Mounjaro kicks ass

OMG. For two weeks, I was sick as a dog. All because of this fantastic new diabetes/weight loss medication. From Thursday to Sunday: vomiting, sick stomach, headaches, and all around weakness and fatigue. Thank goodness I don’t have to work a day job.

I’m seeing the endocrinologist tomorrow and I think I will ask for a lesser dose. I’m on 15 now. I can go down to 12.5 and work with that. But the good news is that I have only 4.4 lbs to go before I get on the transplant list! Left dialysis yesterday at 102. If I wasn’t so sick, I would have celebrated.

I’m afraid, though. What if I get a transplant? Then I have to look for a job. At 59 years old. No one will hire me except as a Wal-mart greeter or a bagger at Stop and Shop. I could try and freelance my editing credentials. Or social media. I think I’d love to do that.

I feel much better today after a restless sleep and I just had half an Eggo waffle. The nutritionist and nurses at dialysis gave me pointers on how to eat with it. Basically, half of what I used to eat, maybe even less; and stop eating to see if that satisfies me. That’s so tough. But from now on, no dinner meals (maybe small stuff) on Thursday and Friday because I take Mounjaro on Wednesday, and it obviously doesn’t kick in until the next day.

Now, then. As for writing? I started preparing some characters for a fantasy novel, and that’s as far as I got. I have a lot of copywriting work to do for Paper Angel and Water Dragon. We have three months to get caught up before submissions open up again. I have to do time-management organization for December today. And get caught up!

800 words, and other new things

My right hand can’t hold a pen.

Seriously, I drop them all the time. I drop a lot of things. I have to use two hands to hold a mug or cup. It’s diabetic neuropathy. I can type better than I can write. So my hand-written journal will have more personal things.

I’m going to go back to 800 Words, mostly as my journal/diary. Nobody will read it anyway.

Medium is my newest place that I go for writing advice and news. Bookbub gives me new Kindle books every day. Twitter is a dumpster fire that I enjoy watching.

I already voted. So the next nine days are just noise.

My story idea is taken

I started writing a story about a guy who has no magic in a world full of magic. I established his character, did a backstory, family tree, a couple of descriptive scenes, and some notes on other characters and the world.

Then my publisher gave me a novel to copy edit. About a guy with no magic in a world full of magic. And that author did a great job with it.

So I took all my stories in that world and trashed them (put them in a folder).I did complain to a writer’s group that said “It’s your story, in your voice, write it.” No. I can’t be bothered.

Back to reading. But this novel I’m copyediting is fantasy with hard to pronounce words, along with the stories that I’m reading. I started getting them confused with my job, so now I’m reading non-fiction and memoir as a brain cleanser.

Double Kindle points on Friday, so I bought a ton of books that were $4.99 or less. I did buy three books for $14.99 that were new books, with hardcover only.

Anyway, back to square one in the writing sphere.

Reading more than writing

I have found I can read an average of one book a week. I’m spending my free time reading, forcing myself to finish books. I’ve read a cozy mystery, a fantasy set on a different planet, a non-fiction book about castaways who return to England, and a novel of Chinese women. Also a well-written, detailed dark fantasy.

I did some writing, more for me than for publication. I guess I need to practice writing, and need to update my 800 words blog with whatever garbage I spill out every day to make myself accountable. I need to try writing every day. Planning is not the same. I’m trying to plan out my MC, and I have a couple of other characters in mind. I don’t have a plot. Just a character.

I need to “fill the well” with story ideas. That’s why I’m reading so much.

I need a new keyboard. I keep overreaching so I keep missing letters. I’m doing a lot of backspacing!

What I’m up to.

Wow, it’s been a minute.

I’m going to try and change this to a different site, with my nameauthor instead. I was very proud of Grim, but I think I’ve outgrown him. Plus the site itself is broken and my poor web designer is bogged down with other, more important things.

I am working as a social media coordinator for my publishers, Paper Angel Press and Water Dragon Publishing. I am also an acquisitions editor for them. Lastly, I do copyediting for them as well. I’ve written a book of poetry about how I hate my BFF (but I got over that). I’m trying to write a romance, but since I plotted it, it’s written.

I am still on dialysis, but I’ve allowed it to be part of my life. I also joined the celebrities who take Ozempic (though I have a legitimate reason!). Ozempic is a horror show and makes me sick. I chose Mounjaro because that’s not as severe. I was on that for a couple of months until no one could get it. Now GSK has solved the problem and it’s available again. I had a stroke last year that has affected my balance, so I’m using a rollator or a walker. I can still get around, but I stumble sometimes. Other health issues: pain in my thumb on my access arm, so I can’t do anything about it. Neuropathy in hands and feet, so I can’t touch-type anymore.

Still reading cards. Still playing CoX, but on the Indominable server. It has double xp, but it’s a very slow server. Sometimes I miss the roleplaying, but I’ve been using my creativity for the social media and other things for The Publisher.

My son is my caretaker and he’s doing a great job–sometimes too much. He wakes me in the middle of the night when my sugar is below 100 and makes me eat enough sugar to make it jump to 120. Then when I get up, it’s 160 or even higher.

So that’s what I’m up to.