It’s been a while since I’ve posted; so, I decided to write this little update as to why. On 11/16/18, I had a health scare. I think it was an adverse reaction to a medication I was taking. That night, I spent seven hours in the emergency room. Luckily, the worst passed, and I’m okay. As far as we know, no long term damage happened. My lovely wife, Sue, waited the whole time with me, and I’m a lucky man to have such a caring woman helping me recover. Needless to say, it scared the hell out of both of us. The issue, though, caused a few changes to my schedule. I took an unexpected vacation/sick leave from work for a few days, and I had to back out of the 2018 National Novel Writing Month. In order to avoid a repeat, I had to drastically drop the stress in my life. My commitments went from normal to zero.
I began to monitor my anxiety levels to avoid another reaction. Leaving my house to go to the local meat market caused a giant panic attack; leaving to get my hair cut became a terrifying adventure. Over a week after I finished taking the medication, the side effects are starting to decrease. I plan to return slowly to more posting, especially as the year comes to a close. While I’m getting my life back together, I wanted to give you a preview of what is on the schedule for month.
Blog Posts
Here’s a preview of some blog entries that are in work.
- What Happened? – This post will go into more detail about my health scare and how I’m managing it.
- 2018 NaNoWriMo Review – Despite having to end early, I learned a ton about myself, and I plan to conduct a post-challenge review to see what I learned and where I can improve.
- 2018 Year In Review – The annual review of the year. Did I accomplish all of my goals? What did I miss?
- Preparing for 2019 – Building upon the 2018 review, I’ll look at what lessons I can carry forward into 2019.
Reviews
2018 has been a good year for reviews, but it isn’t over yet. I have two more planned to close out the year.
To Be Read
The TBR pile is strong and growing. I’m excited about the books I’ve scheduled for reviews in 2019. The publishers have been generous and given me access to some titles that I’m really looking forward to. Here’s the three topping my review schedule.
- The Fall by Tracy Townsend
- A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
- Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly
Seeing three science fiction/fantasy titles as next on my schedule is a bit of a misleading start for the year. I plan on dedicating a significant portion of my 2019 reading to the Cold War and history. I’m excited to read each of the listed novels as The Fall and A Memory Called Empire are high on my list for 2019 releases. Amberlough is the first book in a series that has its third installment coming out in 2019, and I’ve been meaning to read it since its release. So, now is as good as any other time.
What interests you? Let me know in the comments.