It's a fair question. What have I been up to? Because I certainly haven't been active on my social media! In fact, one might have thought that I was sucked into a portal and had been dumped into a fantasy world for the better part of the year.
Nothing that grand has happened, but a lot of stuff, in general, has happened, so let's talk about it!
LIFE
First off: life updates. A lot has happened!
BIRTHDAY
I've turned 21!
I'm now legally allowed to do whatever I want. So far I have used my powers for absolutely nothing. On my 21st birthday, I had one margarita and was in bed at 10:00.
I had a Kirby-themed birthday party, and it was a lot of fun! I got a lot of Kirby-themed gifts. I also got a beautiful Wacom drawing tablet, so maybe I'll actually get back into digital art! And I got a gaming mouse so I can do more on my gaming channel.
ENGAGEMENT
That's right, folks! Ya girl is engaged!
Dominic & I are engaged and are hoping to get married in 2024. We are so happy, and my ring is both gorgeous and nerdy.
HOUSING
Our apartment situation sucks. Dominic moved into my apartment at the beginning of the year, and we've had nothing but trouble since. A leaky sink, pests like squirrels in the ceiling and flies, leaking windows. For most of these things, we could grit our teeth and bare through. As I'm sure you know, the housing market was a garbage fire and so the only apartments available around us were abysmally expensive.
These last two weeks have definitely been the last straw, however. Not only did we get bedbugs from one of the other tenants, but the sink is also leaking again, and the roof on the first floor is just starting to crumble. There's not even water damage. Look at this nonsense.
This is three days ago vs last night. As you can see, there's no water damage, but it's continuing to do... that.
AND we still don't know when the exterminator is taking care of the bed bugs, which we've all but eradicated ourselves. So, today actually, we're checking out a little townhouse. We're praying it's going to be our home for the next few years because so far it seems perfect.
CAT
My lovely, grumpy catto has been giving us all kinds of scares. First, he was acting strange, so we thought he had kitty Alzheimers. He's 13, and it seems like a likely possibility. Turns out, he just had an eye infection and was very upset about that fact.
That vet visit also discovered that he needs emergency dental surgery, which is going to cost up to $2,500.
We have a GoFundMe for my little snuggly grumpus, so if you'd like to help support him, please consider donating or sharing! I also have a Redbubble shop where I'm posting original designs, and all proceeds go to his surgery.
His surgery is set for September 6th.
WRITING
"SHADOW"
Well, I finished my 14th draft of Shadow back in May. I had it sent out to half a dozen beta readers, who read and left wonderful comments. And it literally took me until two days ago to get the bravery to begin editing it.
I'm taking editing slow and methodically, and I'm hoping this will be the last time I have to rewrite this novel. Of course, we'll have to see. But I have a pretty good feeling about this draft.
"SECRET OF THE MONARCH"
Secret of the Monarch, the sequel to Slave of the Sea is currently titled "The Secret of How I'm Ever Going to Finish This Dang Novel" in my Google Docs.
I got 13,000 words into the original draft, then realized I hated it and had to change it. I also changed the trajectory of the plot from what I had originally decided when I first started Slave of the Sea, so that made things a bit harder.
I keep being held back by the want to rewrite Slave of the Sea, because it did not get the justice it deserved. But I should really finish Secret of the Monarch first. The new draft is currently sitting at 6,000 words and I like the path it's heading down.
I originally had a goal of finishing it this year, but I don't think that's going to happen.
"SIGN OF THE RAM"
I introduced Sign of the Ram a little while ago on my Facebook and Instagram. It's a middle-grade novel with diverse main characters and a plot that centers around worldwide mythology.
Sign of the Ram edged just over 10,000 words before I realized I needed to do quite a bit of research. I borrowed a huge stack of books from the library, and then chaos ensued. I did finish a few of the books, and now know a lot about African mythology (it is fascinating).
Ideally, I would like to finish Sign of the Ram this year, or the first quarter of next year. But, since I recently started college, we'll see how that goes.
OTHER THINGS
CRABFINATED - MY GAMING CHANNEL
I have a gaming channel if you didn't know! I was posting rather consistently, but then the whole bed-bugs-upstairs and super-hot-no-AC things happened, so I've dropped off a little.
I really want to get consistent with uploading, and get better equipment, because I really enjoy creating this type of content. I also enjoy creating commentary, so I've got a few commentary video scripts written up as well.
I'd love it if you checked it out, and maybe even subscribed!
Here's a video I really like:
'SIPS OF SUNSHINE' TRAVEL BLOG
I'm currently in the process of starting an Ohio-focused travel blog called Sips of Sunshine. I'll be highlighting businesses and things to do in Ohio, ones that you might not know about!
Ohio is pretty great, and we've got some pretty awesome stuff to do. I'll be launching it sometime in October, once I have quite a few blog posts put together. So, keep a look out for that!
Finally, here is an image of just the SOCIAL MEDIA I currently 'run' and have to post to. This isn't even everything I want to do.
How have you guys been? Any wonderful life updates you want to tell me about? Does anyone need any help? I love helping, so let me know if you need some support!