kit. i'm currently working on a wild animals picture for my son. it was quite relaxing and i really enjoyed doing it again.

the packing continues as well. my china got packed away, along with gaming books and a few other things. the house is seriously starting to look empty. and the packing explains why i've had asthma problems this past week. we've been packing pretty heavily all week, which is kicking up dust. add to that the chilly mornings and you have prime asthma inducing conditions for me. i'm back on my inhaler even though it's not my "season" for this kind of thing. i'm also pretty sure that the extra dust is somewhat responsible for my sinus headaches this week.

and yesterday we had a birthday thing for kitten. i'm seriously glad she's generally of a sunny disposition. only 2 of the dozen we had slated to show actually made it. but she didn't seem to mind and the 3 of them seemed to have a pretty good time. it was an interesting experience having giggly teenage girls in my kitchen. sharon assures me we were as bad when we were that age. ;)

i'm finally starting to feel a bit on top of things. my cycle is winding down and i've been taking iron for about 3 days now, so my energy should start coming back up again. now i just have to find some motivation so i can start writing again.